San Francisco 49ers Forever

I tired to remember the categories from the old Brent Musberger / Jimmy the Greek days, so here goes.

Funny how this looks when you break it down. And you could easily say that we have the advantage at TE as well. Which I think we do. This looks like a wipe out.

It won’t be, but while Kansas City has some great players in Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill and Frank fucking Clark, the 49ers have great groups of players. No, our QB won’t snap off a 30 yard run, but he has won games with his arm.

KC is already talking about how the MUST stop the run. They may SAY that, but I can’t wait to see what their defense looks like when they step on the field. Will they bring up the safety(s). Pack the tackle box? If so, we should be able to KOTM (Kittle Over The Middle) them to death and then go after their DBs. They had a measly 5 picks all year. The old Bill Walsh philosophy of setting up the run game with the passing game. A la 1981.

Running back? Please. We have 3 guys better than anyone they have. D line? LB? DBs? Coaching? Intangibles. Can’t quite get a grasp on that one. WR and QB are the biggest pluses in their favor. Thing is, a dominant QB and WR group CAN change a game. But with all the teams we have faced, we have given up the least amount of big plays.

I think Kwon Williams plays 98% of the snaps, and Dre Greenlaw is out for most of it due to this. Should be a good one., but I think we bask in the end.

Day One of the Super Bowl grab-ass corporate feeding frenzy got off to what can only be described as a love fest. In a format I[ve never seen before, but in my defense, I rarely watch this shit without the Niners in it, they brought out both teams at the same time, and they all seemed genuinely thrilled to see each other. Deion Sanders had Mahomes and Jimmy G on one side; and Richard Sherman and Honey Badger on the other. Deion talked of Mahomes’ killing it in the passing game and going against the Niner D. Platitudes and smiles all around.

Same with Travis Kelce and George Kittle being interviewed by Michael Irvin. Mutual respect, blah blah blah. Shanny related a story about losing a backpack with his playbook tablet and 40 super bowl tickets in it, and Koo-Koo-Ka-Choo said something, and my eyes started glazing over at that point. But the thing is, we have come a long way from the Steelers/Cowboys or Vikings/Raiders days where there was palpable bad blood between the teams. I guess it is understandable given the player movement, and the much higher danger factor of being crippled for life at any given moment.

Yeah, there are still some grudges, say Pittsburgh and Cleveland, or Aliq Talib/Michael Crabtree, but for the most part it is Kumbaya, folks. Hey, as long as we win, all is good.

Not a big Kobe fan, and definitely not a Laker fan, but Kobe’s death yesterday sent shock waves through the sporting world. It was tough to see so many athletes breaking down over the news. Say what you will about him, but he put his heart and soul into the game he played, and gave no quarter. It was a little sad to see him play out the string after his achilles rupture, but he’s top 5 ever to play the game.

Kobe was known for his charity work during and after his career, and was heading to Mamba, his basketball academy in Thousand Oaks with his daughter Gigi and 7 others. All the families who lost loved ones must be devastated. Condolences to all involved.

It’s bad enough waiting for the Super Bowl in any given season, but when it is your team, the wait is even tougher. This first week saw little to nothing to talk about, other than the background noise that the NFL in general thinks KC is gonna win.

However, both teams pack up and head to South Beach today, and the NFL hype machine accelerates its’ way into hyperdrive. As has been noted, this looks a bit like 1984 when young hot shot Dan Marino stormed the league and threw the Dolphins into the Super Bowl. Joe Montana wasn’t exactly a stiff, but all the talk was celebrating Marino and his myriad weapons.

We all know how that turned out. Given a clean game by both sides, I think we have the advantage defensively. Mistakes and penalties always play their part, but the 49ers in recent games have been very good at minimizing both. Except or the one pick (and nearly 2) by Howie Kendrick, Jimmy G has been much better at stopping the turnovers he was making at an alarming rate. At the halfway point he himself was responsible for 11 picks and 4 lost fumbles. He had more turnovers than 9 teams. After 10 games the team had 17 turnovers. The last 8 including the playoffs we have 8.

Same with the penalties. In the first 3 games the Niners had 25 penalties for 240 yards. In the last 3 games, 12 for 76 yards. A vast improvement.

Beyond that, we have all the past heroes reconnecting with the team on how to handle this Super Bowl frenzy. Here’s a great article that Irish Kevin sent me.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/28483589/how-kyle-shanahan-san-francisco-49ers-weaponized-team-history

Funny thing happened on the way to Super Bowl glory for the 49ers. In a bit of a surprise, the dominant team of the AFC, namely Baltimore and Lamar Jackson, stumbled on their way to a rematch of the week 10 tilt. Balt repeated their one-and-done crash and burn just like last year. Tenn and Houston faded badly, and Kansas City somehow emerged from the fray as AFC champs. As such, suddenly Patrick Mahomes is the anointed one. All season, all we heard was that Jackson and the Ravens were the team no one wanted to face in the AFC.

Now it is the Chiefs that are unstoppable. Patrick Mahomes will run roughshod over our flummoxed defense, and fling pinpoint passes to his speedy receivers and crush us like bugs in the Super Bowl. Thing is, we’ve heard this all year. Many pundits said the team would be anywhere from 3-13 to 9-7. Even me, a fairly optimistic guy, had us as 6-2 at the mid-way point, but faltering under a withering schedule. I had us at 10-6 with a WC spot. After that I was unsure.

But the narrative coming out of the NFC of course was how the Rams were going to storm into the playoffs and get back to their ascendant spot in the NFC. How Aaron Rodgers would will the Packers to the top. How the resurgent Vikings would storm into the playoffs. How the high-flying Falcons would reclaim the top spot in the NFC South. How the Saints would cast off their recent playoff debacles and take the conference.

No one gave the Niners a shot. We all saw it. We all know how it came to be. How this team has won through the air, on the ground, won shootouts, won grinder games, won close battles, and stomped the shot out of some teams.

Yet, much like the 1985 49ers, this team is an afterthought. The narrative was that 1981 was a fluke, and that Dan Marino, with his rocket arm and superior firepower would lay the 49er defense to waste. How Jimmy G is yet another version of Alex Smith. A game manager who throws more picks. How our defense will be 11 deer in the headlights as bombs fly overhead for touchdowns.

And that’s the way I like it. Now, KC’s defense isn’t terrible, but like I said to my friends back in 1985, the Niner offense practices against a better defense than KC brings. I don’t think they can show us anything different or better than we haven’t seen from the best division in the NFL.

Play the humble “gee, we’re just glad to be here” card and stomp the shit out of KC on game day. KC is notorious for slow starts, and if we can get on top of them, I like our chances of not letting them back in the game.

Wily old coach who lollygagged his only Super Bowl shot away in 21 years of being a head coach?

Young upstart coach who couldn’t get a 1st down in the 2nd half with a 25 point lead and 17 minutes left in the game?

Young hotshot quarterback coming off an MVP season and about to be crowned Super Bowl champ and king of the world?

Perennial understudy game-managing quarterback who will be handing his off way to the podium?

High flying offense?

Hard hitting defense?

Even Vegas is having a hard time figuring this one out. The O/U dropped at 52.5 and all the money went to the over. In the first 24 hours of betting, there was ONE bet on the under. Vegas then jumped it to 54, and that hasn’t really changed things.

The line on the game has gone from pick ’em to -1.5 Chiefs to even -2 Chiefs. Frankly I thought the Niners would be favored by 2, but then again, I don’t see the numbers going anywhere past +/- 2 either way. Still a ton of money to be bet in the next 12 days.

GYB – “Got your back” – This has been the mantra all season of this 49er team, and it was what Raheem Mostert said to Tevin Coleman as an injured Coleman was carted off the field. A team that has gone through their share of injuries across 17 weeks of football has had 2nd stringers, 3rd stingers, and in Mostert’s case, 4th stringers step up when called upon to join his teammates in battle.

From losing D.J. Jones, Ronald Blair, and Damontre Moore, on the D line, Kwon Alexander and Dee Ford on the edges, and Ahkello Witherspoon in the defensive backfield, guys like Dre Greenlaw, Emmanuel Moseley, Al-Shaair, Sheldon Day, Earl Mitchell, and even Anthony Zettel all stepped up in various ways to keep the team’s winning ways. And, despite what looks like an injury to take Coleman out of the Super Bowl, Mostert and Matt Breida are there to pick up the slack.

But, what a game! 6-8 for 77 yards? Jimmy G really brought it. 42 rushes for 285 and 4 TDs? Unreal. Raheem Mostert ran through gaping holes all night. Therefore we didn’t need to pass at all. Starting with a 3rd and 8 from the Packers 36 yard line that turned into a 36 yard score, the 49ers ran, ran, and ran again.

The defense held Aaron Rodgers in check until it was garbage time. Davante Adams had a nice game, and 138 yards, but again, the outcome was settled. Rodgers was harassed into 2 early turnovers that sealed their fate. An early fumble on what was a promising drive that looked to cut the score to 17-7 and momentum to close the half instead led to a field goal and a 20-0 lead. The next drive was Emmanuel Moseley’s interception of a rushed Rodgers pass, which led to the game-sealing 18 yard run by Mostert.

Feels great, baby!

No, the 49ers aren’t part of the charter members of the NFL, but their history does go back to 1950 with the dissolution of the All American Football Conference and the absorption of the Niners, the Browns, and the Colts into the NFL fold. So, we’ve played the Green Bay Packers 68 times, amassing a 31-36-1 record. Our playoff record is 3-4 as well, but most of the Niner wins haven been recent, as in two of Colin Kaepernick’s playoff wins in 2012 and 2013. 2013 being pretty epic as Kaepernick threw for 263 and rushed for 181, with Frank Gore adding 113 himself in the 41-35 beatdown. I don’t want to mention the 1990s, as those playoff losses were brutal.

Because, of course the recent matchup was as good a game as this very good team has played. Amid the talk all season of the 49ers not playing anyone of substance, the 8-2 Packers took on the 9-1 Niners. And ot was an absolute dismantling of the Packers. 37-8. A game that saw the dominant Niners put up a 23 point 1st half lead. One we didn’t squander like the Houstons did last weekend. It was Aaron Rodgers’ worst passing day as a pro. The Niner defense stuffed the run, stopped the pass, and hassled Rodgers every time he dropped back to pass. Jimmy G had an efficient 14-20/243 2 TD mistake free game. Frankly, I don’t see much in the way of things being much different this time around.

Our run defense has been stout, and the return of Kwon Alexander, Jaquiski Tartt, and Dee Ford put us back in our position as the fastest and most lethal defense in the NFL. I think for now the Ahkello Witherspoon experience is on the shelf for another game as Emmanuel Moseley has proven he’s equal to the task. Witherspoon is a mercurial talent, but he’s been off since his injury earlier this year.

Stop Adams and Jones, and the game is done. Adams had 7 catches for 43 yards, and Jones had 13 carries for 38 yards. Everything Rodgers threw was underneath as he had little time to wait for plays to develop, and he was sacked 5 times.

Funny, at the start of the playoffs I was worried about the Seahawks, the Saints, and the Ravens., and the Chiefs. Three out of four are gone. Thanks to a fast start, and Seattle running out of time, we have the Green Bay Packers traveling west to face us in the NFC Championship game. Yes, a team we faltered against way back in 1995, 1996, and 1997.

Trust me, I saw 1997 NFC Championship game loss, and the 1996 divisional loss. Both were rainy miserable games and we were sitting on the pull-out side. Meaning sitting in the rain all day. They even knocked us out of the 2001 playoffs. Next year of course was Jeff Garcia’s furious comeback in the WC game against the NY Giants only to lose to the Pack again.

Recent history is much kinder. We stomped them silly in week 11 here at Levi’s 37 – 8. In 2011 and 2012, the Niners stomped the Packers to advance in the playoffs. Revenge then was a nice dish, but it was cold as we didn’t finish the deal.

Nex Sunday? I think the 49ers can run at will on these guys. Green Bay was 23rd in yards given up running. Stop Davante Adams and you stop Green Bay.

So, a lot of history to sift through, but like we showed against Minnesota, history don’t mean shit.

Sunday, Jan. 19
AFC Championship 
Titans at Chiefs, 12:05 p.m. ET (CBS, stream on CBS All Access here)

NFC Championship
Packers at 49ers, 3:40 p.m. ET (Fox, stream on fuboTV here)

Very good to see the defense come together right as the playoffs rolled around. To a man, everyone said the bye week was crucial. One play. Gigantic implications. Dre Greenlaw would be the hero of the year for his stoning of Hollister 6″ short of the goal line, and he will never buy a drink in the Bay Area forever.

Meanwhile, the return of Dee Ford and Kwon Alexander saw the resurgence of the vaunted pass rush that stymied so many teams early this season. Ford’s stat line was 1 sack and 1 TFL, but his presence allowed Bosa to run free for 6 tackles and 2 sacks. Everyone on the D line, including recent acquisition Tony Zettel, got sack. Kwon Alexander didn’t even get on the stat line, but just having his speed out there caused Minnesota problems.

The name of the ore-game story was stopping Dalvin Cook to slow the play-action passing game. Well, 9 carries for 18 yards is pretty suffocating.

The offense started guns blazing. On an 8 play, 61 yard drive, Jimmy G threw 6 times, ending with a 3 yard strike to Kendrick Bourne. The rest was a series of 7 yard runs by Tevin Coleman. To the tune of 22 carries, 105 yards. Speaking of Kendrick, Eddie Kendricks provided the only bright spot for Minnesota as he picked off an ill-advised Jimmy G pass late in the 2nd quarter. It turned into a measly 3 points, and ther 49ers never looked back.

Today, we have the improbable Houstons against the venerable Chiefs. With the path cleared by the Tennessee Tuxedos for the Chiefs, I see walk-through for KC. I’ll keep my earlier prediction of 35-20 KC.

After yesterday’s outlandish stomping of the Ravens by the Titans, I’m going with Green Bay to beast Seattle handily, 28-17 (read the Post of the Day!).

Sunday, January 12, 2020

No. 4 Texans at No. 2 Chiefs, 12:05 p.m. PT (CBS, stream on CBS All Access here)
No. 5 Seahawks at No. 2 Packers, 3:40 p.m. PT (Fox, stream on fuboTV here)