Well, we are going out, not with a bang, but barely a whimper. Everyone is hurt, and those that are playing are mailing it in. Yeah, the conditions were tough, but the Niners were the opposite of tough. Soft defensively and inept offensively will get you nowhere in today’s NFL. And we are the embodiment of soft now.
Our two ‘must win’ games against two of our toughest foes ended up 73-20. This of course after blowing 3 division games with AZ, Seattle, and LA. Had we won, well, we’d be 8-4 and in decent shape for winning the division.
But we didn’t and we aren’t. We are dog meat. Cannon fodder. It is a thin line between the elite teams and the also-rans. And we are miles from that line now. Don’t know what is wrong with our offense as Kittle got the 1st pass of the game and dropped off the map, not even being targeted the rest of the game. Deebo had his usual output of 4 catches for 20 yards.
Only Jauan Jennings is getting WR numbers in the offense.
Where is our offensive genius? Designing plays for guys that aren’t playing? Speaking of not playing, CMC went out with (surprise) a season-ending knee injury. Hmmm, I wonder if playing a guy who is barely out from his injury status in a freezing snowstorm may have warranted sitting him, or maybe giving him rest?
I guess we’ll never know, but CMC was doing well before the injury. To top that bummer off, Jordan Mason went out with a high ankle sprain later in the game, and will miss the next 4 games, if not the season, with the dreaded high ankle sprain.
Mason was running well as well, Buffalo’s defense doesn’t seem to be too concerned with stopping the run. They just cause turnovers on the 1 yard line (oh, Juice) as the 49ers were close to at least making the game close at 21-10 after halftime. instead, we got the usual plethora of turnovers and sloppiness as the team wanted to get back into their cozy warm jet and fly home.
At this point the only thing I am waiting for is the complaining. I’m at the point that I really don’t want Shanahan and co to come back on a lame-duck contract to see if he can somehow rekindle his earlier magic. Mainly because our problems ALL YEAR have been obvious and glaring and he has done NOTHING to change their strategy. Special teams and defense have been awful. Now the offense is following suit and we have NO chance to win games with all three sectors failing.
We have a pretty good chance of losing out (MAYBE we can beat the Bears) but 6-11 would warrant wholesale changes in the coaching staff, if not the front office.
I know Shanahan hired John Lynch, and, at least in my head, Lynch is nothing more than a figurehead for Shanny’s machinations, but I wonder what Lynch’s status would be if the coaching staff goes. Shit, Lynch has a standing multi-million dollar announcing gig waiting for him should he go.
Then again, Young Sir Jed isn’t likely to do anything drastic.
Fuck that. Onward and downward.
San Francisco 49ers Forever 
And, as has happened all season, we are the butt of a spectacular play that gets repeated ad nauseum on the highlight reels.
Up there with Justin Jefferson’s 97 yard TD was the Joah Allen pass to whoever the fuck was stopped on the 5, and then lateralled back to Josh for the improbable TD.
And there are about 6 more out that that I can’t bear to think about.
Now that I think about it, fuck this front office as well. They dicked around with Deebo, Bosa, Williams, and Aiyuk and it derailed all of their seasons, and it has had a major effect on trashing this season.
They tossed DeFo aside like a red-headed stepchild and burned one of many 1st round pick on an oft-injured Javon Kinlaw.
They did go all in on Warner and Lenoir, so why the hesitation on Bosa and Williams? And even Aiyuk? They could have avoided the hold-outs and hold-ins with all of them.
They’ve been saved by the bottom-of-the-barrel picks like Kittle, Bosa, Lenoir, and Mitchell, among others, while drafting and tossing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round RBs like confetti.
Their success in the first 3 rounds is abysmal.
Agree, their strategy of negotiating all off season until the last minute is counter productive, do the deal or don’t, but make a decision early so the football team moves on.
This shitty season isn’t getting major coach or front office changes and should not.
DC and ST coaches both need to go at the end of the season.
I’m fine with running the final weeks without the high priced talent just to see if ANY of the talent they drafted can actually contribute.
Call me skeptical about our DL additions and we can see the glaring need for Dre to return before Fred can’t go.
Doubtful Jed goes to restarting again but I don’t have much to expect from recent history that Lynch can fix the trenches without Peters.
Puni has been a stud.
Need a few more of those additions to payoff. Not even interested in what Shanny has to say anymore. Blah Blah Blah.
Yeah we are fucked, Mason is out for the year now also. The team looks like it’s given up. I liked the pick at first but we haven’t gotten over losing talent on the Lance pick. And we have swung and missed on a lot of low rd picks. The only thing about that is so have most of the other teams in the league. Everyone has picked off our coaching staff for the last few years and it shows. So it just might be time to recycle the FO. I for one would like to see a Lynch draft without Shanny’s input. For all I know it might even be worse. Maybe if we ply McCouhan with a couple bottles of primo whiskey he may be able to help us come draft time.
McClouhan(sp)
I know they are more likely than not to make any changes this season, but really, if this team loses out (or even goes 1-4) and Shanny completely loses the locker room, they may not have a choice.
Shanny is obviously wound tighter than a Rolex knock-off and as this season spirals down the toilet, they have done nothing to change the trajectory.
Every phase of the team is now in total disarray.
The offense is sputtering
The defense is playing awful, giving up tons of yards, and making up for that by not tackling.
And special teams are really super unspecial. We’ve injured all our kickers and then some as the coverage is horrible, and the Moody pick is looking pretty horrendous.
With the team a year older and unwiser next year, will things change?
I doubt it. Will they EVER pay attention to the O line? Esp with Williams getting hurt every year and Mckivitz being a revolving gate at RT? Our center cannot call a blitz protection. Puni is the needle in our haystack. We need 3 more guys like that.
Watching DJ Jones stuffing the Cleveland run game last night made me a little sick as he was another guy we simply let wander away with no thought of what he provided.
3 more years of this? Color me depressed.
The point to all this of course is the screaming from the fanbase will be deafening if this team continues to play sloppy uninspired football and they lose games by giving up 250 on the ground and 220 in the air.
Kittle was fairly vocal after the game saying he was open ‘a bunch of times’ but wasn’t targeted and had one catch.
This is our offensive genius at work. Deebo continues to be nothing.
Both sides of the ball appear really disinterested in playing hard.
Yeah, it’s truly sad to see.
Time to dump the weighty contracts of Hargrave and Ward, possibly Deebo too.
Purdy needs to be paid and without an Oline what can we expect?
Sad reality is that the window appears closed and there ain’t much I’ve seen on the bench to be optimistic about.
Trent and Bosa are missing games and carrying fat deals as well. Unless they hit on some top RD talent this mess won’t get turned around anytime soon.
The team has totally mailed it in. Which isn’t the case here on this blog, with passionate discussions, super long and somewhat interesting posts, and a plethora of YouTube videos. Thanks, Chuck!
A waiver claim from the NYJ. Go figure…
https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/49ers-claim-rb-israel-abanikanda-off-waivers
Here here…
https://www.si.com/nfl/49ers/news/the-49ers-rebuild-there-will-be-blood-01je5aw9ab7f
We still have some cap room. They should be able to keep Ward and Williams. Fuck Hargrave. Floyd has been a large bust. But some of that is due to our bland lack of scheming to generate any kind of pressure. Maliek Collins as well.
This team isn’t far from being really good, but they need to rebuild the O line. With Williams since he’s better than anyone else we have when healthy.
Draft and trade Deebo can go. He’s little more than nothing now. Again, though the unimaginative play calling is just stale and boring.
https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/49ers-bring-back-rb-keshawn-vaughn-to-practice-squad
new thread is up.