Forty Niners Forever

Well, that was a catastrophe. The Bills nce again came up short in their quest to knock off the Kansas City Refs. 3rd and 3 and TE Kincaid catches a pass and falls 1/2 a yard past the line. The line judge moves it back a full yard.

SIDE BAR: If I’m McDermott I question that spot. Kincaid clearly had the 1st down.

Next play, it sure looked like Allen got the necessary yard. The left line judge signalled 1st down. The right judge didn’t. Somehow the right LJ gets the call even though the left LJ had the clearer view.

KC kicked a FG and Josh Allens’s last desperation pass saw a defensive holding flag get picked up and swallowed. Game over.

Sigh

SIDE BAR: James Cook needs to touch the ball more.

So, yeah. another fucking game where the chiefs are magically helped by the refs and the football Gods. In meaningful games against the Chiefs, the Bills are 0-4. We are 0-2. Disheartening to. say the least. Josh Allen is the new version of Jim Kelly. Onve FG from his 1st Super Bowl, and 0-4 in the big one.

The Iggles? Fuck ’em but I hope they win. The Commandos played great but just couldn’t hold on to the ball. Their 3 fumbles set up 21 points for Philly. And that’s my worry. The Eagles D wasn’t stopping much but they did force 4 turnovers.

Or, journey to the past, I guess. Well, the stars aligned for us this time. After a season of fuckups, bad timing, stupid machinations, bad breaks, 12,000 penalties, and a ton of injuries, the football Gods threw a wrench into the Jaguars hiring of Robert Saleh as their new head coach.

Liam Coen instead left the Buccos to take over the garbage scow that is the Jacksonville Jaguars after the late and bizarre dumping of our dogshit ex-GM Trent (i-rode-on-McLoughan’s-coattails) Baalke. The dumping of Baalke caused Coen to cancel his interview to stay in Tampa, and that caused Saleh to cancel his 2nd interview with Jacksonville. Fuck the Raiders. That didn’t even come into play, but whatevs.

We have a guy that was pretty damn successful as our HC before and during the Nick Bosa era and he had a lot of success. So, I’m for one, thriled at this news. Sure, if he does grerat, all those new HC positions will open up again, but hey, that]s a bridge to burn at a later date. As we all know, the NFL is about right now, and right now I like our defense a lot more than I did yesterday.

A good draft, a weak-ass schedule, and we should be OK for this season.

As far as Sunday goes, I’m pretty sure a lot of you are pulling for Washington and Buffalo.

I mean, fuck the Iggles and the Refs, uh, Chiefs.

Hopefully the real playoffs start this weekend. Last week’s games were really about separating the contenders from the pretenders.

• The DeMeco Ryans led Texans Curb-stomped the nascent hopes of the hapless-in-the-playoffs Chargers and Jim (rah-rah) Harbaugh.
• The Ravens crushed the woeful (offensively anyway) Steelers.
• The Bills stampeded the no-trick Broncos.
• The fucking Iggles fudge-packed Green Bay and their awful playoff history as well.
• The Rams invaded the Vikings and torched their longboats and they again cry in the face of yet another playoff failure. Sourdough Sam was hung out to dry and was beaten into submission.

Only the battle between the Buccos and the Commandos was any fun. I was hoping Baker Mayfield would get another playoff game as his career has been a whirlwind of bad situations and shit coaching while he rolls along with a smile on his face and a hop in his step. Cleveland couldn’t get rid of him fast enough, and his stints in Carolina and the Rams were awful. Now on the Bucs, hes flourishing.

Anyhow, this weekend brings what look to me like some good games.

Saturday:

• Texas at Chiefs – This will prove if Houston’s defense is for real. I’d like to think Ryans can dial up consistent pressure, but I think KC wins in the end.
• Commandos at Lions – This one also looks to be predicated on the Washingtons getting more out of their defense than previously thought possible. As banged up as the Lions defense is, I think Deetroit takes this fairly easy.

Sunday:

• Rams at Iggles – Don’t like the Iggles, not a Sirianni fan at all, and the Rams are on a roll. But again, this one comes down to how well the Rams defense can stop Hurts and the Eagles offense. The Rams have proven they can score early and often, so this could be a track meet, but all LA needs to do is get a couple stops and they take it.
• Ravens at Bills – This is the game of the weekend. Both these teams are I think the class of the league and could beat any of the NFC contenders. The only big ??? is can Lamar Jackson shake off his playoff doldrums and play a solid game? For all the accolades, MVPs, and psychotic number put up (41 TDs, 4 picks???) he has yet to reach the Super Bowl with his 3-4 playoff record. Buffalo and Josh take it.

So far so suck. I guess this is what you get when you leave the barn door open for a lot of teams to get into the playoff hunt.

Jim Harbaugh led the used-to-be-Carmen-Sandiego Chargers to a slow dull death as Justin Herbert sucked his way to a boring desultory loss, going 14-32, 1 TD and 4 INTs! Juston Herbert is getting paid hard to suck ass. I guess the Chargers thought it would be a great idea to trade their best WRs and replace them with tree stumps. Although Ladd McConkwas pretty good.

The Steelers looked way overmatched as they went from 10-3 and flying high to 5 losses in a row, and one-and-done. A pretty much foregone conclusion under Mike Tomlin these last 8 seasons as they haven’t won a playoff game since the 2016 season.

The upstart Broncos tripped over their inexperienced dicks and lost a snorefest 31-7, and the Packers proved yet again to be pushovers at the hands of the fucking Eagles no less. A team I really can’t stand. Although Saquon Barkley is just a true bad-ass out there.

Only the Commandos and Buccs provided a game worthy of watching. The ghost of Cleveland’s monumental stupidity, Baker Mayfield, gritted, ran, threw, and gutted his team to what could have been a gigantic victory, but a botched jet sweep/fumble ended up being the key play/turnover of the game. His going beast-mode on Bobby Wagner no less was a thing to behold.

Tonight we see the resurgent Sourdough Sam Darnold face off against his one-toime rival LA Rams.

I sure fucking hope he wins. Darnold looked absolutely spooked vs the relentless pressure of the Lions last week. Something I’m Sure LA noticed.

No news on any hires. Hopefully the playoff football improves next weekend.

Where do I start? The fact that Klay Kubiak’s promotion is nothing more than a different title on his bidness card? Per Kyle the chicken-hearted:

“I thought he did an awesome job. Klay’s role is going to be the same as it’s been, which has been the offensive coordinator. He just hasn’t had that title, yet.”

Shanahan said the promotion is more about recognizing what Kubiak already has contributed to the offensive side of the ball.

Wow. Brilliant. I can see that they may not want to lose Kubiak, but how about actually giving him something more to do than what he’s doing?

Then there’s the Sorensen debacle. Week in and week out with the Wide 9 prevent defense. No run stopping, no blitzes, way too much 3rd down success for the opponents. And no changes in philosophy.

Now there’s talk of Sorensen taking over special teams. Be still my breaking heart. Move your incompetence over to that office.

My hope for the defense is they bring in someone from the outside who can give the team a completely new look and a new perspective. Given this crew, they’ll bring back Greg Manusky.

Hell, I’d be happy with Ken Norton Jr. He or Ulbrich would be fine with me. I really don’t think Saleh would came back, but hey, as long as they recognize the personnel that we have doesn’t fit the scheme we currently run.

Super Bowl hangover
Front office shenanigans with BA and Trent Williams
The injury problem
The drafting of Ricky Pearsall
The shooting of Ricky Pearsall
The ultra-soft defense (#1 issue)
Repeated special teams disasters (#2 on the issue list)
Play calling
Red zone play calling
Shanny’s dependence on the stars
Shanny hoping CMC would save the season as he rode him into the ground
The inability of Shanahan to spell his RBs
Shanny’s force-feeding of Deebo to the detriment of the rest of the team
Shanny forgetting about Kittle for too many games
Shanny playing it safe on 4th down
Illegal formation penalties
False start penalties
Penalties in general (13-1 in yesterday’s game!)

The pisser to me in this list is the same fucking problems were all readily apparent yesterday.

Week 18!

And the team did NOTHING about these recurring problems.

The front office didn’t shit-can Brian Schneider after week 4
The coaching staff didn’t tell Nick Sorensen to change his defensive style
The penalty situation never changed
The play calling didn’t change enough
The red zone offense didn’t improve

The biggest pisser to me was the fact that if the 49ers had beaten the Rams, they were prepared to sell off the team. They had Kooper Kupp on the trading block, and had they gone 0-5, they likely would have pulled the trigger. But no, we had to give up the fake punt that destroyed the entire season and the Rams end up winning the division.

They blew all 3 of the divisional games that would have won them the division.
They have the players
They need a better coaching staff

This harkens back to the Chip Kelly/Jimmy Farts-a-lot lost seasons where the 49ers were a talented team, but severely rudderless. Harbs came in and got the guys on the beam and they were a playoff team.

Funnily enough, Harbaugh took a talented but rudderless team in San Diego and poof! They are a playoff team now.

I really wish they’d think about getting rid of Shanahan. Sure, it might end up like Andy Reid, but hey, Philly won their Super Bowl 2 years before Reid and the Chiefs did.

Huh. It only took 18 weeks to blitz Warner.

Last Game-day thread. Guerendo already wasted.

You gotta have something if you want to be with me . . .

I guess all we have left is for Jauan Jennings to get to 1,000 yards and surpass Deebo as our #1 guy. Until BA comes back or dies trying. Pearsall had a nice game getting open as Kyle seemed to figure out overnight how to scheme players open. Orrrrrr, Deetroit is doomed to a one-and-done playoff scenario since their defense is so decimated with injuries.

Seeing as we laid a pretty heavy whupping on them, for a half anyway, Minnesota looks to out up a 50-spot on them. Their defense actually dials up pressure, so they look to have the advantage.

If Deetroit doesn’t get the bye week, they are doomed to an early demise. Especially if they play the high-scoring Rams.

Us? I hope we play our usual game of being close for a while, then shooting ourselves in the feet 6 or 7 times for the loss and the 11th pick.

Some early talk around possible 1st round steal, Michigan’s DT Christian D’Andrea.  Big at 325, and fast, he woulf provide a solid push up the middle and is a great run defender.

Funny thing is, a lot of other mocks have us taking his line mate Mason Graham.

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.

. . . if man is still alive.

. . . if football can survive . . .

Ahhhh, Zager and Evans. They used to have that song on the juke box at one of the original Round Table Pizza parlors on 3rd Ave in San Mateo and I played the shit out of that song. Funny enough, it swapped out to North Beach Pizza about 25 years ago, and is still there.

As for 2025, who knows? I saw in the Green Section that gee, maybe out defense isn’t that good, and that Sorensen is on the hot seat. Really? 15 games into the forgettable season of missed opportunities, little to no defensive scheme other than rushing 4 and dropping the LBs every play 99% of the time?

Our early effort did produce some turnovers, but those dried up by week 8. Our numbers are terrible across the board, and to blame this on injuries is a fool’s errand. Watching Minnesota put 5 on the line nearly every snap was simply a reminder of how you can be aggressive on defense without blitzing all the time, but showing different looks up front and moving LBs around.

But, whatevs. This season was an utter waste of time. The front office did their best to sabotage the season by dragging out the negotiations with BA and Williams, Shanny’s insistence on prsying for CMC;s return and revival of the team’s woes simply prolonged the agony of being terrible in the red zone and Shanny’s shortcomings as a play caller. when his team isn;t at full strength.

Oh well. Wait till next year!!

Hope you all have a happy and safe new years, and let’s hope against hope this team can figure out how to get out of this current mess.