San Francisco 49ers Forever

Here we are, once again meeting Philly in the playoffs. Last time of course saw the mercurial rise and devastating crash of Brock Purdy in his rookie season as he came from running the scout team to leading the 49ers into the NFC Championship game.

That ended badly of course as Purdy didn’t get through his second possession. Now? Well, it’s all about the defense. The Eagles defense is about as far away from the Seahawks defense as Seattle is from Philly. They don’t defend the run particularly well, but they don’t allow a lot of points. And with Trent Williams back, the hope is CMC can break off some nice chunk yard runs.

Ricky Pearsall is another matter. He’s a game-time decision. What diff he would have made last week is hard to guess as Purdy had about 0.75 seconds to get his passes off. Why Shanny didn’t adjust to the relentless rush by running slants and quick passes baffles me no end. And all y’all screming about getting 2 TE sets in there is also a valid beef. Then again, how many times can I rail against the soft zone on 3rd down?

Hard to be confident in this game. At least for me. Despite the trials and tribulations overcome this season with all the (once again) injuries and BA turmoil, unexpected wins and crushing losses, I just don’t think we can get over the hump. Then again, this team has zigged a lot this year when I thought they would zag. As they say, one game at a time.

Maybe leave this one up to the football gods. Shanahan certainly doesn’t have the greatest record vs Vic (remember me?) Fangio.

As Kyke Juicechick said, “why should we make it easy on ourselves? We’ve been struggling with shit all season.” Or something to that effect.

Hell of a scrappy effort by the team this season to be one win from the #1 seed and be so absolutely decimated by injury. If anything it proves that there are a lot of mediocre teams out there. And we couldn’t beat some of them. But that is ture of every team. This year is wide open and no one has a distinct advantage. Which is fucking infuriating because if we were even remotely healthy, we’d be in position to win it all.

But no, we limp into Philly with our standout backup to Fred Warner out, Trent Williams and Ricky Papearsall haven’t practiced, and we have the usual list of walking wounded:

– Trent Williams (hamstring)
– WR Ricky Pearsall (knee)
– Dee Winters (ankle)
– Keion White (hamstring)

Let’s hope some of these guys come back. I have no illusions about this game. I just don’t think we can overcome this amount of injuries. Unless CMC runs for 150.

Well, Tatum Bethune is out for the Philly game with a torn groin, and any other subsequent game should it come to that. So we are down to Erik Kendricks as the starting middle linebacker.

Yay. Crystal Todd Pearsall is our latest elf on the shelf, and we are not sure if he will be out there. Trent Williams? Another question mark heading into this roadie in Philly next Sunday.

Both lines looked about as terrible as they could have last Saturday. Short week? Unprepared? Out-coached? Yes to all. Saleh has really developed a major flaw in his 3rd down defense. Time and time again last week, Seattle was able to keep drives going on 3rd down conversions. They punted once. Their issue, which may be a huge problem against better teams, is their own misadventures getting into the end zone. 18 pts vs Indy? Please. 13 points against our wasted defense? The Bears put up 38 on us.

But enough about Seattle. Philly’s defense, while not nearly as tough as Seattle’s, still has a decent pass rush but they are 28th overall. We should be able to run on them. If we can do that, I think we can keep their middling offense out of the end zone.

I hope.

. . . Out like a lamb on a spit. Week 1 of the 2025 season saw a strong 49er team take on an equally strong Seattle team, and beat them on the road. Nick Bosa provided the defining play with a strip-sack to end the Seahawks late threat.

Week 18 was a different matter. A severely weakened 49er squad was beaten soundly on both sides of the ball to lay one of the bigger eggs of the past few years. Say what you will about the awful game, but our O line was shown to be completely ineffective. Losing Trent Williams was not good, but I’m not too sure how much diff that would have make. CMC had 8 carries for 23 yards. Brock Purdy was harassed on EVERY pass play but for one completion to Kittle on the ill-fated drive that ended with the pick on the goal line.

The defense? Fucking pathetic. Only Seattle’s ineptitude kept the 49ers in the game. Seattle out-gained the 49ers 361 to 173. They got a very balanced 181 in the air and 180 on the ground. 6/13 on 3rd down conversions led to Seattle out-TOP’-ing the 49ers 38:00 to 22:00.

Say what you will about Saleh, but his reluctance to bring pressure on 3rd downs is a fucking joke. Over and over Seattle converted their 3rd downs on their first 4 possessions. The play of the game very well could have been the 3rd and 17 run for 19 yards by Walker. I mean, they were GIVING UP THE BALL. We drop everyone deep to stop the pass and Walker gets past the 1st level for the 1st down.

So, we are on the road in bad weather in either Chicago or Philly. Do you like our chances?

Maybe I’ll get a little different perspective in a couple days, but this team looks doomed. Both Philly and Chicago are not very special, but we out-coached and beaten in the trenches by a country mile.

. . . for the 2025 season. Here we are in the new year fighting for #1.

Truthfully, a loss would not be devastating, but a win sure would be nice.

As per usual, limit the mistakes and blitz when the opportunity presents itself.

If we can run effectively, we should win. Charbonnet has been runninbg well lately, but we hva actually been pretty stout against the run. Some of the time.

I’d do whatever I could to hit Darnold early. I can go on and on about press man coverage, but getting Darnold uncomfortable in the pocket is paramount.\

I still think this gan will be easier than the Bears game, but we will see.

31-20 Niners.

This year has flown by faster than a Skyy Moore kickoff return. And 2026 will come roaring in like a hoard of desperate miners looking for gold. The offense at least appears to be pretty healthy for the showdown in the mudflats of Santa Clara. The 49ers have defied all the odds (and oddsmakers) and positioned themselves for the #1 seed in the NFC.

Seemed like a pretty tough row to hoe when the team lost that week 10 vs the Rams and was out of the playoffs. But a 6 game winning streak helped. Make it 7 and the road to Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara goes through Santa Clara.

And frankly, I think this game with Seattle will be easier than the Bears game was. Caleb Williams is a much better QB than Sourdough Gingerbread Sam Darnold. Sure he started out red-hot, but since week 11, Darnold has 8 touchdowns to go with his 8 interceptions. He has an 81.5 passer rating. His sacks per game is up to 2.1. Yeah, they are riding their own 6 game winning streak, but I have a feeling that Sam will repeat his failure last year and fade down the stretch in the biggest of games.

Again though, this depends on the pressure. Saleh HAS used press-man coverage and blitzed in situations that called for it. Then again, he was laid back and gone soft in those occasions as well. Demo Lenoir is looking to shadow JSN, and with DK Metcalf gone, a needs to rival to fuck with.

Here we go! Don’t have too much fun tonight, and try to stay out of trouble!

What a game that was! For the objective outsider that must have been a fun game to watch. Sunday Night prime time fun. Tirico and Collins(gag)worth(y) were beside themselves with the insanity of these high-flying offenses marching up and down the field scoring TDs. Reminiscent really of the old 60’s AFL days and their high-scoring affairs. And it really was a blast watching this offense just cruising up and down the field. In fact when we forced the FG late, I thought that we would score to take the lead.

Holding it would be a different matter.

To me it was an exercise in frustration to watch our defense just get smoked over and over on the same plays that have plagued this team all season. Screens, delayed dumps, and 10 yard crossers continually befuddle these guys. And the occasional deep pass. This defense is supposed to stop that, but we stopped neither.

I get that we are undermanned, but there were situations where we should have forced the issue rather than play soft. The 3rd and 14 especially. On the first two drives that we shut down, we played press man on 3rd down and blitzed 5 & 6. It worked both times. On the 3rd and 14 later we played soft and it bit us hard with a 20 yard gain.

We did try blitzing Lenoir but that rarely worked. I just felt like Saleh had no answer for Ben Johnson’s offense and he was outcoached. And I get how now Deetroit isn’t nearly as good on offense this season without him.

Still and all a win is a win is a win and we are in position to lock down the #1 seed with a win over Seattle. Given all the ups and downs this year, that is amazing. Kinda sucks that we get rewarded for this by getting flexed to Saturday night tho.

Bring on the Seahawks!!!

Hoping for let-down game from the Bears as they clinched the NFC North with the Packers loss. Both teams come in at 11-4 and playing for the #1 seed and the coveted bye week.

11-4 Bears? 11-4 us? Both the scheds are full of softies and both teams took advantage. Our Niners are riding a 5 game win streak, and Chi is rolling as well.

Think this is gonna be a tough one. Homefield may very well decide this one. They run well and defend deep balls, but we should be able to run on them and hit quick passes underneath. They are solid running and passing so the trenches will decide this. And mistakes. If we don;t turn the ball over, we should win.

31-27 Niners.

Another year has almost flown by and here we are controlling our destiny. Hard to imagine after this season of injury and mayhem. First there was the salary purge, then the injury parade.

But I’d bet everyone would be thrilled with 11-4 without even taking injuries into account if they were asked at the start of the year.

Tomorrow we get THREE Thursday games. Games that I’m sure looked awesome at the beginnning of the season. They are:

• Dallas vs Washington (both out of the playoffs)
• Deetroit vs Minnesota both out of the playoffs)
• Chargers vs KC (KC down to their 3rd string QB)

But hey, it’s football so I’ll have it on in the background.

Hope y’all have a safe and happy holiday, love the ones you’re with, and thanks for hanging out here.

Turned out to be a fun game, as the juggernaut 49ers offense rained down points galore on the used-to-be upstart Colts who started the season an impressive 8-2, only to lose their 5th straight. Which follows along with the Niners 5 game winning streak. The defense even got into the act with a pick 6 from Old Man Winters, who beat Old Man Rivers to the spot on a toss to his TE for a pick 6.

Funny to hear Aikman blame the TE for the stick route he ran. Winters obviously had position on the play, and Rivers shouldn’t have thrown it, but hey old QBs stick together I guess.

Still and all a frustrating game for the defense as they did a fantastic job stuffing Jonathan Taylor but were continually beat by the quick dump offs to a trailing RB or TE for 3 quarters. Rivers threw for 277 yards and 2 TDs and Indy kept pace with the Niners scoring machine for most of the game. Rivers obviously struggled with passes over 15 yards, and the deep shots were pathetic, but that didn’t stop them from scoring 17 firdt half points.

Biggest play of the game was the fumbled KO return after the first Niner score. Not sure how the game would have changed had tht not happened, but the dramatic improvement of the special teams has a lot to do with the 11-4 record.

For all the guys coming back from injury on defense, none of them are DEs that can get home. We did manage 2 sacks of Ichabod Rivers, but we need a ton more pressure than we are getting.

But, hey a win is a win and we are still on track for the #1 spot. Improbably. And we passed the Rams in the playoff standings.