GDT: 49ERS VS CHIEFS

[CrimsonCrew]

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?

Yeah, I broached that in the 2020 offseason thread yesterday about a reason why we might want to consider letting our three bigger FA guys walk. None of them are absolutely vital, I think only Ward even has the potential to be a guy we keep longterm, and we might already have his replacement in Moore. So put the money toward retaining our stars, maybe locking up some lower-priced guys like Blair, and try to get three quality comp picks in the 2021 draft to fill out the holes in our roster with cheap depth.

[Yoshi]

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?

Yeah, I broached that in the 2020 offseason thread yesterday about a reason why we might want to consider letting our three bigger FA guys walk. None of them are absolutely vital, I think only Ward even has the potential to be a guy we keep longterm, and we might already have his replacement in Moore. So put the money toward retaining our stars, maybe locking up some lower-priced guys like Blair, and try to get three quality comp picks in the 2021 draft to fill out the holes in our roster with cheap depth.

Yeah I think that's a sure possibility. My pick would be AA because although he'd be expensive, I just don't think Thomas will ever prove his draft position and be a solid replacement for AA. Moore could potentially be Ward's replacement although I want to see what the market looks like for him - great move for Saleh to move him to his natural position although his injury history scares me a bit.

I was thinking about this earlier - if you think of the last few dynasties - Niners, Cowboys, and Patriots - these teams all played in somewhat crappy divisions. The Niners don't have that where Seattle is always a threat with RW, Arizona is on the rise with KM, and the Rams have some talent on that roster along with a solid coach (although they mortgaged the future and may lose Ramsey in the process). The number of wins and losses could be affected by how your do in your division and with the 4th hardest schedule next season, the number of wins the Niners would have could be less than this year.

Also, I expect the defense to take a step back next season, unfortunately, as history has proved time and time again that elite defenses have a career season and tail off. With that being said, the offense has to take a step in the right direction, and that begins and ends with Jimmy G. What worries me is Shanahan and how he can help him get there.

The niners also are in the bottom 6 in cap space and without a day 2 pick, the FO has to figure out how to rebuild this team with maneuverability considering extensions are on the way for Kittle and DeFo. That's what makes this SB loss all the more painful because the window of opportunity for a team is a small period of time and without an elite QB (which Jimmy G is and maybe will never be), that window can even be smaller. I still can't fathom how this team lost the game up 10 with less than 7 minutes to go. Really depressing I'm not in the city celebrating what should have been their 6th Lombardi trophy. Everything had to fall into place and it almost did. I'm not sure we get a chance like this anytime soon...

[wco81]

There are no true dynasties any more though.

Patriots win may super bowls but no more blowouts like back in the day. All their wins have been one-score games I believe.

It's true though, a weak division lets a team not only get into the playoffs every year but have a good shot at HFA.

[thesack12]

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.

I'm not going to advance the discussion further on the offense/defense effectiveness debate as we have both already expressed extensive thoughts on it and it seems we are simply using different sets of metrics and looking through different types of scopes, which if perfectly fine...

However, I did want to dive a little deeper on that final KC drive resulting in Williams' 38 yard TD run. It appears you aren't recalling those specific game circumstances correctly. KC got the ball with 1:25 left on SF's 42 yard line. SF still had all 3 timeouts remaining. If the defense can force a 3 and out in that situation, Frisco gets the ball back with roughly 1 minute remaining. It was also entirely within reason that with a 3 and out there, the offense gets the ball back only down 4 points with a chance to go win it with a TD. However, worst case (with a 3 and out) KC kicks a 50+ yard FG, but Frisco still gets the ball back with 1 minute remaining, down 7, with a chance to send it into OT.

Now I agree, the best chance to win the game was when the offense had the ball down by 4 with 2:45 remaining. Still, even with the turnover on downs, the game was not over. If the defense holds, there was still life to be had. As for a "tired" defense, sure the offense didn't allow them much time to rest prior to that possession, but are we going to give them amnesty for getting absolutely shredded for long TD drives on the two previous KC possessions before that last one? Their inability to get off the field previously, contributed to their "tired" status at that point.

I also don't think its too much to ask this defense to hold the Chiefs to a 3 & out on that last possession. KC is not a strong running team by any stretch, and everybody in the world knew KC was running the ball in that situation. The defense simply got outplayed in that moment (and the 2 previous drives.)

[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.

I'm not going to advance the discussion further on the offense/defense effectiveness debate as we have both already expressed extensive thoughts on it and it seems we are simply using different sets of metrics and looking through different types of scopes, which if perfectly fine...

However, I did want to dive a little deeper on that final KC drive resulting in Williams' 38 yard TD run. It appears you aren't recalling those specific game circumstances correctly. KC got the ball with 1:25 left on SF's 42 yard line. SF still had all 3 timeouts remaining. If the defense can force a 3 and out in that situation, Frisco gets the ball back with roughly 1 minute remaining. It was also entirely within reason that with a 3 and out there, the offense gets the ball back only down 4 points with a chance to go win it with a TD. However, worst case (with a 3 and out) KC kicks a 50+ yard FG, but Frisco still gets the ball back with 1 minute remaining, down 7, with a chance to send it into OT.

Now I agree, the best chance to win the game was when the offense had the ball down by 4 with 2:45 remaining. Still, even with the turnover on downs, the game was not over. If the defense holds, there was still life to be had. As for a "tired" defense, sure the offense didn't allow them much time to rest prior to that possession, but are we going to give them amnesty for getting absolutely shredded for long TD drives on the two previous KC possessions before that last one? Their inability to get off the field previously, contributed to their "tired" status at that point.

I also don't think its too much to ask this defense to hold the Chiefs to a 3 & out on that last possession. KC is not a strong running team by any stretch, and everybody in the world knew KC was running the ball in that situation. The defense simply got outplayed in that moment (and the 2 previous drives.)

I had forgotten we lost yardage on the fourth-down sack and they were at the 42 to start the drive instead of the 49, so they were arguably in FG range already - granted a long one. Otherwise, I remember the circumstances just fine. And yes, if we got three stops, we still would have had a hypothetical chance. Nothing I saw on either side of the ball at the end gave me any hope that the game would end that way. Our opportunities to win all came before that.

Bottom line for me: for most of the game, the D didn't just exceed my expectations, they blew them away. I didn't think we'd have more than one or two sacks, I figured we'd be lucky to get one INT, and keeping KC in the low-20s late in the fourth seemed like it would be a real accomplishment. They did all that and more. On the other hand, I figured if the offense played a good game, we could easily score in the 30s. Both sides absolutely collapsed at the end of the game, so in terms of assessing blame, I think the side that did much less for most of the game bears more responsibility for the loss. That's not to say that we shouldn't look at what happened to the defense. But we need our offense to carry more weight - and that will be even more true as we enter cap purgatory (not quite hell).

And this isn't even meant as a major indictment on the players. I think Shanahan is as responsible as anyone - and not so much for the late playcalling, but for the decision-making early. We needed to try to score at the end of the half. We should have gone for it on 4th and 2 at the start of the second half. We needed to score in this game, and that's the one thing we couldn't do at will on offense.

[thesack12]

I had forgotten we lost yardage on the fourth-down sack and they were at the 42 to start the drive instead of the 49, so they were arguably in FG range already - granted a long one. Otherwise, I remember the circumstances just fine. And yes, if we got three stops, we still would have had a hypothetical chance. Nothing I saw on either side of the ball at the end gave me any hope that the game would end that way. Our opportunities to win all came before that.

Bottom line for me: for most of the game, the D didn't just exceed my expectations, they blew them away. I didn't think we'd have more than one or two sacks, I figured we'd be lucky to get one INT, and keeping KC in the low-20s late in the fourth seemed like it would be a real accomplishment. They did all that and more. On the other hand, I figured if the offense played a good game, we could easily score in the 30s. Both sides absolutely collapsed at the end of the game, so in terms of assessing blame, I think the side that did much less for most of the game bears more responsibility for the loss. That's not to say that we shouldn't look at what happened to the defense. But we need our offense to carry more weight - and that will be even more true as we enter cap purgatory (not quite hell).

And this isn't even meant as a major indictment on the players. I think Shanahan is as responsible as anyone - and not so much for the late playcalling, but for the decision-making early. We needed to try to score at the end of the half. We should have gone for it on 4th and 2 at the start of the second half. We needed to score in this game, and that's the one thing we couldn't do at will on offense.

I don't know man, giving up 31 points hardly qualifies as blowing away expectations for me personally. You can talk about everything that happened throughout the course, but the end of the day the scoreboard is what matters. Allowing 31 points is not a good day at the office, especially when there were no special teams or defensive scores by KC.

KC's scoring drives:

TD: 15 plays for 75 yards
FG: 9 plays 43 yards
TD: 10 plays 83 yards
TD: 7 plays 65 yards
TD: 2 plays 42 yards

The scoring drives by KC weren't exactly layups, and save for the last one they weren't of the quick strike variety either. Defense also gave up a 3rd & 15 and a 3rd & 10 on the possession that KC took the lead on. Those are killers, let alone 2 on the same drive.

The 9ers offense scored points on 4 out of their first 6 possessions. And thats including the one before halftime where at first they didn't even try to score, then did and borderline got shafted on an OPI erasing a a 42 yard gain and easily being in comfortable FG position. Obviously, we would of all preferred TD's over FG's, but we all also would have preferred the defense holding KC to FG's instead of TD's as well.

Anyways, like I said earlier we're just using a different set of metrics and looking through different type of scopes. At the end of the day all of us on this board are crushed by the end result of the game, but the who should we cast blame on debate isn't going to make us feel any better about it. At least I don't think it will.

[I_am_1z]

I had forgotten we lost yardage on the fourth-down sack and they were at the 42 to start the drive instead of the 49, so they were arguably in FG range already - granted a long one. Otherwise, I remember the circumstances just fine. And yes, if we got three stops, we still would have had a hypothetical chance. Nothing I saw on either side of the ball at the end gave me any hope that the game would end that way. Our opportunities to win all came before that.

Bottom line for me: for most of the game, the D didn't just exceed my expectations, they blew them away. I didn't think we'd have more than one or two sacks, I figured we'd be lucky to get one INT, and keeping KC in the low-20s late in the fourth seemed like it would be a real accomplishment. They did all that and more. On the other hand, I figured if the offense played a good game, we could easily score in the 30s. Both sides absolutely collapsed at the end of the game, so in terms of assessing blame, I think the side that did much less for most of the game bears more responsibility for the loss. That's not to say that we shouldn't look at what happened to the defense. But we need our offense to carry more weight - and that will be even more true as we enter cap purgatory (not quite hell).

And this isn't even meant as a major indictment on the players. I think Shanahan is as responsible as anyone - and not so much for the late playcalling, but for the decision-making early. We needed to try to score at the end of the half. We should have gone for it on 4th and 2 at the start of the second half. We needed to score in this game, and that's the one thing we couldn't do at will on offense.

I don't know man, giving up 31 points hardly qualifies as blowing away expectations for me personally. You can talk about everything that happened throughout the course, but the end of the day the scoreboard is what matters. Allowing 31 points is not a good day at the office, especially when there were no special teams or defensive scores by KC.

KC's scoring drives:

TD: 15 plays for 75 yards
FG: 9 plays 43 yards
TD: 10 plays 83 yards
TD: 7 plays 65 yards
TD: 2 plays 42 yards

The scoring drives by KC weren't exactly layups, and save for the last one they weren't of the quick strike variety either. Defense also gave up a 3rd & 15 and a 3rd & 10 on the possession that KC took the lead on. Those are killers, let alone 2 on the same drive.

The 9ers offense scored points on 4 out of their first 6 possessions. And thats including the one before halftime where at first they didn't even try to score, then did and borderline got shafted on an OPI erasing a a 42 yard gain and easily being in comfortable FG position. Obviously, we would of all preferred TD's over FG's, but we all also would have preferred the defense holding KC to FG's instead of TD's as well.

Anyways, like I said earlier we're just using a different set of metrics and looking through different type of scopes. At the end of the day all of us on this board are crushed by the end result of the game, but the who should we cast blame on debate isn't going to make us feel any better about it. At least I don't think it will.

We let up 21 of those points in less than seven minutes because our HC doesn't know how to run clock

[CrimsonCrew]

I had forgotten we lost yardage on the fourth-down sack and they were at the 42 to start the drive instead of the 49, so they were arguably in FG range already - granted a long one. Otherwise, I remember the circumstances just fine. And yes, if we got three stops, we still would have had a hypothetical chance. Nothing I saw on either side of the ball at the end gave me any hope that the game would end that way. Our opportunities to win all came before that.

Bottom line for me: for most of the game, the D didn't just exceed my expectations, they blew them away. I didn't think we'd have more than one or two sacks, I figured we'd be lucky to get one INT, and keeping KC in the low-20s late in the fourth seemed like it would be a real accomplishment. They did all that and more. On the other hand, I figured if the offense played a good game, we could easily score in the 30s. Both sides absolutely collapsed at the end of the game, so in terms of assessing blame, I think the side that did much less for most of the game bears more responsibility for the loss. That's not to say that we shouldn't look at what happened to the defense. But we need our offense to carry more weight - and that will be even more true as we enter cap purgatory (not quite hell).

And this isn't even meant as a major indictment on the players. I think Shanahan is as responsible as anyone - and not so much for the late playcalling, but for the decision-making early. We needed to try to score at the end of the half. We should have gone for it on 4th and 2 at the start of the second half. We needed to score in this game, and that's the one thing we couldn't do at will on offense.

I don't know man, giving up 31 points hardly qualifies as blowing away expectations for me personally. You can talk about everything that happened throughout the course, but the end of the day the scoreboard is what matters. Allowing 31 points is not a good day at the office, especially when there were no special teams or defensive scores by KC.

KC's scoring drives:

TD: 15 plays for 75 yards
FG: 9 plays 43 yards
TD: 10 plays 83 yards
TD: 7 plays 65 yards
TD: 2 plays 42 yards

The scoring drives by KC weren't exactly layups, and save for the last one they weren't of the quick strike variety either. Defense also gave up a 3rd & 15 and a 3rd & 10 on the possession that KC took the lead on. Those are killers, let alone 2 on the same drive.

The 9ers offense scored points on 4 out of their first 6 possessions. And thats including the one before halftime where at first they didn't even try to score, then did and borderline got shafted on an OPI erasing a a 42 yard gain and easily being in comfortable FG position. Obviously, we would of all preferred TD's over FG's, but we all also would have preferred the defense holding KC to FG's instead of TD's as well.

Anyways, like I said earlier we're just using a different set of metrics and looking through different type of scopes. At the end of the day all of us on this board are crushed by the end result of the game, but the who should we cast blame on debate isn't going to make us feel any better about it. At least I don't think it will.

The defense exceeded my expectations for most of the game. Obviously they buckled at the end. The offense performed below my expectations basically throughout. We needed to be more aggressive than we were, and we needed to execute. We didn't.

The offense scored on 2/3 of their early drives, but they settled for FGs twice. They didn't really even try once in what I view as a glaring error by Shanahan (to me, a much bigger concern than the playcalling concerns in the 4th quarter, which turned mostly on execution IMO).

The fact that KC wasn't getting the quick strikes basically vindicates even more that the D was playing well. They made KC earn every inch for much of the game, repeatedly forcing them into tough down and distance situations. That is really hard to do against an offense like KC.

Anyway, we're basically talking in circles, so time to just move on and start hoping for next year.

[CrimsonCrew]

I had forgotten we lost yardage on the fourth-down sack and they were at the 42 to start the drive instead of the 49, so they were arguably in FG range already - granted a long one. Otherwise, I remember the circumstances just fine. And yes, if we got three stops, we still would have had a hypothetical chance. Nothing I saw on either side of the ball at the end gave me any hope that the game would end that way. Our opportunities to win all came before that.

Bottom line for me: for most of the game, the D didn't just exceed my expectations, they blew them away. I didn't think we'd have more than one or two sacks, I figured we'd be lucky to get one INT, and keeping KC in the low-20s late in the fourth seemed like it would be a real accomplishment. They did all that and more. On the other hand, I figured if the offense played a good game, we could easily score in the 30s. Both sides absolutely collapsed at the end of the game, so in terms of assessing blame, I think the side that did much less for most of the game bears more responsibility for the loss. That's not to say that we shouldn't look at what happened to the defense. But we need our offense to carry more weight - and that will be even more true as we enter cap purgatory (not quite hell).

And this isn't even meant as a major indictment on the players. I think Shanahan is as responsible as anyone - and not so much for the late playcalling, but for the decision-making early. We needed to try to score at the end of the half. We should have gone for it on 4th and 2 at the start of the second half. We needed to score in this game, and that's the one thing we couldn't do at will on offense.

I don't know man, giving up 31 points hardly qualifies as blowing away expectations for me personally. You can talk about everything that happened throughout the course, but the end of the day the scoreboard is what matters. Allowing 31 points is not a good day at the office, especially when there were no special teams or defensive scores by KC.

KC's scoring drives:

TD: 15 plays for 75 yards
FG: 9 plays 43 yards
TD: 10 plays 83 yards
TD: 7 plays 65 yards
TD: 2 plays 42 yards

The scoring drives by KC weren't exactly layups, and save for the last one they weren't of the quick strike variety either. Defense also gave up a 3rd & 15 and a 3rd & 10 on the possession that KC took the lead on. Those are killers, let alone 2 on the same drive.

The 9ers offense scored points on 4 out of their first 6 possessions. And thats including the one before halftime where at first they didn't even try to score, then did and borderline got shafted on an OPI erasing a a 42 yard gain and easily being in comfortable FG position. Obviously, we would of all preferred TD's over FG's, but we all also would have preferred the defense holding KC to FG's instead of TD's as well.

Anyways, like I said earlier we're just using a different set of metrics and looking through different type of scopes. At the end of the day all of us on this board are crushed by the end result of the game, but the who should we cast blame on debate isn't going to make us feel any better about it. At least I don't think it will.

We let up 21 of those points in less than seven minutes because our HC doesn't know how to run clock

Yeah, I think I've come around to the issue being the execution and not the playcalling. The looks were there, we just didn't get to them. Caveat: I'm re-watching real quick to see to what extent we went away from playaction and went into shotgun. KC was MUCH better against shotgun than under center.

[CrimsonCrew]

In re-watching, I think there's actually an argument that we ran too much. On the 1st and 10 from our 38 following the INT and the Kittle completion, they had all eleven defenders within seven yards of the LOS. At the snap of the ball, they had eight guys on the LOS, one three yards off, one not quite five yards off, and one seven yards off and moving forward. I think a playaction fake there might have resulted in a long TD and sealed the win. That said, we had all eleven guys in tight, which allowed them to completely crowd the LOS. Honestly, even a naked boot there would have gone for a first down. Garoppolo should have considered audibling, if he had another play to go to.

The 2nd and 9, it looks like he did audible, and had Samuel open, he just missed the throw due to the blitz. This is all Garoppolo looking skittish in the pocket. It's worth noting that Bourne was in the flat with no defender within ten yards of him - and that one was in man coverage on Samuel and out of position to make a play. An easy pass there might have won the game.

3rd and 9 you almost have to pass, and we false started and then had 3rd and 14. BLATANT offsides that went uncalled. Huge break for the Chiefs. Kpassagnon was all the way across the LOS at the snap of the ball. They got almost immediate pressure rushing five and Garoppolo had to bail. He actually had a minute to set his feet and throw, but instead he ran for two on a completely futile scramble. And he should have slid.

I will say, on back-to-back third downs (one for us, one for the Chiefs), they benefited tremendously from no-calls. The offsides, followed by the hold on Bosa on 3rd and 15.

Next drive we start out of the shotgun, but it's a run that gains 5. Here is where the could have run again, and that's a fair criticism. Up three against the Chiefs, I'm thinking I've got to score, not kill the clock.

They do go out of shotgun, which I don't love, but having watched the last two drives and how quickly the pass rush got there, I think they almost had to. Garoppolo was getting a rush on him as soon as he hit his back foot when he took snaps under center. Kittle was basically uncovered, but Chris Jones - who got no pressure - batted the pass.

Tough to run on third and five, but it's doable. Garoppolo totally froze up in the pocket and threw it to open space (he appeared to get hit as he threw, but there was still no one in the ballpark). He had Kittle again if he released as he hit his back foot, but he hesitated and got hit by the delayed blitzer. This one hurts, too, as it was there if Garoppolo executes. This is also the play where Garoppolo gets hit in the head. I thought that happened earlier, so the earlier flubs were just him not making the plays.

Pretty academic to talk about killing the clock with the run game at this point, but I'll review the plays anyway. I'm finding this somewhat cathartic, though watching the Chiefs' drives is still too painful. Next drive, 1st and 10 and we run for about 15. (Shout out Richie James, who kept pinning us inside the 20...). 1st and 10 they ran it, but there was a false start. I can't believe they call that **** on us after letting the offsides slide. 1st and 15 Kittle gets eight.

1st and 10 from the Chiefs' 49, and with three TOs, you could definitely think about a run or two in here. But you also want to save your TOs in case you don't score. Chiefs once again have nine guys within three yards of the LOS, eight on it. This play seemed pretty slow to develop, and Jones again batted the ball. Samuel and Bourne came out of their breaks about a yard apart, which seems like an odd design or, more likely, an error by one of them. Mostert comes open in the flat just after Garoppolo throws it.

2nd and 10 and you could think about running again. Garoppolo throws it late and it's nearly picked. Jones again got a piece of this one and maybe diverted it just enough (led Bourne into the defender instead of getting to him just in time). I don't love the last two looks. If our guys are open, it's not by much. Wouldn't have minded seeing a play designed to beat the blitz.

3rd and ten we have to throw, and Garoppolo air mails it way past Sanders. Not even close. Ugh. But Bourne was wide open on a crossing route for a first down and more. If that wasn't the first read, it should have been.

4th and 10 you've got to throw. Especially with the clock against you. We needed to use one of our TOs here. Officials should have called a delay. I guess in theory that's an error in our favor, but given that we seemed to run the play before we were ready, it didn't feel like it. Kittle stayed in to block, inexplicably. So did Mostert. Too tough to see what happened with the routes on the game broadcast. Garoppolo takes a blow to the face, but you aren't ever going to get that call.

Anyway, I changed my mind. It wasn't cathartic. It sucked. Ugh.

[CrimsonCrew]

Grant's review:

Watch on YouTube

I've given Grant my share of grief over the years, and he's still a dick, but he's been doing pretty nicely on these. Fair warning, it's a long video.

[CrimsonCrew]

Grant's review:

Watch on YouTube

I've given Grant my share of grief over the years, and he's still a dick, but he's been doing pretty nicely on these. Fair warning, it's a long video.

This is way into the video, but on the review of Dee Ford, which is mostly negative, Ford is being held almost every time. At times it's that inside the pads holding that OTs usually get away with. But other times Schwartz has his hands inside Ford's shoulder pad, on the end of it, in plain view. Nothing.

Ford didn't come close to performing in this one, but it does have to be mentioned that Schwartz is a very good RT. But Ford was half-assing it out there.

[CrimsonCrew]

And getting another angle on it, the 3rd down with Kpassagnon jumping offsides was actually a false start by Person. Neither was called, but probably a break for us ultimately.

[whocurrz]

Trading Jimmy is the dumbest thing ever. He wasn’t perfect but he was pretty good besides the pick. Another year off the ACL injury and In Shanny’s offense gets will be top 10 in efficiency stats. All of our guys believe In him and will go to bat for him.

Either he’s a ton better than we all think, and Sanders / Deebo / Kittle / that O-line is riding his coat tails or vice versa.

But experience is not going to improve Jimmy. He is what he is. Either he needs to go, or they need to significantly upgrade the WR / RB core and / or OL. I’ll grant you Person sucks ass, and Richburg was out, but every team has a bad starter & injuries.

So your plan of bringing the same team back is insane. Either Jimmy’s not good enough or his guys weren’t. And if the latter, then who?

I suspect even if Kyle had an elite QB, he'd rein him in because he is so in love with his play design.

If the 49ers had drafted Mahomes, he's still go with the run-heavy, motion-centric design to get guys open. Kyle would not like Mahomes making too many sandlot football plays.

If you think about the late success Elway had under Mike Shanahan, it was based on Terrell Davis and lesser-known RBs gashing defenses.

Look if they didn't make the trade, they might have tried to sign Cousins.

I think this is pretty spot on. Kyle basically doesn’t even believe a dominant QB will set in the run game and leave with the well balanced attack he wants. He wants an offense where no matter how he line up the defense won’t know the play. Mahomes could make throws Jimmy can’t but I don’t think he’d ever abandon his philosophy of a well balanced attack that always keeps a defense on its heels to just throw deep. Jimmy is a rhythm passer who can execute the offense he wants. When he first came and there wasn’t a opportunity for the real game plan Jimmy was throwing down field all the time. Now the offense is all about having personnel that can run the ball and also when they release for a pass can run over people in space like Kittle, Deebo and Juice. Get the ball to guys who can take advantage of packages that employ a lot of DBs and guys who aren’t as physical.

And also ridiculous to think Jimmy can’t improve. First season starting and coming off and ACL tear guy having a very solid season that got better. Matt Ryan was MVP in his second season of Kyle’s offense. He’s not an all time talent but he’s a good system QB who is accurate and has a quick release and the more he spends time in a system the better he should be

[CrimsonCrew]

Pretty damning review of Saleh's playcalling:

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2020/02/2020-super-bowl-san-francisco-49ers-collapse-kyle-shanahan-robert-saleh?utm_source=49ersWebZone&utm_medium=dt&utm_campaign=affref