Forty Niners Forever

Fuck. Plenty of blame to go around in the 4th quarter melt down. Maybe Skip Bayless is right and we go after Tom Brady. I kid, I kid. Shanny fucked up the time management at the end of the 1st half. Burning 1:45 to ensure the tie rather than go for points to close out the half. Even still, if not for the OPI on Kittle, the Niners get a field goal.

Game calling was bad down the stretch as well. Shanny went away from the run with the lead intact at 20-17. 5 yard run on 1st down, followed by 2 inc’s. Punt. To that point Jimmy G was 9-12 and 195, but the wheels fell off and we

The defense, which was holding down Mahomes, and had forced 2 picks, suddenly looked old and slow. Sherm got flat toasted on a 38 yard pass. Tyreek Hill got wide open on a 3rd and 15 flail that Jimmy Ward simply blew. Tavarius Moore’s terrible PI play on Kelce on 3rd down that would have held KC to a FG. He turns around, he possibly picks it off. At the worst, defends the play.

Jimmy G flat missed a wide open Emmanuel Sanders on a deep middle route when it was 24-20 KC. He also missed the play completely on a pass designed for Kittle late in the 1st half (and he was open) that Jimmy threw underneath to Coleman short of the 1st down and we settled for a FG.

What is so maddening is the game was in our hands. 20-10 lead and we get a pick with 11:05 left. KC’s defense ended up making the plays in the 4th quarter as we crapped out. Fat Bastard gets his elusive ring, and we go wanting yet again.

Fuck.

Game day is finally here!!! We’ve all heard the talk, seen the replays, listened to the pundits, and understand that Shakira and J Lo are the halftime show. Time to play the game!

We’ve gone over the matchups and position battles, and even the history of the Niners in their quest to get their 6th trophy. The pundits have all weighed in, even the bettors have raised the point spread to -2 for the Chiefs in certain books. Among all the talk, one thing I didn’t mention was the coaching.

In the end, I think Kyle Shanahan calls a better game than the Walrus. Koo-Koo-Ka-Choo, once a bridesmaid, always a bridesmaid. KC is relying too heavily on their offense, and I think we can slow them enough to win. They will score, but we will slow them down enough to take this.

We have almost hit the weekend anyway, as the clock slows down to a crawl as we (I think) get closer and closer to KICKOFF!!!!!! at 3:30 pm.

Fortunately, I don’t really watch too too much regular TV so I’ve missed out on:

a) The Kobe Bryant sainthood proceedings (according to Bob Costas, it’s “OK” to be a rapist if you can play basketball well), and

b) The Super Bowl hype machine.

It was weird to watch the teams come out together on Monday and hang around each other, but that’s today’s NFL. No one is saying too much to be bulletin board fodder, but Frank Clark did say that KC’s main goal is to put the game into Jimmy G’s hands by stopping our run game. Frank Clark was also spotted this morning wearing a hoodie with Trump and Kanye on it for some reason. But I digress.

Other than that, the pundits are all behind KC for the most part as their offense cannot be stopped and we are merely pretenders. This game, like most of them, will be won in the trenches. I like our lines over KCs.

Mahomes is the X factor in all this of course, as he can make hay out of shit, but the defense just needs to stay in their assigned spots and not let Mahomes run around and buy time. Tennessee did it with Lamar Jackson by pressing in from all sides, and not letting Jackson break contain.

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!