Forty Niners Forever

AKA, hopeless vs Seattle. Looks like this is shaping up to be another confusing mess of a season. Seattle, the team i think is going to hit the skids, even more so now without Russell Wilson, stands atop the NFC West with a hugely bizarre game against Russell Wilson’s new team. If humanly possible, Denver played a worse game that the 49ers. 3 trips inside the 3 to take the lead resulted in 2 fumbles, myriad penalties, and a grand total of 3 points.

Denver coach Nate Hackett (49ers QB coach Paul Hackett’s son) decided to run the clock down with 45 seconds and a 4th and 5 from the Seattle 48 yard line. A 65 yard FG. You have Russell Wilson for fuck’s sake. Go for it.

Anyhow, Geno Smith came out throwing short passes very effectively and got Seattle in the end zone twice for a 17-10 halftime lead. the 2nd half was a little more real as Seattle did nothing on offense and Denver marched up and down the field only to fumble away their chances. And their 12 penalties didn’t help.

What does that mean for the 49ers? Who knows? Are we as bad as that Bears game? Ask the Rams. Or the Cowboys. Well, the Cowboys ARE fucked with Dak out 2 months. One thing about Shanahan that I have to give him credit for is he usually comes back strong after a terrible loss. The 49ers started their run after that completely demoralizing loss to the Cards at home last year.

We are down our #1 RB again. But beyond that, we didn’t have too many injuries. Javon Kinlaw missed a few plays with an ankle sprain, but he came back and played.

Tell ya one thing, falling behind Seattle 2 games to open the season would be a bitch. Shanny and Co better devise some better protections for Lance in this game. Seattle’s defense played pretty well last night, and we know how snakebit Shanny is by Carroll.

I’m in a pick ’em football tourney, and wow. 6-9. I’m hoping I reach 7 tonight with the Broncos beating the hapless 0-3 NFC West denizens, Seattle.

But, the Super Bowl teams were both losers. The Giants beat Tennessee, KC did fine without T Hill, Miami won with T Hill, Green Bay did horrible without DaVante Adams, the Raiders lost WITH DaVante Adams, and a bunch of these games were decided in the end on either missed or made FGs. Cincy missed an extra point with no time left to win as their long snapped got hurt, and the Steelers won in OT. Indy and Houston played to a tie.

Then there’s us. What should have been a nice tune up win turned into a penalty-filled shit-fest as the defense committed 3 penalties on 3rd down to extend 3 different drives, both the offense and defense disappeared in the 2nd half to allow the 19 unanswered points, the Bears were singing in the rain after being outplayed for 3 quarters.

A very familiar story in the Shanahan era. Blowing leads late. Ever since that amazingly disastrous Super Bowl when OC Kyle Shanahn led the Falcons from a 28-3 lead to a 34-28 defeat at the hands of Tom Brady (31 unaswered points!), he’s had an amazing knack of gagging down the stretch. Whether by being too aggressive (Falcon game) too conservative (NFCCG, KC Super Bowl), goes wimpy on defense (yesterday), or whatever, Shanahan with a lead in the 4th quarter seems to be the kiss of death for the team.

Chicago started the game paying conservative, and it didn’t work. By the 3rd quarter however, Chicago tried going deeper with their passes. It didn’t really work until the ONE broken play to Pettis. It changed the entire dynamic. After that play the Niners defense played off the WRs to prevent the big play, and instead gave up easy short passes. So, we allowed them to go back to their original formula of short passes to slowly march down the field. All the pressure that we had put on Fields vanished as Chicago negated our pass rush with quick passes and decent runs.

Our run game was non-existent. Even though we got 176 yards on the ground, only 63 came from the RBs. Deebo, who is not even a part of the passing game anymore (2 catches, 14 yards), got 54 yards, and Lance 52. Mitchell is likely out for a long time, and Wilson isn’t gonna make anyone forget Raheem Mostert. Run blocking was bad, and pass blocking was worse. The Bears 4 man rush got pressure all game, and we did nothing to negate that. Dropping 7 guys into coverage allowed the Bears to stop our passing game.

We were out-coached.

Here’s an idea, Shanny. Since you insist on using Deebo as a running back, THROW to him out of the backfield. This would force defenses to cover him with a linebacker/safety.

Well, this is yet another Shanahan special. Another defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. Give Shanny a 4th quarter lead and he’ll figure out how to blow it. Sure, the team made a ton of mistakes but really, Shanahan plays the game so close to the vest for 3 quarters that he leaves the Bears in the game long enough for them to come back and win going away. The FG drive we had Aiyuk on the edge 1 on 1. Do we play-action to that side? Nope. We run up the middle for a 2 yard loss. Fuck.

Throw in 12 penalties, a bad throw by Lance, too many run plays to Deebo to go along with his fumble, and there you have it. An awful loss to a shitty team that we left hanging around. I was furious at the end of the season last year due to Shanahan and his inability to close the game, and I’m still in the same place now. Deebo should NOT be running so much. The Bears, who have a terrible defense somehow blanketed Aiyuk and Samuel to 4 catches for 54 yards. We threw downfield successfully 3 times in the 1st half, and of course We ran the ball all over the place. 176 yards. all to no avail.

Dre Greenlaw continues to be the drive-extending idiot on very important plays as he committed a needless facemask on 3rd and 12. The early penalty was bullshit, but so wa the call on Aiyuk for OPI. The refs did their damnedest to keep Chicago in the game, and they finally responded on a broken play on, you guessed it, 3rd and long. But they had a LOT of company in the penalty department. Our vaunted defense gave up one broken play for a TD on 3rd and long, and we simply fell apart. We went soft and got no pressure on Fields in the 2nd half.

We failed in every aspect of the game. Well, special teams didn’t do anything wrong.

But once again a Shanahan-led team trips and falls late. And he’s NEVER the one taking the heat for it.

Shanahan and company were absolutely out-coached today. Plain and simple. He went from conservative to more conservative. Matt (who the fuck am I?) Eberflus went into attack mode as the defense played scared and soft late to let the Bears march down the field to take the lead.

These off-seasons that aren’t really off-seasons inexorably move to a point in time where we ACTUALLY PLAY THE GAME!!!And here we are. There have been 2,355,873 articles written about our starting quarterback. There have been 4,348,294 articles written about our backup quarterback. Some good, most bad, and all utter garbage.

It is time to PLAY!!! Lance is getting his shot. Hopefully he will be successful, but no one knows. The NFL has created this 24/7/365 miasma of fucktitude and trashtrolling of any player or team that is coming up, seen as a possible star, or a possible bust. Not sure why he has generated more babbling than draftmates Mac Jones and Justin Fields combined but this is the cycle of madness. Sure, they’ve got a season in the NFL under their belts, but I mean really, DeShaun Watson gets less anger thrown his way than Trey. Jones went to a solid team and did fine. Fields went to a shitty team and struggled.

And, as the NFL would have it, we PLAY that shitty team. Da Bearsss. Just as Seattle plays the best QB to be run out of a given town, Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos. Just as Baker Mayfield takes his Carolina Panthers up against his old team, the factory of sadness. Soon to be renamed the factory of sex offenders, but hey, got to give the NFL credit for getting these matchups on the books for the opening Sunday of the 2022 season.

We all know what we have and what we are. Kittle is becoming a little more fragile that I’d like to see, but I’m more worried about the O line.

Still and all, we should roll over the Bears like the Bills rolled the Rams. 30-13 Niners.

Let’s ROLL!!!

Or, As the Stomach Turns? Or, The Edge of Wetness? Die Nasty? Genital Hospital?

Funny, it sure didn’t take long for the narrative to shift from “wow, the 49ers re-signed Jimmy” to “by what game will the 49ers pull Trey Lance and insert Jimmy?” I even heard a question by one of the babbling nabobs yesterday on 95.7 the Game asking whether they thought Jimmy would be the #2 quarterback or not. Yeah, Purdy should be the #2.

My thought was, of course not. You don’t re-sign Jimmy and let him be the backup. You put him 3rd string so, he can, uh, well . . . knit blankets? Has the world gone mad? I swear, there is no such thing as journalism anymore. Everything is the hot take. Peter King came out and said that the Niners will make the Super Bowl. Then two days later he came out and said that Jimmy would replace Lance by the week 7 game against KC. Not really sure how that works, but hey, I don’t get paid to write drivel and spew inanities all day and night. Sure, I do it here, but I ain’t getting paid.

Lance even came out last weekend and said he was initially ‘annoyed’ by the Jimmy G signing. Well, that was ‘reported’ by SI’s Albert Breer. Lance’s reaction was ‘Huh?’

Breer immediately had to walk back his comment because it was utter fabrication, and that it was ‘presumptive’ of him to assume that Lance was annoyed. Instead, Breer said it was ‘complicated’. As in it was complicated in BREER’S head as to what Lance’s reaction may or may not have been in the immediate aftermath. But I bet he met his click quota.

I guess the deal is, write something outlandish and get ready to backpedal furiously.

Now, the big red herring on the table is that Justin Fields is pegging this as a ‘revenge’ type game because the 49ers passed him over in favor of Trey Lance. This is coming from Chicago WR Darrell Mooney. Ooooh. Wow. Are we quaking in our cleats? Oh no!! At least this came from a player, not an idiot scribe, but Fields, when asked for his thoughts, said: “I’m happy to be here. We’re here to play ball. We’re not worried about last year’s draft.”

Right you are, Justin. Another nothingburger. Of course the media points to this game being the sole determinant in who made the right choice at quarterback.

Whatevs. The 49ers will go 21-0 this season and win the Super Bowl, Lance will throw for 6,500 yards, throw 42 TDs and 1 pick, rush for 1,700 yards, and score 11 rushing touchdowns and be the Super Bowl MVP.

I’m betting my house on it.

The 49ers got their roster down to 53. Just a few surprises. The biggest being Nate Sudsy Sudfeld getting the heave-ho. Purdy pretty much matched the output (good and bad) of Sudfelt, so they went with the young guy. Thus continuing the downward spiral of quarterbacks named Nate.

I would have shit-canned Sermon over Hasty, and Skule is a little bit of a head-scratcher as he was decent covering a few line spots, and they lack experience and consistency on the O line. Cutting Jordan Willis I guess shows the depth we have on the D line.

Poe will likely land on the practice squad. Castro-Fields as well. Same with Q Knight. They all showed flashes of talent. I think we can put Hasty on the PS but I’m not sure. They recently changed the rules.

And, in the biggest surprise, UDFA GA Tech RB Jordan Mason made the 53 man roster. I’m sure he’ll pass Trey Sermon on the depth chart by Friday.

Here are the moves made.

As far as the practice squad goes, it can now hold 16 players – with 6 having more that 2 years NFL experience. The signings will be happening all day today. I’ll update as needed.

Are you kidding me? Hard to spin this any other way other than the front office and coaching staff has little to no confidence in Trey Lance being the quarterback of the future. At least this season. In a move I never saw coming, the 49ers hedged their bet with the guy that cost them 3 draft choices by signing Jimmy Capocola to a one-year $6.5 million deal. Either that or they will cut him after the week 2 Seahawks game.

I can’t even believe Jimmy would agree to this other than to think the team said, you can fight for your starting spot. Which makes little sense as they aren’t gonna bail now. At least I hope they don’t. I guess this isn’t terrible thing as Sudfeld (bye) and Purty sure aren’t anything but greener than Trey, but still, after hearing for 2 years how the plan is on schedule, they pull this out from under the feet of the soon-to-be starter.

For all intents and purposes, Jimmy is a great guy who is all about the team, and the players have always rallied around him, but this sure seems odd that they but both these guys in a fucking weird position. One bad game and the clamor will start.

What this also brings up is the fact that Shanny will have no compunction running Lance all over the place since he has his backup ready to go.

Don’t like this move at all, but I guess it is worth $6.5 mill to keep Jimmy off the Seahawks.

Well, thank God that was a practice game. Unfortunately, this team looks like it is going backwards. Whatever that was, it was bad. Sure, we didn’t have Deebo, Kittle, Aiyuk, Mitchell, Williams, and McGlinchey playing, but you’d think the offense would have done something. Even the meaningless 4th quarter touchdown would have done something for the guys, but alas, that pass was dropped by Norm Snead the IV. Soon to be Norm Snead the ex-football player.

10 penalties for 100 yards was also a bit unnerving as this kind of shit has been an issue in the Shanahan era. False starts mainly. This shows a lack of cohesion and discipline. Still and all, it was a tune up game. Thankfully they have 17 days to work on things.

On defense, Samuel Womack continues to impress with his solid breakup of a TD pass that turned into a pick, and another play on a TD pass that he broke up but was called for PI. Iffy call, but hey, he’s in there breaking passes up. We were also pretty much not playing our star defense with Bosa, Warner, Kinlaw, Greenlaw, Moseley, C Ward, and AA all on the sidelines.

So, not much to take from this game other than it gives the coaching staff something to point at and say, don’t try to pull this shit off in the regular season. I’m glad they lost because I remember the bad old days of Aluminum Mike Singletary saying ‘Every win is important,’ going 4-0 in the preseason, and then going 4-12 in the regular season. So, no, pre-season games are not important.

Hopefully we can pick up some interior line help come cut-down day. But it is now the quiet before the storm.

Hmmm, haven’t listened to Yes in a while. they were a fun band back in the day. Saw a great show at the Coliseum Arena in like 1978. Halfway through the show, Rick Wakemen’s keyboard miasma caught on fire, and they had to stop the show for 45 minutes while they put out and reassembled the plethora of keyboards, Moogs, and wires galore. Still a great show.

Speaking of great shows, we are getting closer to the real thing. The Jimmie Ward injury prompted the signing of Tashaun Gipson. And also the reincarnation of Dontae Johnson as he is now getting time at safety. He’s the guy that just doesn’t go away. He’s sometimes in the right place at the right time, but more often than not he’s a penalty or a burn waiting to happen. Hope Gipson catches on fast.

Other than that, the defense looks great. Should be dominant.

The offense is hard to gauge as we haven’t put the real guys on the field yet. I suppose we think we are good enough to treat the Bears game as a tune-up for the offense, as Chicago is pretty much a mess all over the place. We shouldn’t have too much trouble with them running or passing. But then again, anything can happen in the NFL these days. And this is more true now than ever.

Teams fly up and down the good/bad charts faster than shit through a goose, so last year’s turd is this year’s diamond. Shit, we were a dropped pick from the Super Bowl last year, and I don’t think anyone thought we were for real. Including me. The only time I felt comfortable in the playoffs was when we were to face the Rams. The game we fucking lost. Then again, it was still pretty sweet to knock both the Packers and the Cowsills out of the playoffs.

We are better defensively. That is certain.

The O is the Q.

Only big fuckup was the goal line fumble. All in all the worrisome thing is the interior line was our starters. Not sure about the center, but Banks and Sutherland were bad. 3 sacks and a lot of pressure.

Lots of drops by both teams, but this was mainly 2nd and 3rd string guys. DBs are making plays all over. Womack especially. Run game showed signs of life among a lot of short gains. And a boatload of false starts. Quick preseason ends next Thursday. The real thing awaits!