San Francisco 49ers Forever

In the immortal words of Slim Pickens, see above. Wow. Just wow. I’m seriously glad I had plans with friends, and didn’t watch this game at all or I would have been once again like Deebo Samuel and screaming at the walls. I did get home in time to see the overtime. And, well, Jimmy was 6-6 for 78 yards and the acrobatic TD by Brandon Aiyuk for the win.

It baffles me no end to see so much good, bad, weird, solid, but in the end inconsistent play from all sides of the team. Jimmy G for him played a great game under a lot of pressure and ended up 27-41 for 296 and 2 TDs. He would have had 3 had Aiyuk been able to make the play in the corner of the end zone so it could have been a little better, but Jimmy still overshoots guys and threw what should have been a pick in what should have been the game winning drive that Robbie (tarnished) Gould fucked up.

Speaking of shitty special teams, Wishnowski is punting for shit lately and got off a 29 yarder yesterday, and we already know about Gould’s shank, but Cincinnati really gave the Niners a huge assist with 2 muffed punts in the 1st half. Throw in a really ticky tacky taunting call, and the 49ers got 10 points off those mistakes.

And, offensively, having Deebo as our running back is paying huge dividends as defenses can’t account for him when he isn’t getting the ball, thus opening up passes to Kittle (13-151, 1TD), and Aiyuk (6-62, 1 TD), and when he is. Samuel had 1 catch for 22 yards, and 8 rushes for 37 yards, and a 22 yard score.

Defensively, the mixed bag was even more mixed as Borrow was under a lot of pressure, but stood tall in the pocket and got a few spectacular passses off immense pressure. Burrow ended up 25-34 for 348 with 2 TDs of his own. One on a crazy 4th and 5 that saw him scramble under pressure and find Ja’Marr Chase in the end zone, Of course we helped some with Ambry Thomas committing fairly incidental hands-to-the-face calls to negate a pick by Jimmie Ward, and a 3rd down sack by Nick Bosa. You know, we can’t get too far ahead to make the game easier.

Speaking of making the game easier, once again the Niners built a 20-6 lead early in the 2nd half, and were outscored 14-zip in the 4th quarter. Offensively and defensively, like the Seattle game, the team went flat on both sides of the bal. The important thing was 6-3 in OT, but this team needs to score consistently across the full 60 minutes to be a better more consistent team.

Hey, learn as we go? Matty Ice and Atlanta is next. The hope is we can healthy up and take someone to the woodshed. Shannys old team I’m sure wants revenge for his Super Bowl efforts on their behalf. Funny thing is, there are 5 teams one game behind us at 6-7, including those Falcons, so it would behoove this team to fucking kick someone’s ass, and give Shanny a shot at playing Trey Lance for a few series. These Goddamn nail-biters are really getting on my nerves.

Man, those Super Bowls were a long time ago. I guess it is good news we got flexed to a late local time of 4:25, but hey we still have to play. We have the usual raft of injuries, and Cincy has a strong passing game, and a solid run defense, so naturally I think we are gonna win. So far this year, this team zigs when I think it is gonna zag. 31-20

PS. Saw Lonnie Mack in 1995 in Buddy Guy’s Blues Club in Chicago. Got there about 8:00 and it was rockin’ till almost 3:00 am. Great time.

And the question is, Alex, what the fuck is wrong with the 49ers THIS year? As year 5 of the Kyle Shanahan regime staggers along, here we are once again down to a 4th running back we signed off the street in Brian (don’t call me Shaun) Hill, our team is injured up the wazoo, and the offense alternates between solid and terrible. We have no cornerbacks worth a damn as we banked on an oft-injured Jason Verrett (who lasted one game), Moseley is hurt, over-the-hill Josh Norman has been sucking large, and we even went to an even more over-the-hill Dre Kirkpatrick for a game or 3.

Sermon is hurt, Wilson is hurt, Mostert is of course hurt, and Hasty is coming off a high ankle sprain of his own. Mitchell suffered a knee injury along with his concussion last week, so again we are waiting until game day to see who our RB on the day is.

The Sermon pick in the draft looks like a complete waste when you see how well Mitchell is doing. It really seems like the guys we trade up for are immediately put into the dog house and must fight to leave it. Speaking of corners, the two CBs we DID draft have done little to nothing. Ambry Thomas, the 3rd round pick has yet to see the field as he recovers from not playing (??????) in 2020 and, 13 weeks into this season has yet to reach game shape. Demoniere Lenoir is not good at all and looks to be a wasted pick as he gives up PIs and catches like a seasoned over-the-hill vet (Norman). Throw in injured linebackers Dre Greenlaw and Fred Warner and you get the idea. Yes, football is a violent game, but whatever this training staff is doing to prepare these guys for football, it ain’t working.

The offense fluxuates between decent and horrible. The defense has been all over the place as well. Azeez Al-Shaair has been an unexpected bright spot recently, except the the horrible game he (and the whole defense) played against the injury-laden Cardinals. Special teams have been a disaster these last few games, and still we are in the playoff hunt at 6-6. Huzzah for the new playoff format.

Point to all this is, what are we? When we can run, we look pretty decent. Until Jimmy G throws a misbegotten pass to the wrong team. Jimmy says he wishes he could take one throw back from the Seattle game. My response was, I saw about 6 that he shouldn’t have thrown. Yeah, he’s pretty much a lame duck out there this season, but his happy-go-lucky approach doesn’t work when he is blindly chucking passes to no one in particular.

I guess his trade value would be better if he did better and we at least looked competent entering the playoffs, but we are at the point this season where one more loss puts us out of the playoff picture. Might be the time to at least give Lance a start. Hard to go back and forth with your QBs, but what exactly are we getting out of Jimmy but a half-assed effort? Starting Lance against a beateble Falcons team may be a start.

Not sure what it takes to get yourself fired in the NFL as these positions seem to be fairly carved in stone, but what is the deal with the special teams coach? I’m sure Richard Hightower is a good guy and is trying his best, but in the past 2 games, the special teams have been responsible for giving up 20 points. Missed field goals are one thing, but giving up a 73 yard fake punt with no one getting a hand on the guy is awful. The week before we gave up a 102 yard KO return for a TD.

Trent Cannon fumbled away a punt twice on the same play. Aiyuk makes fair catches inside the 10 yard line all the time. Him running backwards after catching the ball on the 9 was brilliant, but at least he didn’t fumble.

Hey, let’s try Travis Benjamin as a KO retuner! OK. Fumble on his 1st try. Kickoff coverage was terrible in the Seattle game and we all know what happened in the Minnesota game. Wishnowski has been punting pretty badly these days. Kickoff and punt coverage in general has been spotty.

Not that this is the only problem with the team, but this has been the most obvious. Jimmy G throwing picks is no new thing, and he is the model of inconsistency. Defensively, the same. They forced 3 3-and-outs in a row vs Seattle, but then gave up the ghost. Mainly because Emmanuel Moseley went down with a high ankle sprain. One that will keep him out for the rest of the year. Uh oh.

So, good news folks! We are going against the high-flying Bengals with our shitty backup cornerbacks Josh (call me Magnum PI) Norman, and Dontae (call me sourdough, I’m toast) Johnson. Shouldn’t be a problem.

Mainly because the NFL referees seem to have been given a mandate not to call holding penalties on whoever is facing off against Nick Bosa. Bosa is having a stellar season despite being held on about 80% of his rushes. Meanwhile Laken Tomlinson gets a holding call while doing nothing but standing near a DE. Got to love those Seattle refs.

This may be an ugly one unless we can control the clock by running. Oh yeah, Mitchell is in the concussion protocol. Wilson? Hasty? Hofer?

Don’t really want to rehash the fucking car-wreck that was this game, but yeah, what a fucking nightmare. Everyone caught a whiff of the stench that is this loss. Special teams, offense, defense, coaching, and officiating.

Funny thing is, we had a 23-14 lead late in the 2nd quarter. Then we proceeded to give up 16 unanswered points. Seems like the missed extra point really derailed our team. Whatever. Crazy fucking shit always happens in Seattle. Most consistently terrible is the officiating.

Seattle of course played this balls-to-the-wall as they always do against us, and Russell Wilson is 16-5 in his time as the Seattle QB. and we are 1-11 in our last 12 games there. So I guess we should be happy they are out of the playoff hunt if we somehow make it, we won’t have to end up in our little stadium of horrors.

Plusses are Kittle and Aiyuk both getting involved in the offense. The D created a lot of turnovers, and if not for the special teams giving away 8 points, well, the outcome may have been different.

They just need to get the funk of this game out of their jerseys and move on. Cincinnati on the road looks pretty challenging and they can score a lot.

Thanks to Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions, we are still in the playoff picture as the Vikings dropped to 5-7.

Just to be the bringer of bad news, the 49ers are 1-10 in Seattle since the 2012 season, including that horrific 2013 playoff loss. But here we are in the playoff hunt while Seattle is the one looking up at everyone in the NFC West. As we have seen, fortunes can change quickly in this parity-ridden NFL landscape. Russell Wilson, coming off his finger injury, cannot carry this team these days as the Seattle defense gives up tons of yards, and the offense is struggling to score points.

All that being said, I hate playing up there, and as noted we just don’t do well up there in Grunge country. This will be yet another game that we should win. Yet we also need to do what has worked recently. Control the clock. Run well and run often. Throw quick psses between the numbers and minimize getting Jimmy into bad 3rd and long situations.

Deebo is out, but Aiyuk has been performing up to his standards of last year. Mitchell is lead back, Wilson and Hasty will back him up as Sermon is hurt again. Time to get Kittle back into the mix as he has been forgotten as an option in the passing game.

And as usual avoid the turnovers. The only thing keeping Seattle in their games is the fact they get a lot of turnovers even as they give up tons of yards. As usual the fans will be up for this so we need to get the crowd out of the game and life will be much easier. They have turned on their team so get them down early and keep them down.

27-10 Niners.

Not quite the same as getting flexed out of Sunday Night Football, but the December 12th 49ers/Bengals game was flexed from a 10:00 AM PST start to 1:25 PST to give the game more visibility. This comes on the heels of the NFL flexing the 49ers/Seattle game this weekend out of the Sunday Night spot. The Bengals gams is on CBS (local channel 5) so adjust your schedules accordingly. 49ers Bengals holds some historical significance beyond the fact that the 6-5 49ers and the 7-4 Bengals are both in the playoff hunt.

There is of course Super Bowl XVI and Super Bowl XXVIII. Super Bowl XVI was the coming out party of our own 16, Joe Montana as the 49ers behind Bill Walsh and a rookie secondary roared through the NFL in 1981 laying to waste everyone in their path. Remarkable in its unexpectedness, and a huge rush for us fans as we had suffered through so many bad seasons after the heartbreak of the Brodie years.

Super Bowl XXVIII was the icing on the Team-of-the-80s cake as the 49ers led a stunning 85 yard drive with time running out to seal the deal as John Candy looked on from the sidelines. It would be fitting for Chris Collinsworth to call the game, seeing as his rookie season was that 1981 Super Bowl season for Cincy, and the 1988 Super Bowl season for Cincy was his last.

Speaking of flexing, Deebo, Warner, and Greelaw will all miss at least this game.

Wonder of wonders the 49ers have gone from laughing stock last place team to being the 6th seed in the NFC playoff chase. The 2-4 bottom-feeders have gone on a 4-1 run to push their way past NINE teams to get into the playoff hunt. No mean feat seeing as the Rams and Vikings were 2 of the 4 wins.

Yesterday’s game was a grab-bag of great and terrible play. Well, except for Elijah Mitchell and his 133 yards rushing, and 35 through the air. Jimmy G threw an ugly early pick. Which thankfully brought about a dressing-down by head coach Kyle Shanahan to pull his head out of his ass and look around before throwing. He hit some nice throws, mainly to Brandon Aiyuk, seeing that Deebo is now:

a) a running back, and
b) hurt

Jauan Jennings also had a solid game, getting his 1st TD and a couple tough catches in traffic. Kittle was quiet, as he is now the blocking back for the run game. Which dominated Minnesota with 204 yards. Since Kittle is now a full-time blocker, this leaves Juice as the defacto TE. He had a huge catch late to seal the game. Well, it would have sealed the game if Robbie (tarnished) Gould had not missed a 42 yard FG late. But, again, the offense controlled the clock, holding the ball for 37 of the 60 minutes.

The defense was a hot mess as consistent pressure is not happening amid Ryans’ refusal to blitz at any time. But the defense as a whole played very well in limiting the Vikes to 323 yards. Dalvin Cook had only 39 on the ground, and Cousins was picked and only threw for 238 with 2 TDs.

Azeez Al-Shaair had his 1st pick in the flat and rumbled near the goal line to give the 49ers a 28-14 lead in the 3rd quarter. Kevin Givens forced a fumble late in the 3rd that ended in a bank-shot off the right upright for what should have given the 49ers a nice cushion at 34-20 going into the 4th quarter had the not-so-special teams not promptly given up a 105 yard kickoff return, but all in all, the defense played solid against a high-powered offense.

Again, though, the special teams had a very forgettable game as Gould missed a field goal, and the kickoff coverage (with Wishnowski kicking) could very well have cost the team the game. I noticed that after the KO return, Gould was once again handling kickoff duties.

So, with the Rams and their shiny new toys stumbling to their 3rd straight loss against the Hydroxychloroquine Packers, we are one game behind LA and the 5th spot in the playoff standings.

I guess. But hey, we are in the 7 hole as of now. Final playoff spot. And we pretty much control our destiny with upcoming games vs the Rams and Vikings among the last 7 games. The Rams have a very tough roadie in Green Bay tomorrow, so in a perfect world the Rams lose, the Niners win to take the 6th spot, and we are only one game behind the 5th seed Rams.

Good news is Dre Greenlaw is off the IR and could play. Dee (found on road dead) Ford unfortunately has at least one more week on the IR according to Shanahan. Elijah Mitchell is questionable, and I’d love to have him back as Sermon doesn’t appear to be much of anything, and Hasty seemingly has passed him up, but Wilson looked OK, and I hope he looks better because I want Deebo running routes, not running up the middle. He has been a great disruptor as a running back, but still and all, he’s more disruptive as a wideout.

I’d really like to think that the AZ game was a real eye-opener for everyone on the team and in the front office that this game isn’t won on accolades and twitter posts. It isn’t won by press clippings and pre-season predictions. It is won in the trenches. It is won by not turning the ball over. It is won by not committing stupid penalties. It is won by playing 60 minutes of football, not 30, 45, or 59 minutes.

The 49ers have done that for 2 games this season. The Rams game and the Jags game. The good news is those are our last 2 games. The bad news? Well, it is consistency. Jimmy G has played well the last couple games, we haven[‘t turned the ball over, and last week especially, we only had one penalty.

Keep this up and we should be fine. And we are winners in 3 of our last 4 games.. But that one was a huge steaming turd of a game. Like to think we can win this going away like 30-20. The Vikings defense doesn’t leap off the page with anything they do well. The issue will be with our defense stopping the Kirk Cousins led offense. As usual, the play in the trenches will be a big factor.

Pressure Cousins, and he becomes average to poor. Give him time and he will hit a big play or 3. Van;t understate how big this game is Let’s hope these guys don’t come out flat and disinterested like that AZ game.

But here we are on a bit of a roll. Win this game with Minnesota and we are at worst in the 7th spot, or possibly even the 6th spot. N’Awlins is also 5-5 so we could jump them. Then there’s the interesting scenario where the Rams lose to the Packers, and we are suddenly one game back of them.

Speaking of haha, the 49ers/Seattle game on December 5th wa flexed out by the league and the network wonks in favor of the Chargers/Bengals tilt. Kinda sucks but it is more an indictment of Seattle’s 3-7 record, not really a reflection on us. Although being 5-5 isn’t anything to write home about either. FWIW the Chargers and Bengals are 7-4 and 6-4 respectively.

But let’s not get too giddy. Suffice it to say, when the run game is clicking, the team does much better. As witness by the huge time-of-possession discrepancies these last 2 games. Both the Jax and Ram games saw a TOP of 2:1, nearly 40/20 minutes. And I really have to give Shanahan kudos for kicking the FG on that 13 minute drive to open the game. Come out of that with no points, and you give the Jags a huge boost. The adage always was take the points on the road. Especially that early in the game.

Anyhow, Minnesota is 27th against the run, so they may try to overload the running lanes. We should be able to use our 4 headed rushing attack, with the newly-minted swiss army knife, Deebo Samuel providing a different wrinkle. The Minn defense isn’t very scary, but their offense has been pretty solid what with Kirk Cousins leading the way, and Dalvin Cook providing the rushing attack.

Or offense? As noted, get the run game going, and Jimmy G can do enough to put points on the board. Avoid turnovers, create a couple, and there you go. It has worked the last couple weeks anyway.

On the injury front, Dre Greenlaw and Dee F(ound) O(n) R(oad) D(ead) are cleared to practice and could play. I cannot understate how bad the team has missed Greenlaw. His speed and tackling are off the charts and his coverage area is huge. Ford? Shit, if he was a full-time player, we would be unstoppable. As it is, well, 15 plays a game would be a start.

Ths playoff push starts now.