The San Francisco 49ers Are Not Perfect — And They Proved It
SANTA CLARA, Cali. (PSF) — For a team that was fighting for the title of the best in the league, the 49ers yet again proved the people wrong: but not in the way that they would have liked to.
In their crushing 19-17 defeat in Cleveland against the P.J. Walker-led Cleveland Browns, the 49ers had a handful of critical flaws exposed.
Starting with their defense, the unit played solid, aggressive, 49ers-style football, forcing two turnovers and holding the Browns to 17 points overall. However, between the lines, the 49ers’ defensive stats mask the inability to execute the scheme throughout the game, leading to a plethora of mental mistakes. These mental mistakes came at crucial times, making them all the more backbreaking and putting themselves at a major disadvantage in key situations.
Take their rushing defense as an example. When they needed to get stops and get their offense on the field, they got bullied in the run game, forcing them on their heels in the 4th quarter. They missed 10 total tackles in the game, after missing only 9 the past 3 games combined. Although they are statistically one of the better run defenses in the league, they had shown themselves to be vulnerable against the run at times, and when faced with adversity, their run defense collapsed.
For a team labeled a Super Bowl contender, that is unacceptable, and could be a fatal flaw.
Offensively, it was a disaster. The poor weather, a beaten up offensive line that included a one-legged Trent Williams, and the loss of starts Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel meant that Brock Purdy was going to have to masterfully orchestrate the offense. In a game with poor conditions and constant pressure in his face, the odds were stacked against him. And the odds proved to be too much to overcome.
Purdy finished the worst start of his young NFL career at 12/27 with 125 yards, 1 TD, and 1 interception. In a tough situation, he could not rise above the odds stacked against him. However, he does get credit for marching the team down the field during the last drive and putting the team in a position to win with a 41-yard field goal.
It didn’t help that the 49ers’ pass catchers had a case of the drops, and that the run game was mostly stagnated all day. The offense line was getting mauled by the Browns’ front. And the 49ers shot themselves in the shot over and over with unwarranted penalties and undisciplined play.
Kyle Shanahan and his offense hopefully evaluated themselves in the mirror this week. The play calling, and poor execution of the poor play calling exposed the Niners’ offense weaknesses. When you fluster them and bottle up what they want to run, they have a tough time adapting out of structure. They gave opposing teams a blueprint for how to stop their offense. To emerge as that Super Bowl favorite and the Super Bowl Champions overall, they must learn from these mistakes and grow as an offense from this.
As bad as all of this sounds, the 49ers still had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation, with a 41-yard field goal. Unfortunately, rookie 3rd-round pick Jake Moody missed the field goal.
Being an NFL Kicker is not an easy job, both physically and emotionally. Moody’s emotional and mental fortitude was tested last Sunday, and he ultimately faltered. But it seems as if the team has rallied behind him and had his back.
Ultimately, fans, players, and media need to look at the bigger picture. Undefeated seasons are pretty much impossible. Every team loses games to opponents deemed to be worse than them, that is just the nature of the game. Moody is a rookie, had been fantastic earlier in the season, and has the confidence of the locker room. Every kicker misses kicks, and Moody will have plenty of opportunities to redeem himself.
The best thing he can do is flush it, move on, and be ready to help his team win for the rest of the season.
The blame can be passed around to everyone, it shouldn’t fall on just him.
The San Francisco 49ers need to bounce back in a big way and regain their footing. Luckily, this team is immensely talented, and I believe they will do exactly that.
