We all knew the defense was aweful, and we knew special teams has been a pretty big disaster, but the concerning thing to me has been the interceptions thtown by Purdy coming down the stretch here.
These last three games saw very bad throws that were picked to destroy any chance of a comeback. Graned, Moody missed a bunch of FGs, the defense is as stout as wet paper towels, and our red zone offense has been inconsistent to bad.
But yesterday, the offense at least was back to humming along at a furious pace, and but for the missed FG at the half, and a fairly painful OPI call that killed a 1st and goal from the 2, the Niners could have been up 28 – 13. But alas the killer penalty drove up backwards and Moody was moody and missed his first of 3 kicks.
Up 28-24 in the 3rd, Purdy overthrew Pearsall for the 1st pick. Deetroit takes the lead as the defense can’t stop anything. Ensuing drive sees another Moody miss. Deetroit falls down an a few plays and kicks a FG and is up 34-28. Not outlandish. No need to panic or force things.
Deetroit on their part sees that Pearsall is gertting a lot of action, and Purdy loves going over the middle. Purdy misses Kerby Joseph playing centerfield, as he was on the earlier pick, and jumps the route for his 2nd pick. Deetroit scores another TD agasint the vaunted Charmin defense, it is now 40-28 and the game is over for al intents and purposes.
Should Pearsall have cut the route short due to where Joseph was? Not sure, but it was an easy read for Joseph to pick it off, and a very bad read for Purdy to not see Joseph. Is he pressing due to a bad defense? Sure, could be as well. Or he’s being outed more and more as a mid-range passer who only throws over the middle.
I’m not gonna jump to any conclusions with Brock, mainly because he’s getting a huge deal regardless (unless his arm is truly fucked up), because this is the natural order of things in the NFL. The 5 highest paid QBs in the league (Dak, Joe Burrow, Trevor, Tua, and Love) all have nothing on Purdy as far as playoff success goes, and none of the top 10 paid guys has a ring.
San Francisco 49ers Forever 
1 Dak Prescott Dallas Cowboys $60 million
2 Joe Burrow Cincinnati Bengals $55 million
2 Trevor Lawrence Jacksonville Jaguars $55 million
2 Jordan Love Green Bay Packers $55 million
5 Tua Tagovailoa Miami Dolphins $53.1 million
5 Jared Goff Detroit Lions $53 million
7 Justin Herbert Los Angeles Chargers $52.5 million
8 Lamar Jackson Baltimore Ravens $52 million
9 Jalen Hurts Philadelphia Eagles $51 million
10 Kyler Murray Arizona Cardinals $46.1 million
Hard not to see Purdy getting somewhere in the neighborhood between $55 to $60 mill per.
Hard to believe that arguably the best QBs in this post season (Mahomes, Josh Allen, maybe Stafford) aren’t even on that list…
Well, bang bang gang, Detroit came and conquered, and we’ll be watching them in the playoffs from the couch. What doesn’t suck are YouTube videos of obscure classic rock bands from half a century ago.
I agree they just don’t make em like they used too.
That is awesome.
Things I think I know:
The 9ers DC and ST coaches need to go and right after the last game, neither is good enough for an elite talent level team.
I would not pay Purdy $50-$60 million per year. He has been injury prone and in the big moments, more often than not, he fails to produce, not withstanding a few notable exceptions.
Regardless of the headline grabbing amounts of money, Purdy’s extension needs to be a (real) 2 year deal, most of the 9er contracts are actually 2 year deals.
I thought Darnold was as good as Purdy but with more physical upside, his season with the Vikings has been his coming out party. Too late now, Darnold will get paid.
Moody got’s to go, period.
Shanahan has to evaluate his own playcalling tendencies. He demonstrably stops running the ball in the second half and loses leads as a direct consequence. The biggest weapon a team leading in the 4th quarter has is time of possession. 3 quick throws is the worst case scenario if they don’t make the down, and he does it over and over and over again.
Front office absolutely needs to change how they negotiate with players. The 9ers allow players to dictate to the team how the process gets played out. They are a laughing stock because if it and that way of doing business spreads to the other players since it’s proven to be effective for the player.
Both Williams and BA diva’d their way through the entire off-season and toyed with the organization. They did it in different ways, but the end result was the same. No player is bigger than the team, no player.
Negotiate in good faith for a reasonable amount of time, if they can’t work it out then cut or trade them and move on, don’t allow it to fester and poison the whole team.
Deebo decided he actually needed to give maximum effort in the last 2 games because everybody was saying he was a has been. WTF is up with that? He needs to go.
Juice has been in decline for 2 years, he needs to go.
Mooney Ward is too expensive, he needs to go.
Greenlaw may never be the same player again, too big of a risk to pay him as the great player he is when healthy, he needs to go.
Shanahan isn’t the guy that says which RB gets used and how much on game day, that’s on Bobby Turner. He rides the hot hand RB into the injury tent before doing the same to the next guy, rinse and repeat.
Shanahan HAS to insist the load gets shared between at least 2 RB every game. Incredible that hasn’t been figured out in 8 years.
O line and D line needs serious attention. Center is a glaring issue as is DT. Shore the lines up first and work from there.
Shanahan and Lynch have been a very effective duo and they rightfully are not yet on the hot seat. That’s not to say there’s no room for improvement.
I’m with you 12th. Point by point. Darnold especially. Better arm and throws a good deep ball. Purdy’s current injury seems like a major tell to me and surgically repaired elbows are reason to be concerned before writing a fat check.
I feel Dre has to be treated the same way. Great player when healthy but, showing signs of breaking down.
100% they need to address the trenches and I would go so far as to suggest another flier pick on a young QB CB RB as well.
Happy New Year as well 12th, great post.
Meant to suggest LB not RB.
I think Isaac is pretty reliable thus far with plenty of upside.
We don’t have to extend Purdy this year just because his window opened. I would offer 3 years, 30 mil each. 2 yrs guaranteed. If he wants more, let’s see what he does next year. My biggest problem with him is ball security in bad weather.
Draft the best run stuffing DT with our first pick. That could be Grant of Michigan. I need to watch his video.
No bad weather on Monday night Berger and Purdy sailed a few throws high.
There’s been signs in more than a few games that had me scratching my head regarding his accuracy on some pretty routine throws.
I’ve seen more than a few dynamic DTs from the college ranks this year but haven’t paid attention to the Draft entrants. I’d be more than happy to grab a DT or OT with the top 2 picks in no particular order. TX and Ohio State have some studs to consider.
Texas Longhorns Field goal kicker Bert Auburn learning his skills from The Jake Moody school of “Chokes” he missed 2 game winning attempts in the last few minutes.The last one 38 yarder clinks off the goalposts..Going into OT tied at 24-24..
Schedule for next season is out. 4 home games vs. teams sitting on no better than 4 Ws, plus Cards. Away games vs. NYGs and NO plus Colts. Division is winnable.
Get healthy and reload/reset. Think good thoughts about potential and forget doom (and Firing Someone!) of this year. It didn’t work out, so move on. After SB next month, only 1 team is going to be happy.
They aged pretty well.
The biggest problem with this team is mainly on the coaching staff. Sorensen and Schneider especially. Shanahan’s play calling/red zone offense was awful as well. Like he waited and prayed foir CMC and it didn’t work out. Someone has to teach Shanahan that he can use more than one RB at a time. He’s monumentally stupid in that regard.
They can work around how to keep Ward and Greenlaw and paying Purdy. Lose those guys and we are back to being mediocre.
Purdy’s issues may just simply stem from his seeing the defense do nothing to stop our opponents and feels that he has to go for big plays.
No, we don’t have to pay Purdy oodles this year, but in no situation does this come to pass. Barring some kind of disclosure about his injury being related to his reconstruction.
Juice is under contract for 2 more seasons, so there’s no reason to cut him.
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And, here’s the deal, if you swapped out Purdy and Darnold on their respective teams, their records would be very similar. Darnold did well because Minn knows how to score in the red zone. Their numbers are very similar but for the TD passes.
Darnold would likely suffer ore here as our pass pro is awful.
Agree. It still bothers me about the weather situation with Purdy it is not new it was happening last year also. He has got to play better in those situations. I am glad for Darnold and his success but I would still take Purdy over him. We probably had one of the worst olines in football.
Wille not sure what you mean about reload and reset. I see a need to jettison some players and a major change for DC/ST before next season. We looked lethargic at times.
Sure I can see that, but still to me it’s way more on players than coaches schemes etc. It doesn’t matter what scheme is if no one on inside of D Line can tackle or get off blocks and LBs. Good QBs can handle blitzes and every decent QB nowadays throws 2-3 yd quick outs after 2 seconds. If you over compensate they will burn you in different way.
Niners ran ball vs. Lions with backup O line and 3rd string running back, while Purdy threw for 375 yards. But it’s less play calling vs. guys blocking for them in first place. CMC had below par numbers most games he was in there.
I get frustration over Shanahan/Lynch but they got all the way to SB a year ago with DC Wilks, something no other NFC team could do. Change coaches all you like, the best players are gonna win, or lose, for you. And Niners don’t have enough of them, yet.
Bergs, I’d go O line as the 1st pick if Will Campbell is there. Hard to say cuz the Bears O line is worse than ours.
There are a lot of good D linemen tho. A guy like Walter Nolen could fall to us in the 2nd round.
49ers get versatile Michigan DL in 1st round of 2025 NFL mock draft
Yeah the mocks have us going DT or OT. So, they’ll go RB or punter.
Jonah Savaiinea is in one of the mocks. Strength is pass protection.
https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/Jonah-Savaiinaea-OL-Arizona
I’ve seen this kid’s name mocked to us at OT too Chuck. Going to try to see him play tonight in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl v VA Tech.
https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Colleges/FBS/BIG-TEN-FBS/minnesota-golden-gophers
Names and positions to do some recons on before April.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/draft/bestavailable
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