GDT: 49ERS VS CHIEFS

[CrimsonCrew]

Mike Lombardi said there was no way the Chiefs should have gone the whole game without being called for one holding call.

He also said the 49ers need diversity of defenses. No matter how good they are in the cover 3, eventually hitters are going to catch up to the great fastball if that's all you use the whole game.

The holding was egregious at times. It's hard to blame the officials for this one, but given that they called two close ones against the Niners (I think both Kittle and Moore committed PI, but you could easily defend not throwing the flag on either one), it's pretty ridiculous our DL didn't draw a single hole. There were some totally blatant ones.

[wco81]

Hold by Fisher on Bosa on that 3rd and 15.

Mahomes dropped back 9 steps to buy time for Hill to get downfield.

[NinerSickness]

To me this loss was 100% on our offense/Kyle/Jimmy/interior oline.

Yeah, sticking with Mike Person is one of those mysteries of the NFL. That guy suck so much ass...

He has photos of John Lynch with a male hooker.

[CrimsonCrew]

Not really sure where to post this one, so I might stick it in a few places. Not a good look, IMO:

https://www.tmz.com/2020/02/03/49ers-host-crazy-post-super-bowl-after-party-lil-wayne-dababy/

I certainly wasn't in the mood to celebrate last night, and I wasn't a player on the losing team. It's a bit different for professionals, but I just don't like seeing our guys celebrating after a loss.

The source is TMZ, so take it with a grain of salt, but I'm pretty sure the guy in the checkered shirt with the girl hanging all over him is Jucsczyk. The guys on stage actually look fairly subdued given the situation. I can't say with certainty who any of them are.

[Ray_Dogg]

Not really sure where to post this one, so I might stick it in a few places. Not a good look, IMO:

https://www.tmz.com/2020/02/03/49ers-host-crazy-post-super-bowl-after-party-lil-wayne-dababy/

I certainly wasn't in the mood to celebrate last night, and I wasn't a player on the losing team. It's a bit different for professionals, but I just don't like seeing our guys celebrating after a loss.

The source is TMZ, so take it with a grain of salt, but I'm pretty sure the guy in the checkered shirt with the girl hanging all over him is Jucsczyk. The guys on stage actually look fairly subdued given the situation. I can't say with certainty who any of them are.

This party was setup before the game. It was supposed to be a celebration after winning the game, whoops. Some of the players decided to go ahead and attend.

[CrimsonCrew]

I've been thinking a lot about this game, and I want to preface this by saying that the officials did not cost us this one. Even with some close calls that went against us - and some that were not close that were not called - we could and should have won this game. That said, although I believe Kittle did push off on that long ball at the end of the half, in the larger context of how this game was called (i.e., only calling penalties they could not possibly avoid, and sometimes not even those), it's ridiculous that drew a call. It was a close call, and they just weren't throwing flags in this one despite obvious offsides, a two-second delay that inexplicably went uncalled (though probably worse that Shanahan didn't call the TO), the helmet-to-helmet on Garoppolo, and the numerous holds. Given that, throwing the flag there really did disproportionately impact the game.

[thesack12]

I find it interesting that the both the offense and defense played well for 3.5 quarters. However, People insist on ragging on the offense for collapsing in the final 8 minutes, yet give the defense a pass for doing the exact same thing.

People say "1 Stinking TD by the offense and the 9ers win the game." To that I say "1 stinking stop by the defense and the 9ers win the game."

Sure 9ers offense scored 0 points in the 4th quarter, but people are quick to forget the defense allowed KC to score 21 points in the 4th quarter. Both are equally unacceptable.

9ers had a 96.1% chance to win the game with 7:17 remaining. Allowing KC to overcome 3.9/100 odds and pull off the victory was a full team effort.

[thesack12]

I've been thinking a lot about this game, and I want to preface this by saying that the officials did not cost us this one. Even with some close calls that went against us - and some that were not close that were not called - we could and should have won this game. That said, although I believe Kittle did push off on that long ball at the end of the half, in the larger context of how this game was called (i.e., only calling penalties they could not possibly avoid, and sometimes not even those), it's ridiculous that drew a call. It was a close call, and they just weren't throwing flags in this one despite obvious offsides, a two-second delay that inexplicably went uncalled (though probably worse that Shanahan didn't call the TO), the helmet-to-helmet on Garoppolo, and the numerous holds. Given that, throwing the flag there really did disproportionately impact the game.

I agree with this entirely, it wasn't consistent and it was clearly to the benefit of the red jerseys...

Regarding the Kittle OPI specifically, Now obviously we don't know what else would have changed throughout the course of the game as a result, but if the 9ers get a FG before halftime, those 3 extra points changes the situation on the drive that eventually ended with a turnover on downs. 9ers were down 4 there, and obviously needing a TD. However, had they gotten 3 before halftime you have to wonder would the play calling/personnel/formations/etc been any different if they only needed a FG there?

[CrimsonCrew]

I find it interesting that the both the offense and defense played well for 3.5 quarters. However, People insist on ragging on the offense for collapsing in the final 8 minutes, yet give the defense a pass for doing the exact same thing.

People say "1 Stinking TD by the offense and the 9ers win the game." To that I say "1 stinking stop by the defense and the 9ers win the game."

Sure 9ers offense scored 0 points in the 4th quarter, but people are quick to forget the defense allowed KC to score 21 points in the 4th quarter. Both are equally unacceptable.

9ers had a 96.1% chance to win the game with 7:17 remaining. Allowing KC to overcome 3.9/100 odds and pull off the victory was a full team effort.

To me, the crucial difference is the competition they were going against. We always knew the offense would have to score to win this one. And they didn't do enough, frankly. Twenty points overall, none in the fourth. 71 plays run by the Chiefs because we couldn't truly control the ball or the clock. I don't think the offense played well to start the game. I think they played passably, but had too many miscues. The D was incredible for most of the game, but finally wore down (assisted by the Chiefs' OL just dragging our guys down to give Mahomes time to stage the comeback).

Yes, the D suffered an incredible collapse at the end, but if the offense had been doing its job through the first three-and-a-half quarters, the D wouldn't have needed to come through at the end.

[thesack12]

I find it interesting that the both the offense and defense played well for 3.5 quarters. However, People insist on ragging on the offense for collapsing in the final 8 minutes, yet give the defense a pass for doing the exact same thing.

People say "1 Stinking TD by the offense and the 9ers win the game." To that I say "1 stinking stop by the defense and the 9ers win the game."

Sure 9ers offense scored 0 points in the 4th quarter, but people are quick to forget the defense allowed KC to score 21 points in the 4th quarter. Both are equally unacceptable.

9ers had a 96.1% chance to win the game with 7:17 remaining. Allowing KC to overcome 3.9/100 odds and pull off the victory was a full team effort.

To me, the crucial difference is the competition they were going against. We always knew the offense would have to score to win this one. And they didn't do enough, frankly. Twenty points overall, none in the fourth. 71 plays run by the Chiefs because we couldn't truly control the ball or the clock. I don't think the offense played well to start the game. I think they played passably, but had too many miscues. The D was incredible for most of the game, but finally wore down (assisted by the Chiefs' OL just dragging our guys down to give Mahomes time to stage the comeback).

Yes, the D suffered an incredible collapse at the end, but if the offense had been doing its job through the first three-and-a-half quarters, the D wouldn't have needed to come through at the end.

The offense didn't play well?

They were averaging like 8-9 yards per play up until those final few drives, I think that's pretty good in my book. The quarterback was 17/19 up until the last few drives, I think that's pretty good. Now, the running game was pretty lackluster despite a few nice runs by Deebo, but the RB's never really got anything going.

As for the "competition level", yes Mahomes is great and he has weapons all over the field. That said, I feel like people are making that Chiefs offense out to be some kind of boogey man or something. It doesn't matter who they were going against, the defense didn't get the job done when it mattered most. They shouldn't get a pass for failing at the end.

Chiefs made adjustments on both sides of the ball in those last few minutes, neither the 49ers offense or defense was able to adapt to those adjustments.

In other words the entire 49ers team was not clutch.

[CrimsonCrew]

I find it interesting that the both the offense and defense played well for 3.5 quarters. However, People insist on ragging on the offense for collapsing in the final 8 minutes, yet give the defense a pass for doing the exact same thing.

People say "1 Stinking TD by the offense and the 9ers win the game." To that I say "1 stinking stop by the defense and the 9ers win the game."

Sure 9ers offense scored 0 points in the 4th quarter, but people are quick to forget the defense allowed KC to score 21 points in the 4th quarter. Both are equally unacceptable.

9ers had a 96.1% chance to win the game with 7:17 remaining. Allowing KC to overcome 3.9/100 odds and pull off the victory was a full team effort.

To me, the crucial difference is the competition they were going against. We always knew the offense would have to score to win this one. And they didn't do enough, frankly. Twenty points overall, none in the fourth. 71 plays run by the Chiefs because we couldn't truly control the ball or the clock. I don't think the offense played well to start the game. I think they played passably, but had too many miscues. The D was incredible for most of the game, but finally wore down (assisted by the Chiefs' OL just dragging our guys down to give Mahomes time to stage the comeback).

Yes, the D suffered an incredible collapse at the end, but if the offense had been doing its job through the first three-and-a-half quarters, the D wouldn't have needed to come through at the end.

The offense didn't play well?

They were averaging like 8-9 yards per play up until those final few drives, I think that's pretty good in my book. The quarterback was 17/19 up until the last few drives, I think that's pretty good. Now, the running game was pretty lackluster despite a few nice runs by Deebo, but the RB's never really got anything going.

As for the "competition level", yes Mahomes is great and he has weapons all over the field. That said, I feel like people are making that Chiefs offense out to be some kind of boogey man or something. It doesn't matter who they were going against, the defense didn't get the job done when it mattered most. They shouldn't get a pass for failing at the end.

Chiefs made adjustments on both sides of the ball in those last few minutes, neither the 49ers offense or defense was able to adapt to those adjustments.

In other words the entire 49ers team was not clutch.

No, the offense didn't play well. In ten drives, they came away with two TDs and two FGs. That's not good, no matter how many yards they accrued per play. They were 3-8 on third down and 0-1 on fourth down. They had crucial penalties. They stalled just outside the red zone twice, threw an awful early interception. There's plenty of blame to go around - coaches and players - but I don't see how anyone can look at this game and think it was a good one. Even if we ignore the offensive collapse at the end of the game, you've got seven drives resulting in two TDs and 20 points. If the offense had dominated the way the defense did early in the game, we would have been winning by 21+.

The Chiefs aren't invincible, but they are a very, very dangerous offense. It is basically impossible to shut them down for four quarters. With Mahomes starting and playing a full game, they averaged 30.5 PPG, and that includes several games where Mahomes didn't appear to be entirely right. They had one bad game in which they scored 13 against the Colts. Other than that, their lowest scoring game was 23 points on the road in December against the Pats and at home in December against the Broncos (they were up 23-3 on the Broncos with 24:15 to play, so there wasn't a whole lot of urgency). Those are the #1 and #10 scoring Ds in cold weather games. After short lulls to start both playoff games, they were basically unstoppable. So yes, I am willing to cut our D a little slack in effectively allowing 24 points over four quarters to that offense while generating nearly 1/4 of Mahomes' 14-game season sack total, 40% of his INT total, and 66.7% of his fumble total in a single game.

The D did not perform when they needed to the most, so of course they bear some of the blame for this loss. But they wouldn't have had to perform at the end if the offense had matched their level of play for the bulk of the game.

[wco81]

Not only that, they didn't punt until the fourth quarter and when they most needed to maintain possession and put up points, they failed to do it, including a 3 and out series.

They did not react to the Chiefs blitzing more.

One podcast pointed out that to stop the run, they would switch late in the presnap to a bear alignment. I don't recall if the 49ers used motion later in the game as much to try to open up gaps.

Also pointed out that the 49ers not only passed while they were running effectively, they put Jimmy in shotgun, without the opportunity to use play action.

Kyle doesn't really use play fakes out of shotgun alignment or RPO much does he?

[thesack12]

To me, the crucial difference is the competition they were going against. We always knew the offense would have to score to win this one. And they didn't do enough, frankly. Twenty points overall, none in the fourth. 71 plays run by the Chiefs because we couldn't truly control the ball or the clock. I don't think the offense played well to start the game. I think they played passably, but had too many miscues. The D was incredible for most of the game, but finally wore down (assisted by the Chiefs' OL just dragging our guys down to give Mahomes time to stage the comeback).

Yes, the D suffered an incredible collapse at the end, but if the offense had been doing its job through the first three-and-a-half quarters, the D wouldn't have needed to come through at the end.

The offense didn't play well?

They were averaging like 8-9 yards per play up until those final few drives, I think that's pretty good in my book. The quarterback was 17/19 up until the last few drives, I think that's pretty good. Now, the running game was pretty lackluster despite a few nice runs by Deebo, but the RB's never really got anything going.

As for the "competition level", yes Mahomes is great and he has weapons all over the field. That said, I feel like people are making that Chiefs offense out to be some kind of boogey man or something. It doesn't matter who they were going against, the defense didn't get the job done when it mattered most. They shouldn't get a pass for failing at the end.

Chiefs made adjustments on both sides of the ball in those last few minutes, neither the 49ers offense or defense was able to adapt to those adjustments.

In other words the entire 49ers team was not clutch.

No, the offense didn't play well. In ten drives, they came away with two TDs and two FGs. That's not good, no matter how many yards they accrued per play. They were 3-8 on third down and 0-1 on fourth down. They had crucial penalties. They stalled just outside the red zone twice, threw an awful early interception. There's plenty of blame to go around - coaches and players - but I don't see how anyone can look at this game and think it was a good one. Even if we ignore the offensive collapse at the end of the game, you've got seven drives resulting in two TDs and 20 points. If the offense had dominated the way the defense did early in the game, we would have been winning by 21+.

The Chiefs aren't invincible, but they are a very, very dangerous offense. It is basically impossible to shut them down for four quarters. With Mahomes starting and playing a full game, they averaged 30.5 PPG, and that includes several games where Mahomes didn't appear to be entirely right. They had one bad game in which they scored 13 against the Colts. Other than that, their lowest scoring game was 23 points on the road in December against the Pats and at home in December against the Broncos (they were up 23-3 on the Broncos with 24:15 to play, so there wasn't a whole lot of urgency). Those are the #1 and #10 scoring Ds in cold weather games. After short lulls to start both playoff games, they were basically unstoppable. So yes, I am willing to cut our D a little slack in effectively allowing 24 points over four quarters to that offense while generating nearly 1/4 of Mahomes' 14-game season sack total, 40% of his INT total, and 66.7% of his fumble total in a single game.

The D did not perform when they needed to the most, so of course they bear some of the blame for this loss. But they wouldn't have had to perform at the end if the offense had matched their level of play for the bulk of the game.

Meh,

The 54 plays for Frisco compared to the 75 by KC speaks just as much as much to the defense of not being able to get off the field than the offense not being able to stay on it. Also, Frisco's final 6.5 yards per play compares quite favorably to the KC's 5.3. That disparity was quite a bit bigger up until the final 8 minutes of game. Frisco gained 351 total yards to KC's 397, and again up until the last 8 minutes Frisco was outgaining KC by quite a bit. Most importantly up until those final 8 minutes Frisco's offense outscored KC's offense 21-10. 9ers offense was not only going with KC's offense blow for blow, but they were flat out playing them.

Also, the defense didn't "effectively limit them 24 points", they allowed them 31 points. The game was not entirely in the bag until the defense allowed Williams' 38 yard TD rush. That drive started with 1:25 remaining and 9ers still had all three of their timeouts. If the defense holds up there, Frisco gets the ball back with 1 minute remaining only down 4 points. Even if KC kicks a LONG FG, Frisco still has a chance only being down 7. In addition, it needs to be stated that KC is not a good running team and in that situation the defense knows they are going to run it, yet they couldn't get the job done.

Look, I'm not disparaging the defense's overall performance as they were rock solid for 3.5 quarters of play. But the fact of the matter is they didn't perform in the clutch, yet again. Its been a recurring theme the last 7-8 weeks or so. Defense also allowed 2 crucial 4th down conversions, which again is an example of not being clutch.

With 8 minutes remaining, this game was in the bag for the 49ers due to solid overall play on both sides of the ball. However, the entire team layed an egg in those last 8 minutes and nobody was able to make a play on either side of the ball. The offense/defense/coaching staff should take equal blame to gagging this one away.

[Yoshi]

C'mon guys, trading Jimmy G? Why trade someone whose value took a massive hit after that SB performance? For teams looking on the outside, they're seeing a guy who doesn't have what it takes to win the big one, so what kind of assets are you really thinking you're gonna get for a guy whose contract is currently above what he is giving you right now?

[Yoshi]

Regarding the defense, Sheldon Day, Mitchell, and Solomon Thomas were useless. Anyone who still believes Solomon Thomas is a starting DL in this league needs to GTFOH ASAP. As a Berkeley guy, I have great pleasure calling out another Stanford reject and his counterpart, Uncle Sherm, was exposed due to his age/injury. Albeit, it's hard to ask an aging corner to cover 4 quarters on guys who are essentially track stars.

The injuries to Blair and Dj Jones really hurt the defensive line depth of the Niners as they clearly tired. With Miami being in the 70's and the defense already having played 30+ snaps in the first half alone, the offense needed to do more and when they couldn't, the defense was exposed.

Offensively, they weren't great overall. The first half was pretty solid as they moved the ball on them, but the first half ending was atrocious, mostly due to playcalling. However, that penalty on Kittle - don't get me started. In the second half, Jimmy had the ball batted down by Jones twice, open receivers were not targeted, and the Niners abandoned the run. Mostert was averaging nearly 5.8 yards a carry, and Honey Badger's own testimony on thanking the Niners for not running the ball when it mattered is proof the Niners clearly shot themselves in the foot for missing that opportunity.

[Yoshi]

Mike Lombardi said there was no way the Chiefs should have gone the whole game without being called for one holding call.

He also said the 49ers need diversity of defenses. No matter how good they are in the cover 3, eventually hitters are going to catch up to the great fastball if that's all you use the whole game.

The holding was egregious at times. It's hard to blame the officials for this one, but given that they called two close ones against the Niners (I think both Kittle and Moore committed PI, but you could easily defend not throwing the flag on either one), it's pretty ridiculous our DL didn't draw a single hole. There were some totally blatant ones.

Yeah, I'm not going to say the game was rigged and all that jazz, but the 50/50 calls went against the Niners. There were some clean holds on Bosa and Dee Ford during key moments of the game. Bosa basically ate Eric Fisher's lunch the entire game.

Also here's a question for you all - stats show it's hard for teams to make repeat appearances in the SB - a lot of things have to go your way to make it there (injury bug, ball bouncing your way as it did with the games against the hawks, Saints, Rams (2nd game), etc. Is it really a fair assumption to say the Niners can and will make it back next year SB LV?

[Yoshi]

Mike Lombardi said there was no way the Chiefs should have gone the whole game without being called for one holding call.

He also said the 49ers need diversity of defenses. No matter how good they are in the cover 3, eventually hitters are going to catch up to the great fastball if that's all you use the whole game.

The holding was egregious at times. It's hard to blame the officials for this one, but given that they called two close ones against the Niners (I think both Kittle and Moore committed PI, but you could easily defend not throwing the flag on either one), it's pretty ridiculous our DL didn't draw a single hole. There were some totally blatant ones.

Yeah, I'm not going to say the game was rigged and all that jazz, but the 50/50 calls went against the Niners. There were some clean holds on Bosa and Dee Ford during key moments of the game. Bosa basically ate Eric Fisher's lunch the entire game.

Also here's a question for you all - stats show it's hard for teams to make repeat appearances in the SB - a lot of things have to go your way to make it there (injury bug, ball bouncing your way as it did with the games against the hawks, Saints, Rams (2nd game), etc. Is it really a fair assumption to say the Niners can and will make it back next year SB LV?

[CrimsonCrew]

I've been thinking a lot about this game, and I want to preface this by saying that the officials did not cost us this one. Even with some close calls that went against us - and some that were not close that were not called - we could and should have won this game. That said, although I believe Kittle did push off on that long ball at the end of the half, in the larger context of how this game was called (i.e., only calling penalties they could not possibly avoid, and sometimes not even those), it's ridiculous that drew a call. It was a close call, and they just weren't throwing flags in this one despite obvious offsides, a two-second delay that inexplicably went uncalled (though probably worse that Shanahan didn't call the TO), the helmet-to-helmet on Garoppolo, and the numerous holds. Given that, throwing the flag there really did disproportionately impact the game.

I agree with this entirely, it wasn't consistent and it was clearly to the benefit of the red jerseys...

Regarding the Kittle OPI specifically, Now obviously we don't know what else would have changed throughout the course of the game as a result, but if the 9ers get a FG before halftime, those 3 extra points changes the situation on the drive that eventually ended with a turnover on downs. 9ers were down 4 there, and obviously needing a TD. However, had they gotten 3 before halftime you have to wonder would the play calling/personnel/formations/etc been any different if they only needed a FG there?

Yeah, revisionist history is all but impossible, but we would have had at least three more points there most likely, and would have had a shot or two at the endzone (with the possibility of a run given our TOs) before kicking the FG. It was a huge penalty, and again, in a vacuum, I don't have a problem with that being called, but you have to call things consistently and that wasn't the case in this one IMO. Seemed like all the close calls went against the Niners while the Chiefs got a number of breaks on potentially crucial penalties that should have been called.

[CrimsonCrew]

Meh,

The 54 plays for Frisco compared to the 75 by KC speaks just as much as much to the defense of not being able to get off the field than the offense not being able to stay on it. Also, Frisco's final 6.5 yards per play compares quite favorably to the KC's 5.3. That disparity was quite a bit bigger up until the final 8 minutes of game. Frisco gained 351 total yards to KC's 397, and again up until the last 8 minutes Frisco was outgaining KC by quite a bit. Most importantly up until those final 8 minutes Frisco's offense outscored KC's offense 21-10. 9ers offense was not only going with KC's offense blow for blow, but they were flat out playing them.

Also, the defense didn't "effectively limit them 24 points", they allowed them 31 points. The game was not entirely in the bag until the defense allowed Williams' 38 yard TD rush. That drive started with 1:25 remaining and 9ers still had all three of their timeouts. If the defense holds up there, Frisco gets the ball back with 1 minute remaining only down 4 points. Even if KC kicks a LONG FG, Frisco still has a chance only being down 7. In addition, it needs to be stated that KC is not a good running team and in that situation the defense knows they are going to run it, yet they couldn't get the job done.

Look, I'm not disparaging the defense's overall performance as they were rock solid for 3.5 quarters of play. But the fact of the matter is they didn't perform in the clutch, yet again. Its been a recurring theme the last 7-8 weeks or so. Defense also allowed 2 crucial 4th down conversions, which again is an example of not being clutch.

With 8 minutes remaining, this game was in the bag for the 49ers due to solid overall play on both sides of the ball. However, the entire team layed an egg in those last 8 minutes and nobody was able to make a play on either side of the ball. The offense/defense/coaching staff should take equal blame to gagging this one away.

I really couldn't care less about yards per play unless those yards are translating into points. In this game, they weren't. Everyone here knew going in that 20 points almost certainly wasn't going to do it against the Chiefs. The offense repeatedly sputtered and it cost us. If anything, the high yards per play combined with the relatively low point total drives home my point. The offense controlled the game for three quarters, but only came away with 20 points. Not good enough.

The D didn't play a flawless game. They did allow some points early in the game. And you're right, they allowed fourth-down conversions twice - though it's also worth noting that they held on third down on both early scoring drives and still only allowed 10 points despite extra opportunities. If we had converted a 4th and 2 on offense later in the game instead of kicking the FG, it might have been a different outcome (granted that's a coaching decision, but I'm lumping coaches and players together on this one). There were some breakdowns, especially late, and that echoes a pattern that was consistent throughout our losses. As I said throughout the offseason, we need more DB depth and talent. I am ultimately more upset with the offense because I believed we needed to score in the high 20s to win, and I believe we needed to hold the Chiefs in the mid-to-high 20s to win. We basically did one of those things excepting a last-second play with the game likely out of reach.

I may be cutting the D too much slack for allowing the TD run late, but I don't think so. Our chance to win the game at the end was when the offense had a first-and-ten at midfield with two-odd minutes left. Once we couldn't convert the first down or score, any chance we had of winning plummeted. At that point, we needed a tired and emotionally spent D to get a stop. It didn't happen, and it's a situation where it rarely does. You mention that we could have gotten the ball back only being down seven. We couldn't have - unless they got a first down on that first play of the drive. For the Chiefs to get into FG range, they would have had to pick up a first down. And to kick a FG, they would have needed to fail to convert on all three attempts. Let's assume the D tackled Williams at our 30. We call our second TO with 1:05 to go. They run again, we call our third TO with :58 to go. We can't stop the clock and they kill it on second and third down. Game over.

We need to take some lessons from this one on both sides of the ball. We need to keep trying to improve our pass rush, and we need more depth and talent at DB. Our run game kind of fell apart in this one, granted I can understand not focusing on that aspect of the game. I'm not denying those things at all. I'm simply saying that the offense performed well below my expectations throughout the game and especially at the end. The D performed about at my expectations in looking at the game as a whole (especially excepting that final TD run), and well above my expectations for most of it.

[CrimsonCrew]

Regarding the defense, Sheldon Day, Mitchell, and Solomon Thomas were useless. Anyone who still believes Solomon Thomas is a starting DL in this league needs to GTFOH ASAP. As a Berkeley guy, I have great pleasure calling out another Stanford reject and his counterpart, Uncle Sherm, was exposed due to his age/injury. Albeit, it's hard to ask an aging corner to cover 4 quarters on guys who are essentially track stars.

The injuries to Blair and Dj Jones really hurt the defensive line depth of the Niners as they clearly tired. With Miami being in the 70's and the defense already having played 30+ snaps in the first half alone, the offense needed to do more and when they couldn't, the defense was exposed.

Offensively, they weren't great overall. The first half was pretty solid as they moved the ball on them, but the first half ending was atrocious, mostly due to playcalling. However, that penalty on Kittle - don't get me started. In the second half, Jimmy had the ball batted down by Jones twice, open receivers were not targeted, and the Niners abandoned the run. Mostert was averaging nearly 5.8 yards a carry, and Honey Badger's own testimony on thanking the Niners for not running the ball when it mattered is proof the Niners clearly shot themselves in the foot for missing that opportunity.

Yeah, I really don't like the hockey-style rotating lines thing they did this postseason. I completely understand wanting a rotation that puts your four best guys on the field, but not when you also have your three worst guys out there together. The injuries along the DL were huge, including to Damontre Moore and Julian Taylor, who provided some quality depth. Street never really made an appearance.

Thomas gets one more year, especially if Armstead leaves, but no way you can give him a fifth-year option at this point. It's frustrating, because he's an elite athlete, all indications are he's a smart guy and a hard worker, he just doesn't seem to have the instincts for it. I was hoping maybe playing with Bosa would help him improve his hand-fighting. You see them working on moves sometimes on the sideline during games. But he's shown very little progress.