Forty Niners Forever

Well, down to our 3rd string QB, we get to see our team creep toward what will hopefully be a top 10 pick in the draft. Deetroit is doing all they can to hit bottom by getting waxed by TB. Stafford went out early, so Lions fans get a preview of life without him as their offense still hasn’t hit 100 yards in the 4th quarter.

47-7, and the score is closer than it should be.

Kittle is back so maybe there will be a little fun out there. Fuck, I don;t care. I just don’t want to see us making so many stupid turnovers. Win, lose, whatever. Just don’t play like you are a fucking also-ran. We’re the goddamn defending NFC champs for fuck’s sake.

Hope y’all had a Merry Christmas. Funny watching Gaine Blabbert winging TDs all over the place for the Bucs.

The Del Boca Vista Bowl is on tonight, pitting the BYU Cougars against the University of Central Florida Knights. Who cares, you say? Well, Zach Wilson, a possible QB to go after in the upcoming 2021 draft is playing. Wilson is 6’3, 210 lb, has a strong arm, is mobile, and can make all the throws required of a pro-style QB. He is compared to one Patrick Mahomes as he does well improvising, and making plays on the fly.

We of course are in the hunt for a QB, and even though Wilson has not declared whether he will go back for his senior year, and therefore is off as lot of draft boards, I’m positive he will go in the top 15. We are #12, but that might not even be high enough to get him. He is creeping up draft boards, and we should pull the trigger. Unless of course Trey Lance somehow falls to us. I don’t see that happening given the need for QBs for the bottom-feeders, but again, who knows? Even then, Trey Lance worries me as being Carson Benchedz-ish. I wonder if they’d take Wilson over Lance regardless.

No one gets these drafts right, so hey let’s tart throwing darts.

Boca Raton Bowl
4:00 PM
ESPN

And for extra added fun, the Warriors are going up against their once and former star Kevin Durant.

Warriors vs Brooklyn Nets
4:00 PM
TNT

Wow. That was fun. Spot the woeful Cowboys 14 points and play catch-up the rest of the way. Nick Mullens continued his quest to lead the world in turnovers with an early fumble deep in his own territory for 7, preceded of course by a Rick (would you like cream in your coffee?) James fumble on Dallas’ first punt. Mullens keeps on keeping on giving points to both teams. He had some very nice drives and he had some horrible throws.

The defense once again was defending drives of 20 yards and under. We actually pressured Ginger a few times, but whatever. 4 turnovers a game seems to be the norm now. Raheem Mostert got hurt again, but even still, the offense had some nice plays. Till they didn’t.

We are all but assured 5-11 given the upcoming opponents, so there’s that. Stupid thing is, the offense and defense have played well enough to 7-7. Minus all those goddamn turnovers. But, the draft position is in play. Hooray us.

Yeah, usually this game would mean something, even in a down year. But this year as about as down as you can get. Sure, it’s the Cowboys, Sure it’s in Dallas. but they lost Dak, we lost everyone, the stands will be mostly empty, and both teams are on life-support, but hey, it’s football and it’s on.

All I look forward to is seeing Jerry Jones’ face after he loses a game to our depleted lineup.

Bring it on.

Can’t quite believe Mullens is still considered our best chance at victory these days. Then again, maybe it IS a tank job by the coaching staff to ensure the highest draft spot possible. After that stirring Ram victory, a couple victories against the woeful NFC East seemed possible, even likely. But Shrivel-Dick Nick has been on a mission to fumble and intercept his way to being a Walmart check-out guy.

10 picks and 5 fumbles against 10 TDs is not a very good average. Shanny has gone over ball security over and over with him, including halftime last week. So, naturally, Mullens fumbles the ball away for a TD the other way. The defense did no favors for the offense in the Buffalo game, certainly played well enough these past couple losses to win games, but when your QB is giving the ball away all the time, the margin of error becomes a negative number.

So next up we have the Dallas Cowboys. Normally I’d be jazzed for some kind of ass-whipping as these guys are fairly bet-up themselves and no one likes beating the Boys more than I do. However, the braintrust thinks Mullens will majically not fuck THIS one up. His last clean start without a fumble or pick was his first start this year. Against the Giants. Philly? 2 picks and a fumble. GB? 1 pick 1 fumble. NO? 2 picks. LAR? 1 pick. Buff? 2 picks. Wash? Pick 6, and fumble-6.

And The Beater sits. The guy we used a 3rd round pick on. The guy who somehow can’t pass undrafted fuck up Mullens on the depth chart. I don’t get it.

The 49ers offense outscored the Washington offense 15-6, but the 49ers offense gave Washington 17 points courtesy of two defensive TDs and a Wilson fumble. Rookie #2 pick Chase Young lived up to his name chasing Nick Mullens all over the place, batting down passes, causing fumbles and scoring a touchdown.

For al the suck that is Nick Mullens, he’s an undrafted backup QB. More troublesome is our 2018 #1 pick Mike McGlinchey getting absolutely schooled again and again in pass protection. He has not had a good season, and the entire line is battling injury and all, but it isn’t doing much. Trent Williams is not living up to the hype, and the interior line is a mess. We’ve had four centers, and our nominal starter has been hurt most of his time here.

So, that’s a concern going into the offseason since we have played ourselves out of the postseason. Also of course is the quarterback spot. Jimmy G would be best served just waiting till next year. Along with George Kittle. No need to put them in harm’s way until the games matter. Which will be next September.

And the cornerback position as well. Sherman, Moseley, Verrett, Williams, Taylor, Witherspoon, Johnson, and every other corner’s contract is up. Sherman, and Witherspoon are guaranteed gone, Verrett will likely have played so well, we won’t be able to afford him, Johnson sucks, Moseley they should keep, Williams as well.

But this is a spot we should have addressed last draft as the CB class was deep. THe draft is going to be very important as we have a lot of players coming off the books (Ford, Sherman, Witherspoon, McKinnon, Coleman, to name the higher-priced guys) but we will have little cap room. The draft is very important.

Play out the string. Ret the starters. No Jimmy, no Kittle, hope Zach Wilson is there. I can’t see us trading up, but we may forego the 2022 draft to get a QB this season.

Two 5-7 teams, both with playoff hopes, but one hanging by their fingernails, and one tied for 1st place. One with a steady vet, one with an inconsistent backup. As with all of our games under Mullens, the guy has to stop turning the ball over. 9 picks and 4 fumbles in 8 games is not going to win you many games. And just to add to the injury mix, linemen DJ Jones and Kevin Givens are on the COVID list and won’t play. Backup O lineman Tom Compton is out with his 2nd concussion in 3 weeks, so rookie Colton McKivitz gets the nod. And we get another dose of K Street. Let’s see if he can get through a game without a killer penalty. And rookie DT who I never heard of, Darrion Daniels, gets the nod off of the practice squad. I thinks he’s our 21 call-up from the practice squad.

I guess we get to see if the Giants are for real as well as they try to climb to respectability against AZ in the late-breaking NFC East.

Wow. 1st series, turnover machine Daniel Jones fumbles and AZ recovers on the Giants 8. Giants hold on 4th and 1.

Seattle has the Jets and their joke of a team as Adam Gase continues to somehow have a job despite being winless at 0-12, and amazingly being ‘distracted’ on the final play of the game. Gee coach, thinking about the post game cocktail?

Rams already won and I guess if we somehow win, the playoff picture will change accordingly and we will still be on the fringes. We need to somehow make that AZ game matter. That means beating the No-Skins and Cowboys.

Who knows? Strange seeing the Rams obliterate the rest of the NFL while they trip over their dicks against us. Hey, that’s the NFL. Some teams have your number. Kinda like the rest of the league and us. But I digress.

Next up is the triumphant return of Young Sir Alex Smith to the friendly confines of Candlestick Park to reprise his most famous payoff win against the Saints in 2011. Well, there are a ton of things wrong with this last sentence, but it sure would have been something to see Smith playing here to a packed house after all he went through lo so many years ago.

Smith of course went through his time in KC playing well but never getting far in the playoffs. Washington? Winning at all there is a challenge to say the least, and he was doing OK, but his leg injury in 2018 was the stuff of horror shows. The fact he’s even walking is a testament to his toughness. So, his legacy of being fair to middling will likely never leave him, but his toughness in the face of nearly dying of major blood and tissue infections, nearly having his leg amputated, and then coming back from it to play again is undeniable. The fact he’s back on the field, and winning to boot, is flat remarkable. Sure he’s not flinging 60 yard bombs all over the place, but he wasn’t really doing that before the injury. And hey, he beat the undefeated Steelers.

Sure, I want to beat his ass, but I still have mad respect for the guy.

Oh, there goes gravity. Oh well. A game that started out with the 49er defense giving up 74 yards and no points kept on giving up yards and points as the Bills marched up and down the field at will as the 49ers offered little resistance. Not a good look for Saleh as the Bills saw us defending the run on 1st down and shredded the short zone and they were averaging what looked like 10 yards per 1st down play. The one highlight was negated by a hold by herman, which may have stopped a TD based on how Josh Allen was hitting his targets.

The ONLY shot at putting Buffalo in a stressful 3rd down while the game was in reach was negated by a dumb roughing the passer call on Kentavius Street. 3rd and 18 from the 40 turned into 1st and 10 from the 25. Oooops.

The most glaring issues with the defense were the non-existent pass rush, and the absolute ease at which guys were getting open. 1st down quick passes negated the pass rush anyway, but not having K’Waun Williams, Emmanuel Moseley, and even Javon Taylor hurt the defense. Mainly because when you have the 5 time cut guy Dontae Johnson on the field, you know where the other team is gonna go. And Cole Beasley didn’t disappoint. 9 catches, 130 yards, one TD.

Doghouse denizen Ahkello Witherspoon was a healthy scratch. So that is bothersome. He’s obviously better than Johnson, but they will let him stew on the sidelines while they wait till the cutting.

The offense was a mixed bag of shit as once Buffalo stopped our run game, Mullens couldn’t really get in a groove and do too much out there. Sure, there were flashes, and the pass pro wasn’t horrible, but he still misses too many passes. Like Bourne on the goal line, and the subsequent pick on the next play when there was still a tiny bit of hope. Mostert was in for a couple plays and then didn’t play till late in the 3rd. Deebo Samuel didn’t catch a pass till the middle of the 3rd.

Just weird shit all around. No the jet sweeps, which seem to work a lot. We still seem reluctant to throw quick passes. Slants. Allen did it all game with ease. With this team, none of the passing plays seem to happen fast enough. Mullens actually hit a couple deep passes, so that was refreshing to see. But this team seems to really struggle when forced to adjust when teams stop the run. Buffalo came out of the 2nd half running as we went to man coverage to try and stop the quick passes. And when the run game worked, they torched our secondary.

No pass rush and Allen was easily buying time when we finally did give a little pressure. 32-40 375 and 4 TDs? If that isn’t perfect, then I don’t know what is.

And how the fuck does Adam Gase keep his job?

Well, I guess the extra playoff courtesy of Jolly Roger spot was a good idea. It keeps us in the mix for defending our NFC crown anyway. A crown that would be easier to keep if we can win tonight against the Buffalo Bills.

6-6 would put is in a tie with AZ and Minnesota, and depending on how things roll, we could win the tiebreakers with both teams. Us beating AZ in our/their house would be another hurdle, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. Really, even at 5-7 we’d still have an outside shot given the vagaries of this bizarre season, but fuck that. Lets win this bitch. If we somehow win out, it would guarantee us a playoff spot. Even 4-1 would likely get us in as Minn has some tough games ahead, and we have our matchup with AZ as long as that loss iasn’t AZ.

The thing about Buffalo is that teams have run on them very well. And with Mostert back and killing it, and Wilson as well, we should be able to control the clock. As long as they have both remembered how to not fumble. And we also have Brandon Aiyuk back. He of the hurdling, slashing running style on those Deebo Samuel jet sweeps we all love so much.

Defensively we are slowly getting better and better. Enough can’t be said about the steadying presence of Richard Sherman back on the field. The pressure on Goff was just enough to throw him off a bit, and the hope is we can keep that pressure up. Givens and Hyder have really stepped in well. With DJ Jones back from the COVID list, our D line is getting somewhat healthy. K’Waun Williams is out, as expected, and Emmanuel Moseley is questionable. Losing Jamar Taylor hurts as he was playing very well, but Witherspoon is gonna have to strap it on and do his work.

This should be a tough game, but if we limit the mistakes (NO fumbles allowed) then we can bring this one home.

28-20 Niners.