49ers 3, Seahawks 20: Grades

SANTA CLARA

Here are the grades for the 49ers’ 20-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

KAEPERNICK: F. Committed a heady delay-of-game penalty that knocked the Niners out of field-goal range in the second quarter, then threw a gutsy grounder on third-and-2 in the red zone down 17 points in the fourth quarter. Seattle owns this guy.

RUNNING BACKS: C. For a running back who allegedly has a stress fracture in his left foot, Carlos Hyde did well to average 3.6 yards per attempt. Reggie Bush averaged 5.3 yards per attempt, but carried the ball only four times. I guess the Niners are saving him for next week.

WIDE RECEIVERS: D. Anquan Boldin played through a pulled hamstring and seemed slower that he usually is. At times, the Seahawks were covering him with a linebacker. Seattle gave him no respect. Instead, they focused on Torrey Smith. Richard Sherman covered him the whole game, and Smith finished with zero catches and one drop.

TIGHT ENDS: B. Vernon Davis actually caught four passes for 61 yards – not a typo. Finally, the Niners can trade him.

OFFENSIVE LINE: F. Allowed six sacks, although some of those sacks seemed to be Kaepernick’s fault. He almost looked like he wanted to get sacked, so he could point to the stat sheet and say, “See, I got sacked six times,” and have an excuse for playing so poorly.

DEFENSIVE LINE: C. Gave up 176 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown. The Niners’ defense was on the field for more than 38 minutes due to the offense’s ineptitude.

LINEBACKERS: B. Shut down tight end Jimmy Graham, who gained just 31 yards on two catches. For the most part, the Niners’ underneath coverage played well, as did the pass rush. Aaron Lynch and Ahmad Brooks each sacked Wilson twice.

DEFENSIVE BACKS: D. Starting cornerbacks Tramaine Brock and Kenneth Acker each picked off Wilson once, but both picks were gifts – Wilson never should have forced those passes. He didn’t need to force anything Thursday night. Seahawks receivers were wide open almost every other play. Either Niners’ defensive backs were blowing assignments, or Eric Mangini’s coverage scheme stunk. Or both.

SPECIAL TEAMS: C. Good thing the Niners spent a fifth-round pick on a punter this year. He’s making all the difference.

COACHES: F. Let’s see. The offensive game plan didn’t make sense – Kaepernick ran zero times even though the starting tailback was hurt. The defensive game plan didn’t make sense, either, unless the Niners were leaving receivers wide open on purpose. And the entire team came out flat at home against their main rival in a must-win game. Did I miss something?

This article has 308 Comments

  1. I’m already done with this coaching staff after 7 weeks, I cannot take another year of this. Tomsula better be gone come January.

    1. Just got done watching Simon and Simon CHristmas episode. For Christmas:
      I want Tomsula fired
      I want Kap gone
      I want us to draft Jared Goff
      No more taking a player that kisses bicep, gets on social media, etc. The player plays football and is coached to play football and the new coach we get is NOT Friends with anybody for they earn the friendship and respect like Jack Del Rio earns that respect. tomsula gets no respect from anybody because he is not nor will ever be a coach and I urge for him to be fired, to resign, get off the 49ers by 2016 SUperbowl 50. Tomsula, you are OUT OF HERE!

      1. goff is not the answer. please don’t look for the “chosen one” all the time. the team will dismantle itself as we go through this season, it is inevitable. we are looking at a number of top-5 picks for the next many years. they need to draft and draft well. they need pick tough physical linemen, young pass rushers, DBs, line backers and pretty much everyone else. one QB won’t fix everything. successful teams build strong teams through good drafts…and it takes a few years to accomplish. this is gonna get ugly and we haven’t hit rock bottom yet.

        1. He is answer. He is a franchise QB. He has no offensive line, but makes the type of throws under pressure you need from a QB. At worst, he is Matt Ryan. We’d take him yesterday. Any team that is rebuilding has to start with the QB when they don’t have one. We don’t.

      2. Darren: They’ll have a shot at Goff next year, and they’ll have a shot at Rosen the year after, and so on. The Niners are the 80’s Bucks: terrible ownership, and awful management.

    2. Was anyone else stunned or amazed, that in the 4th quarter, with about 4 min to go, down by 17… There was NO sense of urgency? No sense of try or dignity? Did not throw a single pass beyond 8 yards that I saw…

    3. I say start by replacing the coaching staff. I’ve never seen any this bad. They are lost and clueless . I wouldn’t want them coaching my highschool team.

  2. Tired of all the doom and gloom. The 49ers are only a few owners away from being a competitive football team.

  3. On his post game show Matt Miaocco mentioned hearing their are major changes potentially coming. He said “higher ups” behind the scene for the 49ers are not happy with how things are going. Curious to see who gets the axe first. Coaches or starters

    1. I’m guessing Mangini gone. His goofy pre-snap safety ballets (and avoidance of 3-4 under fronts Dial/Dorsey/Williams played so well in) has to be wearing on the players.

      Chryst gone or Kaepernick benched, but not both.

        1. Position coach in the interim.

          Even during much of the bad years the 49ers still had good defensive minds… Nolan, Manusky, Fangio (good years) and a very good D-line coach in Tomsula.

      1. i wonder if the move from the 3-4 Under fronts is a personnel issue. It seems like Dial, Dorsey and Williams are more like classic head up run stuffing 3-4 personnel. To play an Under front you need to have guys that can stack, shed and penetrate or simply penetrate. one of the biggest defensive problems the Niners have is that they have no interior penetrators or pass rushers. so maybe Mangini feels he can only play a traditional 2 gap defensive line scheme.

        1. But with the 2 gap DL, don’t you need really good ILBs if you want to be able to stop the run and mount an interior pass rush? Our ILBs are average at best.

          1. Agree. In a vanilla 2-gap 3-4 its all about having ILBs with puma like speed and reflexes making the plays.

            The under fronts don’t abandon 2-gapping, but they allow D-linemen to be more aggressive ff the snap, and dictate to offenses where the double teams will be.

            Dial/Dorsey/Williams played well in Fangio’s under fronts. If they first and ten turned out to be a play action pass, they pressured better too.

            1. in Fangio’s defense they did a lot of old school one gap reads. before Jimmy Johnson’s Oklahoma team back in the 70’s, most one gap schemes still employed some degree of stacking (engaging the blocker) reading the play, shedding and then penetrating (as opposed to simply being assigned a predetermined gap to penetrate which is what Johnson’s simplified defensive scheme was with his College and NFL teams).

              Also, when you play an Under Front you usually play more of a fill and spill kind of run fit scheme where the goal is to push the ball carrier outside to be tackled by the linebackers and even corners.

              where as in a more traditional 3-4 two gap scheme, the run fit scheme tends to be more force and contain which is where the OLBs have force responsibilities which push the ball carrier back into the middle to be tackled by the ILBs (in either run fit scheme Safeties usually have the “alley” which provides runs support outside too again with the idea of either making the tackle or pushing the ball carrier back in).

              1. Good info!

                In Fang’s fronts 2011-2014 he had McDonald align 2-gap, shade the center slightly towards McDonald, and have Justin over a gap.

                The linemen played fast. Some penetrated. Others grabbed grass and held point.

          2. yes. but the Niner’s biggest run defense problem (at least from what I could tell from tonight’s performance) was that the OLBs don’t know how to play play “Force” in a Force and Contain run fit scheme. They keep crashing down which allowed for Lynch to run outside, bounce outside and especially cut back outside. The OLBs kept losing their gap integrity because they wanted to go straight for the ball carrier and would then get blocked or juked well out of their force responsibility (to cover the outside and force the ball carrier back inside).

              1. it’s definitely Lynch and Harold. I didn’t see Brooks mess up, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he did because of the number of times the Seahawks successfully rushed outside. It’s a common problem for younger players; especially ones that are focused almost exclusively on getting up field and after the passer…they’re in attack mode and want to go after the ball carrier too. But Brooks should know better.

            1. True. Many times the OLB’s pinched inside. There’s alot wrong with the D, but the D-line (though not exactly what we want) is hanging in there and holding point.

        2. I saw Armstead take on 2 blockers and drove Wilson into Brooks for a sack.
          I hope he is part of the changes promised.

    2. Matt Maiocco mentioned hearing their are major changes potentially coming.
      ——————
      If I was Janet in reception I’d be pretty nervous right about now.

    3. Higher ups aren’t happy… What did they expect when everyone left and we sign Reggie can’t play an entire game bush and Erik pears who couldn’t block my grandma. Be stupid to change anything now, it is what it is. You can’t continue to let talent walk and let baalke draft injured players to replace them.

      1. “Be stupid to change anything now, it is what it is.”

        Not so sure I agree. There’s probably hidden talent on the team including coaches. Since the season is lost, why not give some potentially hidden talent a shot. Even if they fail, then you know for sure that is the case.

        1. I agree, I meant more along the lines of coaching changes. Let these young guys get some run and see what they can do.

        2. …cubus
          OMG…now THERE is a thought worth considering….LET’S LET ALL OF THE PLAYERS GET THEIR JERSEYS DIRTY !!

      2. i watched pears blocking, and couldn’t believe he was so soft…bennet was walking past him.

    4. Really? But JEd York didn’t tweet anything, unless Maiocco is York’s little parrot pal like Eric Branch on the Chronicle.

      1. Yeah, that’s right. He was the HC of Atlanta. Maybe Tomsula will follow his lead. I can’t imagine it could get any worse.

  4. Branch: 142 total yards were their fewest since a 9-3 win over Vikings on Nov. 5, 2006 (133).

    Kinda what I expected with Hyde being out.

  5. How about that sweet pass in the first quarter that simply sailed aimlessly well over everyone’s head as it went out of bounds. Receivers just stopped running and watched it soar over their heads. How awesome, we have our own version of Tim Tebow.

  6. Dang Grant… You give the o-line and F, the offensive game plan an F and throw an F on Kap for a delay of game and a bad throw while being pressured. Aaron Rodgers would have scored 10 behind our line. Still a loss.

    1. The Seahawks OL played just as bad, if not worse, as our OL tonight. They put up 20. despite a couple bad picks by Wilson.

      1. Their oline can’t pass block but much better run blocking team than we are. Lunch was getting 4 yards before he was touched when Hyde always had a guy meeting him at the line of scrimmage

      2. They also had a running game that was gashing us the whole time. Easier to throw when you have the threat of the run.

  7. the score was 20-3 not 33-7 as i had predicted
    however the team appears to have quit
    its gonna be a long season

  8. What really annoyed me was the 49ers coaches refusing to go for it on 4th down twice in the last half of the 4th quarter. They intentionally decided to lose by 17 instead of risk being blown out while trying to actually win the game. Sure Kaepernick stunk, but if the coaches couldn’t even trust him to make a first down on 4th and 3 he should have been benched.

    1. But for some reason they felt like calling timeouts to extend the game right after that. SMH

      1. They have to look like they’re trying. If they had not called the TOs, then they’d be getting hammered for showing that they have given up. Right now the coaches are calling games in an attempt to save their jobs for another week. That’s why they didn’t go for it on 4th down. A loss is a loss but it looks worse if the score is a blowout.

        1. Punting on 4th down, down three scores with 4 minutes left is giving up. Calling those timeouts is putting their players in harms way for no reason because they already gave up the game. It’s basically like running a draw at the end of the half. Pretending to try and win but not really trying to win, while risking injury for no good reason.

      2. Pete Carroll could have run up the score, but was merciful. He saw how pitiful our offense was, and they did not need to score again.

        1. I agree! I didn’t think the Seahawks want to blow up the 49ers. You’d got remember this Seahawks team in their last previous loss to the Bengals and Panthers were leading in to the 4th Quarter and in both of those game they were dominating.

  9. For somebody that usually talks out of both sides of his mouth, Deion is speaking the truth.

    “This San Francisco 49ers football team and the fans should be ashamed,” Sanders said on CBS. “The management and ownership should be ashamed. This team is three years removed from a Super Bowl and they’re putting that product. Colin Kaepernick has nowhere to go, nowhere to throw. We’re here seeing this live. No one is open. They’re not blocking a soul. This is pathetic for a team that was in the Super Bowl just a few years ago. They lost a darn good coach and some really good players.”

    Come on Jed, come out from the shadows! We know you’re there!

    1. Wasn’t Deion instrumental in some of the leaks about Harbaugh? Interesting that he’s calling out the entire team and not so much Kap.

      1. He’s stating the obvious. It’s well known that the front office was the source of the leaks. Jed was walking around the office last year proclaiming Tomsula could win more games than Harbaugh, according to Tim Kawakami. Jed ruined the incredible momentum this franchise had. He should be called out.

        1. Oh, I agree with your view on Jed, but unfortunately, only his parents can get rid of him. Maybe as fans we should be focused on John and what’s her name instead of Jed. Work on them to get rid of Jed.

          1. You want Mom and Pop to pick the high level football insider that John and Jed don’t want, or heaven forbid a new GM?

            1. No, they pick a new CEO with a good football pedigree (they can hire consultants to help). That’s the only realistic solution given the current circumstances. Your kidding yourself if you think they are going to sell the team. I’m suggesting a realistic solution if they have the ability (which is a reasonable question to ask).

              Unless you have pull with Larry Ellison, maybe?

              1. Folks pulling in $100M a year in new money are not going to be embarrassed by a little thing like poor football. They will not sell. It’s Jed’s job for life. There are other teams run on the same principle in the NFL

                They are also not going to hire a high powered football guy to tell their son how to run his football program. They will do the picking, and any advise they get will be geared to what they want, not what’s best for building a strong organization.

                Remember that the Yorks thought Eddie would bankrupt their family with the way he ran the 49ers. Has anyone heard from Eddie lately?

                If you want to have hope then hope that Jed has an epiphany.

  10. Yeah goff is not good. Just watch the Utah tape. He looked horrible. Not impressed. Kap didn’t look great but we have a high school line. I love the line about kap wanting to get sacked as an excuse. That’s bs

    1. Agree, and I brought up a few weeks back the question of who in the FO is competent to hire a new GM. The answer at the moment I think is Tom Gamble.

    2. As much as it pains me, after today I agree with everything you said in that article. The coaches giving up in the 4th quarter has finally soured me completely against this team.

    3. Short of a miracle turn around I’m confident that our local beat writers will leave Jed with no choice but to hold Trent ‘accountable’ for the state of the franchise which will result in his termination. The new G.M. will clean house accordingly.

      1. This isn’t so much on the coaching stuff, look at the two rosters. Seattle is going to win this matchup 95 out of 100.

      2. Top choices(for the next 5 minutes) to replace Baalke:

        Eric DeCosta. Assistant and heir apparent to Ozzie Newsome. York probably doesn’t have the chops to close the deal it would take to pry DeCosta from the Ravens but if he did it would be a huge coup for the team, huge.

        Terry McDonough. Has worked with Belichick and Newsome and is currently helping the Cardinals to be the #1 team in the NFCW.

        Tom Heckert. Bit of a wild card choice here. Got busted for a DUI a couple years ago but was on the verge of putting together a talented team in Cleveland before the inept owner decided to clean house. GM’s don’t get a lot of second chances but the ones that do tend to have success from the past experience. He’s currently a player evaluator for the Broncos.

        1. I wonder if the 49ers could lure Newsome, as the Ravens have been grooming DeCosta for that role for a few years. Unlikely in the extreme I know, but one can dream…

        2. Coffee: Nice research. However, why on earth would those you mention come to work for the Yorks? They have built and or have great jobs somewhere else, why would they come here when they’ve witnessed what has happened under the Yorks?

          The Niners will end up with a third-rate GM, much like their current coaching staff. Or maybe York will do the right thing and appoint himself the GM, in the Jones mode.

          1. All I can say is that a lot of people were saying the same thing before they hired Harbaugh so anything is possible.

      3. Notwithstanding the fact that Jed and Baalke have made wrong decisions at EVERY turn, just look at this line-up. How many of these guys would have cracked the 80’s and 90’s lineup? Baalke is responsible for the personnel on this team. He likes big earth-movers, disdains speed. No sarcasm intended, but he really, honestly wouldnt know what to do with a Jerry Rice if he had it. Or a Dwight Clark, or the rest. Why is that important, since he’s not the coach? Because, as he said at Tomsulas introduction, “This team is going to run the ball”. And those coaches better run the ball, because Baalke put this coaching staff together. Baalke is, in effect, the anti-Walsh.

    4. Good article. It is interesting after the Thanksgiving debacle last year Little Jed almost immediately apologized for the loss. This year he is cowering in his bunker . he no longer has a fall guy. He no longer has a scapegoat . he has to own the mess he made.

      1. Good observation about him no longer having a fall guy. But maybe he’ll start to set up someone to be his fall guy – Baalke perhaps.

        1. How can tb not be the fall guy? The lack of talent on this roster is on him. He should be fired alone for signing peers!!!!

    5. Hard to evaluate Chryst when the QB is so limited and the best offensive player has a bad wheel.

      A major change I’d like to see is selling the team to an owner committed to moving the team back to the city that loved and nurtured the 49ers for generations.

      Won’t happen, but the naked money grub of the whole Santa Clara move put a stink on the team that may never come off.

    6. My favorite part:

      “Wilson threw two picks right to 49ers’ cornerbacks. Other than those plays, he was almost perfect. “

      1. Yeah, in reality, both were very good plays. Anybody who understands thing about football would know that. This is what drives me nuts about Grant. He’s not satisfied with making a point, he has to fabricate additional evidence to bolster his case. All it does is reduce his credibility.

    7. Grant, do you believe me now, that the Seahawks will score more than those FG’s you predicted. The Rams are going shut down the 49ers offense again and make kaepernick a one dimensional QB. Give him a grade F next week against the Rams defense..

  11. HEY!!!!
    Are you guy awake now? Still think Kaepernick is turning it around? This is who he is since he’s been a starter. Some of you just like to forget games like one in Houston when he was 6-15 and only have about 120 yards.

    And how he’s pretty much stunk against every half decent defense this year. Seattle isn’t the only team that owns him. He was not this bad with Roman, so Harbaugh must have done something right.

    Here’s my grade:

    QB:
    KAEPERNICK: W-T-F????
    GABBERT: A-

    1. Dumb.

      Take away 60% of a Qbs o-line and 100% of his coaching staff and he will regress. Then add on 80%of the starting defense gone to keep the games close so you can stick to your offensive game plan. That’s a recipe for a disaster as a team.

      1. You know that a columnist has little to say when he says “fore everyone”. But it plays well among us frustrated fans.

        The defense held Seahawks to 20 points while being on the field for 60% of the game. The offense played with a terrible offensive line, a QB that needs a decent O line to succeed, and a offensive coaching staff that is not very competent.
        I was expecting Niners to lose with a score of 24-10 but didn’t expect this poor an offensive showing.

        This 2-5 team is more talented than its record, but this coaching staff will not take it very far, and the front office lacks a critical mass of football knowledge and experience. Baalke has not been able to add staff who are good evaluators of offensive talent. So it’s probably time for him to go.

          1. Yoda,
            I’m trying to stay sane and keep a measured tone at a time when fan insanity is totally excusable :)

            1. They need a big picture football guy who is in charge. Being in charge, with the Yorks, is a key word. What the Yorks are going to do, along with the “fans”, is scape goat here and there which will insure the York legacy for longer than some of us will be around. Cheers.

    2. Hey there 77, I called it and told it like it is and the other side of the 49ers fans still drink koolaid and see it as progress with Tomsula and Kap. That’s why the ‘stuff’ flows downstream. Anybody that still supports this from the 49ers in such a bad coach, a bad QB all the way down the list, I pity each and every one of you that is so used to failure and are about to make a big mistake on election day and vote for Hillary or Bernie rather then Donald Trump. We need to be like Donald TRump and take back our team and hold Jed York responsible for hiring Tomsula, for getting rid of Alex Smith for the bicep kisser, and everything else in general. We need to get a WCO Qb and go back to WCO and the 4-3 defense that helped the 49ers win.

      1. Wow. I can’t believe people think Alex Smith is better than CK7. people forget that Smith threw 10 interceptions before he threw a TD pass. His best year was Harbaugh’s first year and he played poorly although the year they lost to the NY Giants in the NFCC game was the best Harbaugh Niner team. Kaepernick is much better just a different type of quarterback that they just don’t know how to use properly.

    3. They can’t repalce Kap with Gabbert yet. I have a very big bet that the 49ers don’t win 8 games. Of course with Moe, Larry, and especially Curly as the head coach I doubt Kaepernick really matters all that much.

    4. Fan, you know me. I love Kaep and think he is going to be great.
      However, even I will admit he is playing poorly. He is inaccurate and seems rattled. The O line is partly to blame, but when he throws at the feet of his receivers, he is hurting the team.
      I do not think Kaep will be benched before other players do, so here is my solution. They should make it competitive.
      Kaep should start, but if he fails to score by TD or FG, Gabbert is inserted, and Gabbert can lead drives until he fails to score so Kaep can try again. As long as oneof the scores, he can keep playing, but failure to score allows the other QB a chance to play.This scenario would benefit both players, and will reward success.

    5. Fan,

      You’re probably the kind of guy who thinks that raising (or lowering) taxes will solve economic problems.

      If only life were so simple…

  12. I want Balke fired ….I want Jed boy to sell the Niners back to Uncle Eddie ….Balke you suck, all your Dam draft picks and we have 1 impact player, Lynch who Harbaugh pushed for Balke to pick . ….Fire Balke.org

    1. Nobody in the NFL wanted this job last year, that’s how the Niners ended up with Tomsula and Company, and no college or pro coach worth their salt will take this position for years to come.

      1. Gase wanted the job, but then (Jed?) tried to force Tomsula down his throat as DC and he said thanks, but no thanks.

  13. 1. One pass attempt and completion to Celek and BMiller combined. WTF
    2. Kap looks like a shell of his former self. He has zero confidence
    3. There aren’t many sharece wrights in the league .
    4. Head to Head, Seattle totally dominates us -last 6 games
    5. Clay Mathews was right about Kap.
    6. We need to completely rebuild our Offense and fill in gaps on D.
    7. The NFL is a passing league. It is not power running. Baalke is more suited for college recruiting.
    8. It pains me every week to see WR who within out grasp kicking a$$ for other teams.
    9. We are the Raiders of the last decade. We will have a series of top 10 if not Top 5 picks.
    10. Baalke can’t be trusted with a top 10 pick.
    11. He is simply not a good GM. The niners success of the last 4 years was based on Harbs and good players who Baalke was not responsible for – gore, O-line, vernon, Pwillis, J smith …

    12. It is time to accept reality and start making changes

    1. The move to LA changed the Raiders mystique forever. They had some success during/post LA, but nothing like the consistent winner they had before the LA move.

      The stink of the Santa Clara move hangs over the team. Huge swathes of seating empty and peppered with opposing fans because they’re club seats owned by corporations. The farthest stadium from its namesake city (by far) of any NFL team. Stunning when you consider San Franciscan’s aren’t as car oriented as most cities.

      There is something worse than losing that alienates fans. Its when owners take steps that remind even the most loyal fans they are rooting for laundry.

      The Raiders haven’t won any Super Bowls without several players on the roster that played in pre-LA move Oakland during all/part of their careers.

      The 49ers haven’t won any Super Bowls without several players on the roster that once played for Bill Walsh.

      1. B2W,

        The Giants and Jets play in a different state. Closer, I know, but farther away emotionally, don’t you think? Once you’re in the car, does that really mstter, anyway?

        If things weren’t so f’d up, no one would be saying boo about the stadium or Santa Clara.

    1. CK will never look good against good defenses. You need to be able to throw with anticipation, which he has shown little ability to do.

      1. kaep’s throwing mechanics are that of a pitcher, those long elongated throwing action doesn’t show an NFL calibre qb, it takes too long to unwind a throw. i think kaep fans dont understand football, they complain about the O line and complain that receivers aren’t getting open. well, receivers aren’t wide open all the time, throws against crowded fronts are largely anticipation throws. the ball has to be put out there to a spot for the receiver to go get it. Kaepernick has not mastered the art of “throwing the receiver open”. it is completely different skill. kaep grew up in a high-low scheme where he didn’t have to scan the field or anticipate receivers getting open. He is only comfortable throwing to the wideeeeee open receiver or the innocent bystander off the field.

      2. We all know that Kaepernick feed on lowly teams with below average defense. And I’m sure watching Kap in the sideline a bewildered individual who is lost.

  14. Grant you’re just trying to hide your pain. You really wanted to weep with joy about a 49er win and it didn’t happen. You want to know how I know what you really feel? The same way you know about how Colin Kaepernick feels. I can see it in your face from far far away. I feel your pain son.

    1. maybe we all need group counseling. Over at NN, Fucillo has leading a cathartic vent session over the Niners top brass.

  15. Harbaugh got fired after the Seahawks loss, maybe that will be the new tradition and Tomsula will get sacked in Seattle…
    I finally remember who TomTom reminds me of. My neighbor has that look on his face when he’s coming home too late and he’s caught by his wife! Guilty and soooooooooo sorry……

  16. Maiocco (who rarely makes negative comparisons about current 49er coaches) said in his periscope younger players are doing poorly in Mangini’s zone, and would be doing much better under Fangio’s system.

    1. Maiocco, the first to mention “big changes”, but did give details. He reiterated that 49er management and owners are shocked the team’s 2-5, with multiple blow out losses, and only competitive in 3 out of 7 games.

      1. and we are only in the middle of it. it will get worse. look at the schedule and i don’t see any wins…and i guess when you are at the bottom of the league, every mole hill looks like a mountain.

      2. Brodie: “Shocked”? They must be the stupidest people in the business because even my dog knew that the Niners made a terrible mistake in firing Harbaugh and his crew. You just don’t find those kinds of coaches around….the Yorks knew what they were doing: they got their stadium, they are cheap, and they like to be the star in the film.

    2. good observation on MM. he rarely makes -ve comments on 9ers, but looks like he has changing his tone in the last few weeks.

      1. He’s beat writer, not an opinionator like Grant. I started commenting on this blog when he was the blogger here. He has offered plenty of negative observations over the years after lousy losses — just not dramatic stuff.

  17. Move over Raiders…..the 49ers are coming……. to take your place as the joke of the NFL.

  18. TO ALL 49ER FANS : “WINTER IS COMING” either accept many years of incompetent management or find another team.

  19. Don’t worry about the momentum going down hill. Once we get to the bottom, we can turn around and see how far it is to the top. Enjoy.

    For instance we can enjoy the fact that the Seahawks couldn’t run a punt back for a touchdown.

  20. As an ardent Kaep fan, I must admit that Kaep has regressed so badly, he is hurting the team.When he throws the ball 30 yards out of bounds and at the feet of his receivers, it is obvious that his confidence is shattered.
    The coaching had a big factor in his futility.They are not utilizing him properly. Kaep did not run once, and forcing him to be only a pocket passer is like putting an Abrams tank in a pit.
    The players are not focused and disciplined. That is the fault of poor coaching. The offense is unprepared and way too predictable. I warned that having Moody gave the Seahawks valuable intel. but the coaches did little to change, with predictable results.
    I am ashamed and embarrassed, and wish to apologize to all fans who expect at least a competitive game. The Niners were pathetic, and I applaud Pete Carroll for not running up the score.

  21. The make things more sour… due to the (likely) strength of schedule the 49ers would lose most top of the draft tie-breaker scenarios.

    What do you bet the player everyone thinks will save the 49ers gets drafted one spot ahead of where the 49ers will draft.

      1. If the 49ers drafted a sure bet “Montana” in 2016 he would be smashed in no time. It’s a team sport with a structure designed to regress on the mean which makes it very hard to climb out of mediocrity.

  22. kaep’s throwing mechanics are that of a pitcher, those long elongated throwing action doesn’t show an NFL calibre qb, it takes too long to unwind a throw. i think kaep fans dont understand football, they complain about the O line and complain that receivers aren’t getting open. well, receivers aren’t wide open all the time, throws against crowded fronts are largely anticipation throws. the ball has to be put out there to a spot for the receiver to go get it. Kaepernick has not mastered the art of “throwing the receiver open”. it is completely different skill. kaep grew up in a high-low scheme where he didn’t have to scan the field or anticipate receivers getting open. He is only comfortable throwing to the wideeeeee open receiver or the innocent bystander off the field.

  23. Who to fire first? The offense was so pathetic, Geep needs to shoulder a lot of the blame. I thought the play calling and game management issues were solved, but they are still around.
    Kaep still incurred a DOG penalty. I blame the coaches for letting him waste time. He is woefully unprepared. The coaches should have anticipated that the defense would shift 5 seconds before the play clock expired, so they should have sternly told Kaep never to call an audible with less than 5 seconds. Coaches still tried to force Kaep to be only a pocket passer. The few times he rolled out, he was successful. Where were the reverses to take advantage of the defense’s speed? Where were the Zone Reads? Where were the read options? Where were the pistol formations? Where was the man in motion? Where was the hurry up with quick snaps? How many times did Kaep pump fake?
    Geep and his insistence to call plays that are relayed down, just shows how obsolete and archaic the play calling system has devolved into, and the results are striking. Geep, as OC, must take the blame. It is part of the job description.

    1. Dont u know? Were supposed to believe that Baalkes coaching staff is superior to Holmgren and the staff he would have put together. Holmgren, who was trained by Walsh, gone to many Superbowls, and has forgotten more football knowledge than Baalke will ever know. And THATS why he wasnt hired……

  24. This game was over before the flip of the coin. The Niners were thoroughly out coached.
    Pete Carroll spoke about how intrigued he was about Hayne, and he brainstormed with his coaches on all the ways to utilize his unique skillsets. What do the Niners do? They deactivated Hayne before the game. Brilliant.
    Niners were confronted with a stacked box. Did they go to a 4 receiver set to spread them out and give more passing options? No, and there were linemen standing around with no one to block while the receivers are blanketed so Kaep has no one to throw to.
    5 former Niners were on the Seahawk squad, including Moody, and it seemed like Seattle knew the Niner playbook better than the Niners. What an obvious coaching failure.
    There were way too many unforced errors, so the coaches have not instilled discipline or promoted common sense.
    I hope heads will roll.

    1. I never thought I would say this but Im debating if I can still follow this team. I’ve been a die hard fan for 20 years since I was a little kid. I struggled through all the horrible years starting in 2003 and finally thought we might have our new hof coach to take over lineage from Walsh, seifert, but it all came crashing down because of what I think is jeds fault. The problem is the owner is not replaceable. I don’t see Jed giving it up ever. And with Jed in charge I don’t see another top notch coaching candidate takimg a Niners job unless 1-they are a retread trying to prove themselves again (like all our assistant coaches now) or the team has some kind of exceptional talent.

      1. Well, being a die hard Niner Faithfull, I will grind my teeth and take the losses, but I will not accept them without comment. I really think there is talent on the team, but the coaching is so abysmal, there is no hope without major changes.

  25. Well, that was pretty much just more of the same. Here is my review:

    – Once again the offense lost the game. They got nothing going all game.
    – Kaep wasn’t good once again. But this was definitely a case of not being helped by a porous OL and receivers that really struggled to get open.
    – Boldin shouldn’t have been playing. He couldn’t get any separation. Less than usual.
    – The idea that Tiller is an upgrade over Devey at RG looked like a mirage today. Both guys were terrible.
    – Hyde is just getting hit behind or at the LOS way too often to have a consistent running game. The OL is pathetic.
    – The offensive play-calling is very conservative, and not creative. Though I think the players are the bigger problem than the play calls. Or maybe its 50-50.
    – Mangini didn’t call a terrible game, but there are still a lot of times players are blowing assignments. Not good.
    – The coverage over the middle looked a bit tighter this week.
    – Most of the DBs looked alright again tonight, but Brock gave up some big plays. He’s no #1 CB. Mangini trusts him too much with 1-on-1 coverage.
    – The pass rush was alive tonight, but that’s the benefit of playing the worst OL in football. I wouldn’t be getting too carried away with their success.
    – Armstead looked good, and even Carradine showed flashes of pass rush ability (though likely due to the opposition).
    – Harold, though, did not do much. Again. Except for give up some big runs on plays directed at him.
    – There were too many missed tackles, and also missed sacks. Wilson is elusive, but Wilhoite, Armstead, Lynch and Bowman all missed opportunities at sacks. Need to take them.
    – The run D struggled with runs to the edge, and cut-backs. Poor discipline the main culprit.

    All in all, a whole lot of blurgh…

    1. “Mangini didn’t call a terrible game, but there are still a lot of times players are blowing assignments.”

      Did Mangini install a scheme his players simply aren’t ready to execute?

      1. Pretty much, B2W. I think they were incapable of learning it and mastering it within the timeframe required. This actually isn’t uncommon though. There is often a first season learning curve with a new system. By the end of the year they should (hopefully) be a lot better at, and by Year 2 (if there is a Year 2) it should be pretty much down.

    2. It’s remarkable how mediocre the Boone-Staley side of the O line has performed.
      I think Niners could have had a couple of more sacks had the DBs covered the receivers better during Wilson’s scrambles.
      A good coaching team + a better right side of O line could squeeze 8-9 wins out of these players. Right now I see maybe one or two more wins.

      1. The 49ers had a chance at 9 sacks without better coverage, but they just flat out missed Wilson on four occasions. But they certainly aren’t the first team to have trouble getting Wilson to the ground when it looks like they have a clean shot at him.

        I thought the coverage was mostly fine aside from a few botched assignments. But if there hadn’t been any pass rush (which has been most weeks for the 49ers) they could have been in a lot of trouble.

        1. Not sure Scooter how it could have been worse trouble. The score was actually an illusion to how really bad the 49ers are.
          That first drive said it all. They just out willed them and Pete Carroll knew that. The game plan for the Hawks was just punish them physically early and they will crumble. It worked to perfection!

  26. No top coach will work for Baalke. Only hope is a new GM who is not only sharp but well regarded in the NFL. But it may take Jed a decade to hire such a guy. Remember the decade it took for the Bengals and Bucs. The Browns and the Redskins still stink. Fasten your seatbelts for a LOOOOOOONG flight.

  27. Well, the game was painfull. But that was to be expected.

    What a find curious is how many fans here blame Tomsula and the coaching staff for this debacle.

    There’s no denying that the coaches are doing an awful job. And I mean, AWFUL.

    But here is the cumulated results for the previous 6 regular season games against the Seahwaks, since Russel Wilson became their QB:

    Seahawks – 130
    Niners – 58*

    That averages at 21,67 to 9,67 for Seattle.

    So, last night score was almost par for the course.
    And that’s considering that those previous 6 games had Harbaugh, Fangio, and a much better roster.

    *In those games the 49ers were 1-5, and their lone victory was the only time they scored more than 13 points (19).

    1. PFT:

      “The 49ers’ offense never got going on Thursday night. They gained just 142 yards, the fewest for any NFL team in any game this season, and had more punts (nine) than first downs (eight).”

      The fewest yards of ANY team in ANY game this season.

      1. Last season: Thursday night game, 164 yards – final score: 3-19
        This season: Thurday night game, 142 yards – final score: 3-20

        I’m sensing a trend here…

      1. The point is that the problems are, unfortunately, deeper than just the coaching staff. At least against Seattle.

        Some people still cry over the Harbaugh firing as if he would have made a difference if he still was the coach.
        Maybe for the whole season he could, but against Seatlle I doubt it.

  28. To call Devey and Pears turnstiles on the right side is an insult to turnstiles. You have to slow down and apply gentle pressure to get past a turnstile.

    1. Not that I’m supporting either Devey or Pears, but Bennett has always owned our right tackle – even when A. Davis was the RT. But I don’t recall Davis being beaten as badly as those guys were last night.

      1. It seemed like much of the night Pears, Martin and Devey were chasing from behind some d lineman that had blown by them and were already in the backfield. We’ve been over this repeatedly but the lack of hot reads and blitz beating throws and a QB who’s slow in his decision making plus and o line that looks like their feet are cemented to the ground is embarrassing.

        I expected us to be this bad but hoped it wasn’t true. We shouldn’t have let our expectations get away from us. The press was right about the coaching staff and the loss of talent. I don’t see any point in being mad unless your a ticket holder or hating people because of this. Anyone still think Tomsula is going to last three years like some were saying? I don’t.

      2. Many times, by the time Kaepernick could get to his plant foot, the pressure was in his face. Try anticipating a throw with two or three guys coming right up the middle. That could make a lot of QBs gun shy, which is what Colin is right now.

        Kaepernick will never have a throwing motion like Rogers. I sometimes think Rogers doesn’t use his arm or body, just his wrist. It’s the magic six inch motion.

        1. I don’t know about Kaepernick could not plant his foot to throw. A good football minded QB and that has instinct can react right away whatever opposing defense throws at him. There’s too many excuses for his inability to perform to his standard. Good opposing defense has Kaepernick number how to contained kaepernick in the pocket and keeping him from scrumbling outside to run and opposing defense don’t give Kaepernick any lane to run with the football..

          1. To paraphrase ‘Stonewall Jackson’….”Get to where they ain’t”…Kaep keeps running into them…Old QB trick…get sacked so your incomplete passes and interceptions don’t go on your stat line.

          2. What good defenses do is have three free runners triangulate him. With nine guys in the box they could also cover his hot reads. Meanwhile five OL boys stood by watching or filling his escape lanes.

            1. Which makes my point. Baalkes disdain for a real NFL caliber passing attack to go along with the run makes the niners a very easy team to game-plan against. In fact, they are a “break” in the schedule. Baalke is the problem. He obtains the players and puts together the coaching staff. And if they want their jobs, they better dance to his tune.

  29. You trade Kaep and Tomsula to the Seahawks, and we get Russell Wilson and Carroll, and i bet we would have won 19-3, mainly because Kaep sucks so bad.

    1. Fan: Kaep did not play well last night and became more shell-shocked as the game wore on. But the OL was horrible last night. There were a number of plays that CK had no chance. Also, the play calling was suspect once again. I was watching SC after the game and they showed a play where we had two WRs going down-field and the Seahags had 6 in the secondary. Around the LS, we had 9 players including CK and the chickens only had 5. Yet the squawks were already past the LOS in CK’s face. How could he possibly find an open guy in this situation? Absolutely embarrassing. It was an epic fail in all ways last night.

      I don’t think CK is our future, but it wasn’t just him last night.

  30. Ahmad Brooks shaking hands with the opponents, before the game is even near the end. Alex Boone smiling, just hanging out, cuz he’s a dude and all. Hey Mr. Boone! Let’s not upset your 12-step butt, and heaven forbid a head coach demands more than your comfort zone. Frat boy personified. And the rat who ratted on Singletary and Harbaugh (it wasn’t Crabtree).

    Tomsula looking like a suburban overweight peewee league coach. I guess they all get trophies so they can feel good.

    Mangini, another slob. No class. I actually miss Nolan with his suits and ray-bans.

    Just call them the Santa Clara Suburbanites and create a new team for our Niners.

  31. I am at the point where I welcome almost any change, particularly with the coaching staff. Even if the results are worse (which is hard to imagine), it shows me that the FO is willing to make changes and not be entrenched with this CS. Now, changes in the FO (i.e. Baalke) might be more difficult, since it is totally up to Jed.

    Even though I’ve been bashing Jed, I keep remembering something Grant has said a number of times. He firmly believed that Jed wants to put a winning product on the field (well, aside from his column last night). Mostly because I don’t have any other choice, I’m going to believe that that is the case. So, I’m going to “trust” that Jed will make the right choices. If you want to call me delusional, I would have to agree that there is a case for that statement. But what other choice do we have with regards to hoping for improvement.

    1. It’s not about Jed wanting or not wanting to put a winning team out. It’s about his ego not handling a really strong presence. He wants unity and flow in his company. Everyone on the same page. But he is not talking about gm down. He means including him. Which sounds nice but people like Ozzie newsom, harbough, and so on would never play yes man to him.

      So long story short I believe that they can still find quality candidates but I think between Baalke and jed they have eliminated 80% of the quality candidates for coach and with Jed has eliminated 65% of quality gm candidates.

      1. I think you’re right. I’m “trusting” that Jed will learn to put his ego at least somewhat aside, for the good of the team. Take one for the team, Jed.

    2. I would welcome Mike Holmgren back as a savior to this team, and maybe he could get Seiffert to come back to coach.

      1. I think you’re partially joking about Holmgren and Seifert. Because they’re both too old to be in the trenches or even the front office. The game has passed Holmgren up as far as day to day tactical and strategic coaching…and he’s never proven to be a good evaluator of prospective talent.

        But I do think Holmgren, Seifert, and others could serve as Consiglieres for Jed. I think Jed needs a team of advisers separate from his football operations people like Baalke. Jed needs an outside and more objective perspective on his organization.

        1. Desperate times need desperate measures.
          At least we know they have Niner blood running through their veins and would relish the challenge.

          1. Seifert is comfortably retired.

            I know Holmgen wanted the job in the offseason. But now I’d think that he’d have second thoughts about joining THIS 49ers team (I know I would if I were him).

            Maybe Brian Billick is desperate enough to take the 49ers job? I don’t think Gruden would touch this team with a 10 foot pole.

            1. I like Billick he is very astute. Josh Mcdaniels, Paul Guenther, Jim Mora and David Shaw would be good candidates, too.

              1. Another defensive HC? For a change lets hire a offensive minded HC.
                Tired of Nolan, Singletary, Tomsula defensive HC. The one that was an offensive mind coach J. Harbaugh whom Baalke didn’t get along with and Jed instead let go.

          2. Seb,

            “I would welcome Mike Holmgren back as a savior to this team, and maybe he could get Seiffert to come back to coach.”

            Do you remember how Holmgren did when he had full control?

            Seifert, spelled with one “l”, is my favorite 49er person of all time, but without Walsh’s structure and players, he was adrift. His chance to build a poor team in Carolina into something good failed.

              1. Seifert won the repeat (1990) Superbowl with Walsh’s players and structure. In 2004 Seifert went with the flow and some high priced free agents to win the Superbowl. In Carolina he had nothing and built nothing.

              2. George and Bill worked in a synergistic manner. Bill would add a new wrinkle, and George would counter it. both were like mad scientists.
                Carolina was unfortunate, and injuries doomed that team with no QB.

    3. cubus,

      Kaepernick wanted to throw four touchdown passes last night and win 31 -20. Jed, without bringing in a top football mind, has about the same chance of getting what he wants.

      A while back I bought lottery tickets wanting to win the big one and split it with a lot of people. About four years ago, I stopped buying tickets. Did that make in difference in whether or not I would get my wish?

      Jed has to find someone else to run his football operation, and it’s not Baalke or even Harbaugh.

      1. I agree. The first week I ever posted on this blog I said their wasn’t enough football talent/experience in the front office.

        1. … and Jed has resisted bringing in someone that would expect and demand power. Eddie brought in the guy his dad wanted and gave him full power. Then he brought in someone he picked and gave him full power and that worked for a while. Of course Eddie took back the power but he had people that could manipulate him enough to keep the act together for ten years.

      2. htwaits is right on so may different levels. Jed put Baalke in his position, and Baalke put the team in this position. In other words, you know a tree by the fruit it gives……….

    4. Hey, cubus…That front office you seem to have faith in are DIRECTLY responsible for the this coaching staff!!

      1. No, I want changes in the FO starting with Baalke. I’m hoping that if we see some CS changes then Jed will also make FO changes. My point is that removing Jed is the most unlikely thing to happen (not that I wouldn’t cheer if it did); therefore, I’m going to have “blind faith” that Jed is learning from this situation and is proud enough to feel deep embarassment for the current product on the field.

        First, we have to see a willingness to make change – that is key.

  32. This disastrous season is filled with misery up to this point, the sadness permeates the soul. What is really bad, is that I doubt any quality FA’s and coaches are going to want to come to the Niners. The buck stops at Jed York but he is not going anywhere. Harbaugh had his faults but he was the best thing that happened to this franchise since Bill Walsh. York and Baalkie chased him out of town. I was initially okay with the Tomsula hire but he is in way over his head. He doesn’t have a OC or DC his QB is playing poorly to say the least. Face it this team is bad from top to bottom. However I will continue as I have for decades to stay with the team thru the thick and thin and hopefully I will still be alive for the next Niner playoff team.

    1. 49ers Major Changes coming:

      The 49ers will go to a 4-3 defense, and breakout their new uniforms for the remainder of the season.
      On the coaching front, the York’s plan to hire Jim Hostler as HC, whose offenses averaged 14 pts per game previously with the niners.

    2. “This disastrous season is filled with misery up to this point, the sadness permeates the soul.” … undercenter

      You need to pick one of the eight fold paths available to us.

    3. Undercenter, this is now well and truly a rebuild, and I don’t think we should be expecting the 49ers to become truly competitive for a SB again in one off-season.

      However, when the next coaching staff takes over (and I am firmly of the belief that Tomsula and co. won’t last much beyond the first few games of 2016), they will have a decent core of young players to work with. What is going to be critical this off-season is how the 49ers handle the draft and FA. Because of the core of young players they have, I think there is an opportunity, with the right decisions, to have this team competing for a SB in 2017.

      Do the 49ers have the people in place to make those right decisions…?

        1. I think they already have a core of decent young players. What they need is someone that can find excellent/ high impact players at key positions: QB, pass rusher (OLB+DL), OL, ILB, WR.

          1. I fail to see the core of good young players? Maybe on defense but offense, I see no promising young talent. Do you and who? Carlos Hyde?

            1. Yeah, mostly on D. On O its far more concerning. But I think there are some young guys on O that aren’t getting a go that could be ok in time – Ellington, Brown, Bell, even Thomas though most are now writing him off as he hasn’t been able to work his way into the competition at RG. Plus Hyde and Torrey Smith, who is still only 26. You also have the older heads of Staley, Miller and hopefully Anthony Davis next year.

              As disappointing as Martin has been at centre, I still think he can develop. Still only 21. It is well reported that young OL are taking much longer to develop these days, so I’m not writing off any of the 49ers young OL at this stage.

          2. Scooter

            I agree with you…we do have many GOOD young players…they will all die on the bench without a change in philosophy…PLAY ’em. So they get their butts kicked…that’s football If they sit on the bench or the PS, we just guess how good they COULD HAVE BEEN or worse, until another team snatches them off our PS and we see them when they play against us. Sorry to ‘fess-up, but we’re done for this year without BIG changes…and soon

  33. The real reason people hate Jed; When you see his face, you just want to slap it. You don’t know why you have the urge. You’re not a mean or violent person. It’s just that whenever he talks, your brain decodes it as a butthole asking you for some Binaca or mint gum. You just want to powder up your hand and let it fly…

    1. This is how they can get butts back in Levi’s stadium: Build a fighting pit. Put Jed York and Kaep in it. Place weapons around the pit, so Jed can have a fighting chance.
      Ring a bell. two men enter. One man leaves!

      If Kaep makes it out, he gets to break have a nice dinner with Bay Area Fanatic, and they can binge watch Scandal on Netflix

      If it’s Jed, then he has to be Grant’s personal assistant for the remainder of the season!
      I hear Grant has a lot of laundry that he’s been saving up for the occasion!

      Who’s in???

  34. If Devey and Pears want to watch defensive line men run by them, it would be better for them to watch from the side lines. Bush is a shell of the former player. Willhoite is a liability. Patton and his stupid behavior is hurting the team. Kaep has all the fight beaten out of him. I may have fully supported Kaep up to this point, but he looks shell shocked and befuddled. Maybe they should light a fire under him and rotate in Gabbert. Even Anquon was hurting the team by playing hurt. He looked like he was jogging out there and the DBs covered him like a blanket. Deactivating Hayne when Hyde has a broken foot sure worked out well, didn’t it?
    The Niner coaches were unprepared, had inane strategies and could not make adjustments. I really think they are too stupid to be able to draw up a play that has a man in motion. Seattle did it, and Carroll backed off those because he would have run up the score if he used had them, they were so effective.
    Baalke should have some blame for this mess. Whiffing on Dockette, Wright, Devey, Pears. Letting Iupati and Gore leave and drafting medical question marks just is too damning.
    Baalke did not give the coaches the right players to succeed, and even let an O lineman slip away to another team. He said they were going to run the ball, but the Niners did that only 15 times last game.
    All in all, this was a putrid mess, and everyone, even Jed, had his hand in the bucket.

    1. With Baalke’s approach to offense, that seems unlikely. He might go for a GM/HC gig, but who would want to give Hue Jackson that role.

      Now a new GM with the confidence to hire a strong head coach like Jackson might think he was a good choice.

        1. That makes several of us “don’t counters” but only one person has a vote and he would first have to find someone to find the GM. I predict inertia.

      1. HTWaits: Think about it for a minute. Hue worked under Davis in Oakland, he was fired and treated much the same way Harbaugh did by the Yorks. I doubt he would ever want to be in the same situation again. There will be several job HC jobs next year, as usual, and he’ll be a prime candidate for the NY Giants or New Orleans.

        1. I think that I wrote that Jackson wouldn’t want to work for Baalke/York. Sorry if it was unclear. How about no way in hell would Jackson want his hands tied by Baalke and York.

          1. I think HJ would have to at least consider the job. There just aren’t that many to go around.

  35. This season is done and next season doesn’t look too promising given what Baalke has done, or rather failed to do, as the GM. So here is my 3 year rebuilding plan:

    1. Immediately fire Trent Baalke. Keep Tomsula/Chryst/Mangini to continue bailing water on the sinking ship during the season and then fire them after the season. Hire whomever Coffee for Closers says is the right GM for the job. Jed York should not be allowed a vote in the matter. He’s proven he’s a disaster at people management. Then let the GM hire the next coach. I prefer an offensive minded coach. Every great 49er team has had an offensive minded head coach.

    2. Gear up for the draft. Hire CfC’s GM and triple your scout budget to create the best talent evaluation staff in the NFL. Trade your very very high draft pick for multiple early round picks and Load up on O-lineman. There isn’t a QB worth taking with a high 1st round pick. This is a really bad year to be a bad team in need of a QB. There isn’t a great QB in this class so you will have to find a FA to steer the ship until your amazing scouting dept finds the next great QB. Perhaps Ryan Mallet or maybe even Drew Brees if he’s cut in the offseason.

    3. Make trades and load up on picks in rounds 1-3. Lower round picks have all been busts. I would immediately trade Aaron Lynch. The guy has some talent rushing the QB but his effort last night was embarrassing. There were at least 4 plays where I watched him avoid tackling a player. You don’t want a guy like that as part of your program. Even if you have to combine players to get picks then thats what you do. This season is lost so send Torrey Smith, Aaron Lynch to a contender willing to give up a 2nd round/3rd round pick.

  36. I’d fire Baalke, hire Nick Caserio as the GM and McDaniels as Head Coach and let them build a real offense…..

    1. Razor, I like your idea a lot. Ordinarily guys at that level who are successful wouldn’t come to a team like this, but if he offered them fair money and a long guaranteed contract, and pledged that he wouldn’t bind them if one of them said no, maybe they’d do it.

    2. Razor, I don’t know enough to evaluate your suggestion, but from observing Jed, I think the only first step that will truly make a difference is a football power between Jed and who ever is the GM.

    3. That would go a long, long way to fixing this mess. As long as Baalke is there we will always have a high school passing attack. Until thats remedied, were always playing with one arm tied behind the back.

  37. I appreciate everyone’s opinion on the coaching prospects. But right now the bigger issue is personnel. The 49ers roster does not have the personnel to compete at this level. Even if Harbaugh or Fangio were here, it’s maybe a 3-4 at best record.
    The problem is we have not drafted well the past 3 years.We have also missed on a lot of free agent acquisitions. It’s not Jed, it’s not Tomsula although they have not helped. This is squarely on the shoulders of the guy buying the groceries. Trent Baalke.
    The injured picks he chose,the big misses along the offensive line, not drafting a successor to #7. I mean we could point out all the faults for days.
    But last night just solidified that when you crumble and are non competitive against your division rival (blow outs to both AZ & SEA) you have not built a roster to beat your divison.
    It’s not like they have not had the picks or money to do it. And yes they had a lot of retirements in the offseason but when you look at the depth chart, even with Willis, Smith, and Aldon, it would not have made a huge difference.
    It’s time to bring in a GM who is a draft guy. A guy who can evaluate talent and a guy who can bring in a coach to develop that talent.
    It’s a 3 year rebuild. Maybe sooner because there are some pieces but the major pieces like QB, oline, pass rush will take time to develop.
    Pretty embarrassed today to be a 49er fan!

    1. Prime well said. It always starts and ends at how well you can compete within the division. You build a roster to beat the best team(s) in your division. That’s makes your window to make the playoffs that much more open.
      We are not physical. We are not hungry. We are not fast and we are not smart. Seattle and AZ, and even the Rams are all those things. While those teams drafted to get better in all those areas, we missed considerably.
      Of course Baalke was gonna hit on having 11 picks a year for the past 3 years. But he missed more than hit. That is the real issue.

      Now the easy thing is critics will say they have a new staff, too many retirements etc. That is all true but at the end of the day, the 49ers are not even close. The coaching is bad. They cannot devise a scheme for any of the current players on the roster. Like Maiaocco said, it is a hot mess. Top to bottom a full fledge house cleaning is needed. I mean how much can we as fans watch that stuff that’s being played on the field?

    2. Prime Time I agree with you today. Three years may be optimistic if it’s “Superbowl or Bust” going forward. By bust I mean that it will take longer if Jed continues to need someone to blame every time we fail to win the Superbowl.

    3. Prime is completely correct. He (Baalke) put this coaching staff together. His judgements…..

  38. The 49ers have done alot of promotions from within, Baalke, Tomsula, etc. Just curious at the suggestion of Gamble to be promoted. Since he is currently on staff, his fingerprints are partly on this team as well. Wouldn’t it be a better idea to bring someone from the outside in?

    1. I don’t think Gamble has any part in drafting. He should be and should be the next GM. York should not hire another GM. Just appoint Gamble as SE of personnel and GM. A dual role for him. He is well respected, a proven track record in the NFL. All he has to do is hire a coach with whom he can work with.

    2. He just recently rejoined the team, after a few years in Philly. He hasn’t had time to be responsible for much.

  39. My take in all this, I’d say the 49ers will be in the bottom cellar of the west for quite sometime if they don’t get rid of Baalke, Tomsula and Kaepernick. There’s no going around the situation they need to overhaul the management from top to bottom. And draft a young talented QB that smart and a pocket passer or get one in the FA’s.

      1. Of the 11 picks next year, you draft 2 QB’s. Then you bring in another 2 undrafted QB’s. You sign a old veteran like Hasselback as well. You also keep Gabbert as insurance.
        Of the 6 QB’s on your roster, you keep 1 vet (Gab or Hass), your best draft pick becomes your #2, you keep the other pick/undrafted QB as your #3, then stash the next best one on your practice roster.

        Meanwhile, you have hired the best head coach in the world who knows a thing or 5 about offense, the QB position and play calling. His name might be Sean Payton, Adam Gase, Urban Meyer, Davis Shaw.

        This is the most logical progression of order in getting this thing right.

        1. FDM

          Excellent idea on restocking the QB position that would make up for not having a QB in every draft (per Bill Walsh) I would agree with Sean Payton, maybe Adam Gase, but for sure add in Josh McDaniel as HC material…Urban Meyer couldn’t take the cut in pay, and NO MORE STANFORD COACHES…unless we can ressurect BW….

          1. The reason I do not like McDaniel is because he is a product of the best QB and head coach possibly in NFL history. When he went to Denver there was a lot of drama. I am thinking we need someone with his creativity but with an authoritative manner. Someone who has the stones to demand roster leeway.
            There are a lot of good candidates out there and I have no idea who would be better. Just never been a fan of McDaniel.

            1. FDM

              If it’s just a personality contest, I can’t think of a HC (NFL) that I would like personally Only What’s his record….McDaniels has one…Denver was a miscarriage

    1. Any of u remember Bernie Kosar? Certainly not the athlete Kap is, but as an NFL qb, he was light years ahead……..

  40. Surprising, I slept well last night, and awoke with a renewed sense of …………….. dread and despair unknown to mankind! The end is nigh!

    I will be leaving this forum in the coming days, but before I go, I wanted to leave a mark and give you guys my best assessment of current state of this storied franchise and my blueprint for moving forward. There’s a lot to list, and it will take a number of posts, but I’ll start with the most recent observations. Last night, a very large number of players quit on their fans, as well as their fellow teammates, and they did it in front of a national audience. The only thing more embarrassing than last night’s game was the post game press conference. Here is HC Jim Tomsula’s first sentence: “That game today was, uh, was not what we want”. To be fair, Jim was clearly a broken football coach by the time he strolled up to the podium. I almost feel sorry for the guy. IMO, he is one of the finest defensive line coaches the 49ers have ever had. And by all accounts, he is an even better person then he is a DL coach. BUT, nobody forced the head coaching job upon him. He knew that he was taking over a roster filled with young, inexperienced football players, and a handful of veterans who’s best playing days were behind them. With the exodus of so many of the teams most accomplished players, he was taking over a team that had no clear identity, and very little sense of type of team it could be moving forward this season. Let’s be honest though, Jim Tomsula is not the type of HC that inspires confidence, and it quickly became clear that Jim was simply not ready for prime-time. Some people have a hard time putting their thoughts into words, but it seemed to me that Jim’s lack of vision for this team’s future was real, and tangible, and not simply a matter of translation. The moment Trent Baalke felt compelled to step all over Tomsula during their first press conference, and declared “I think somewhere in there, he said we are going to run the football”, I understood exactly why Jim Tomsula was promoted. He wasn’t hired wasn’t hired because of his vision for the type of team he wanted to build, rather, he was hired precisely because he no vision. He was simply a blank slate, and the type of HC would would allow his GM to make all of the major decisions behind the scenes, without the burden of of accountability. Jim was never going to question Trent, regardless of the circumstances, and he was always going to be the fall guy if the team failed to find it’s footing. And I truly believe that as long as Trent Baalke is running this football team, he will never hire an independent minded head coach. And it takes an independent minded head coach to gain the respect of NFL athletes who are inspired by a sense of camaraderie, and belonging to something bigger than the sum of it’s individual parts.

    A journey of ten thousand miles starts with a single step.

    STEP #1: Fire Trent Baalke and replace him with the type of General Manager who understand his role, and will assemble a group of strong minded coaches who aren’t afraid to question him behind closed doors. This GM must understand that a football team is only as strong as it’s weakest link. He must be able to prioritize the teams needs position by position, identify talent, and go after those players by any means necessary, even if it is initially perceived to be of lesser value. You have to use trade value charts as a guideline and not allow the perception of lost value to cause you to pass on a player you believe is the best fit to fill the teams biggest needs.

    1. Thanks 49reasons.

      For our sakes, if you are going to do what you said you’re gong to do, please write in normal paragraphs. More of us will read all the way through what you write if you do.

    1. That will sure fix everything. Colin is, after all Harbaugh’s guy.

      “The ship is going down! Move the deck chairs!!” ,,, Observers by the Hundreds

    2. If there’s going to be a change, wild guess: He fires Baalke and starts a search for a new GM.

      1. None of that is going to happen. He might bring in someone between himself and the GM and himself to fire and replace as that new power sees fit. Oh right! That’s just my solution. Forget it. We’ll be running power into nine man fronts for ever and ever.

  41. Jeff Deeney @PFF_Jeff
    Weekly Right Side of OL update:
    Devey: -3.7 (-3.3 pass block grade)
    Tiller: -1.8 (+0.5 pass block grade)
    Pears: -5.1 (-1.4 pass block grade)

    Jeff Deeney @PFF_Jeff
    Marcus Martin recorded a +0.2 overall grade, just the second positive grade for him in 15 career starts. #49ers

  42. Reading the comments after the game leads me to believe some of you actually thought the Niners had a shot to win this game, really?

    How many Niners would start on this Seahawks squad?
    Probably Joe Staley, who else?
    So, why are we surprised that the outcome was the same as the previous 2 times?

    This team no longer has the talent nor the coaching staff, it is a bottom tier NFL team. The CEO is a genetic lottery winner, adjust your expectations accordingly.

      1. So, 5 players on the current Niners roster would get to start on the Seahawks. That’s 5 out of 22 starters on offense and defense.
        I suppose that says something about the job that Trent Baalke has done.

  43. If I were in charge.

    1. Make a trade with Rams for Sean Mannion QB, the most pro ready QB in last years draft. Give them CK, VD and draft pick or whatever.
    2. Activate and play Purcell.
    3. Get rid of Bush and Wilhotte
    4. Get the rookies in on the right side of OL. Let them get experience.
    5. Find a Center, should of drafted a center last year – most important position on the o-line. It was bad last year and worst this year.
    6. De activate Dawson till this team learns to score TD’s. This is not a new problem its been going on for years. Niners lean on the FG as a crutch. Screw that crutch. We dont need FG’s we need TD’s.
    7. Bring Dylan in from the practice squad.

    This team is going nowhere time for the youngsters to get some experience.

    1. Actually you are asking the 49ers to trade for Sean Mannion and in the same post you are setting up the most likely way to destroy him. Maybe human sacrifice is the way to go.

      1. HT, well yes and no. All those things could not happen at once. But yes you got to start somewhere. I don’t see anything from the college world, I would go after him. Big strong kid with a really good arm. As far as this year once again yes let the youngsters play, see what ya got. My thinking was long term.

        1. That’s fine but there is no need to go for human sacrifice when we don’t even have a workable long range plan. With free agency and cap there is no way to build Baalke’s dream of so much power that no team can stop you because of your brute strength superiority.

          No OL equals no QB development or destruction. Take your pick.

          I’m not really disagreeing with you. :-}

    1. Get yourself a sign and ask politely. Then take your sign and stand in front of 4949 Marie P Bartolo Way, Santa Clara 24/7 until Jed invites you in for a chat.

        1. His minions will report to him on a regular basis. How else will they know what to “place” with the national media.

    2. Sorry, Jed is busy right now trying to find out how his going to explain to the 49ers fans what went wrong with 49ers this season. Who will be his escape goat at the end of the season. Would it be Baalke, Tomsula and Kaepernick or all of above.

  44. Baalke needs to go, everyone is blaming York. He deserves some blame for the harbaugh situation. But so does baalke, who imo had just as much to do with harbaugh leaving as York. But this is a baalke failure, Jed York isn’t drafting the players, York isn’t signing free agents, York is not a talent evaluator. Jed’s problem was taking Baalke over an abrasive personality in harbaugh. If York was acting like Jerry jones and making personal decisions that’s one thing but he is merely an entitled kid that was handed a franchise. He can be blamed for a lot of things but the talent on this roster lands squarely on TB shoulders. He needs to go!

  45. were we not told that Kaepernick
    tried to copyright his celebratory schtick –
    the kissing of the bicep?
    Ya gotta wonder ’cause opposing defensive
    linemen and linebackers are using his trademark
    gesture to mock him (right and left). Colin
    Sack ‘n Pick. (whatsay somebody paints his
    audio headset with epoxy or sticky glue, huh???)

  46. Sometimes a situation is so FUBAR that you start finding humor in it. Grant’s dad ripped the team on his blog and it was funny, especially the parts pertaining to Tomsula. The butcher reference made me think of the movie WANTED, starring James McAvoy. The butcher character made me think of Tomsula. I was in tears I was laughing so hard.

    I picture Grant walking through the team cafeteria the day after he wrote a vicious post about Tomsula. He suddenly feels like he’s about to be attacked when he looks over and realizes that the sauce on the fingers distraction is the only thing that saved his life….

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fe0MZo73lvI

    #winningwithclass

  47. Matt Maiocco ✔ @MaioccoCSN
    League source: The 49ers place Antoine Bethea on season-ending IR to make room for WR Jerome Simpson.

    1. Another grown up goes down. At least Tomsula didn’t say that Antoine Bethea just has a bruise.

  48. Goff isn’t the answer. I or nobody should be surprised about how this team looks. Baalke and the front office saw Harbaugh as expendable despite him turning the team around from being a perennial loser for the better part of 10 years. You would think they could put personal feeling aside and put up with Harbaugh’s eccentric behavior because it’s all about winning right? Apparently it isn’t which is why they fired a coach who took us to two straight NFC championship games, a Super Bowl, and made Alex Smith look competent after being labeled a bust. And then they hire a guy who has never even been a coordinator in the NFL and farts at his press conferences. This season is shaping up to be a prolonged 16 game flatulent.

    1. Your absolutely right, wherever J.Harbaugh goes he’s a winner. Look at the Michigan Wolverines how good they became in just half a season with J. Harbaugh.

        1. The punter should be bench. He has no business mishandling the football after all, it was a costly mistake that cause his team. Wolverines should’a beat Michigan state.

  49. I truly do not get the incessant pining over Jim Harbaugh. He’s gone and he wasn’t that great to begin with. And even if you’re still in love with Khaki Pants, he’s a thing of the past so quit drunk dialing him late at night and move on with your lives.

    1. Nobody is in love with the Kahiki Pants. The only reason Harbaughs name came up is the comparison to the new HC who looked just like a water boy standing in the sideline.. And the QB Kaepernick that we all know Harbaugh tried to groom is no smart at all and is a big bust. And Baalke the GM should as well resigned or get fired.

  50. Never fails. One of our players goes down while playing the Seahawks. I can’t say I’ll be sad when this ratio turns the other way! Smh

  51. When Harbaugh was fired I always thought that Vic Fangio should have gotten the job. Fangio as head coach and Ed Donnelley as D coordinator

    1. I don’t think that Fangio and his staff were ever candidates to stay. Fangio got a curtesy interview because they had their man.

    2. I really wanted Fangio, because he would have provided continuity. Maybe he could have kept Cowboy and Willis from retiring, and would have fought hard to keep as many defenders as possible. I think the sticking point was Tomsula. Jed probably insisted that Fangio take Tomsula as DC, and Fangio wanted to be able to select his own guy.
      Maybe Fangio saw the writing on the wall, and left because he knew the Niners would be a 2-5 team.

  52. DLPTown…you just might get away with a win this weekend. You’re welcome!

    A coaching mistake: Marshawn Lynch rambled on for almost 35 points and I didn’t activate him.

  53. back here on the east coast, friends & routine acquaintances ask “what happened to the Niners?”. in a strange way, i hope that makes everyone on this blog feel a bit better: everyone is either shocked at our decline or incredulous that “higher ups” to cite Maiocco would allow it to happen on such a short timeframe. no one gets it, whether you’re a diehard Niner fan following every roster move, or a Jets/Giants/Skins fan who just loves the game.

  54. Got home from the cruiseship this AM. Punched up Greg Cosell from his Friday KNBR. He sounded annoyed, and I sense he is annoyed with how scheisse this 9ers squad is and he has to talk about them week after rotten week. Kawakami said it right yesterday.

  55. They’d better draft a new punter, ‘cuz their current one is gitt’en worn out…

  56. There is not much to write that has not already been written about this game. With a decent offense, the 49ers would have been in the game and might have even won. Sure, the defense was not that great, but they were not that bad. The offense was atrocious.

    In the past when Kap was making huge mistakes against the Seahawks, he was still playing to win. Thursday, he played not to make a big mistake. A QB cannot succeed that way. I am beginning to come around to the idea that it is time for the 49ers to move on, both for the team’s sake and for Kap’s. For the 49ers, even if Gabbert is worse, the act of moving on itself may be cathartic. And for Kap, if he has any chance to rebound as a QB, it seems less likely all the time that it will be here.

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