The 49ers Are Eliminated From The Playoffs, And I Feel Fine

When Niner fans commiserate to watch the game, it's been the same set of jerseys people rocked for the last five years. You'd have the throwback players from the Walsh/Seifert era, you'd have the occasional Garcia/T.O. (2002) uniforms and then it's not until Frank Gore stepped up that fans felt they had a player that made them pay a shit-ton of money to wear his jersey. I have seen as many Alex Smith jerseys int he last five years as Montana jerseys. Alex Smith has a career passer rating of 68.6.

For four years, we had people we latched onto (Derek Smith, Fred Beasley) but it was like holding hands with an insufferable woman because you couldn't do anything else. I only bring this up because this video (from Matt Maiocco's twitter acct) of Niner fans getting pelted by snowballs for what seems like forever. :

I have turned around on Crabtree and love Willis. If this happened 3 years ago, you'd see an Alex Smith and Kevan Barlow jersey getting pelted and it would've been sickening. But now, I like this team a lot. Getting hit in the head with hard snow repeatedly isn't embarrasing even though we lost. We don't suck anymore. We're an average team in a shitty division but we were a Colts trick play and a Vikings miracle from being 8-6. So when I see those guys taking their hits, it was nice of them no to run away but take it and say fuck it we don't suck anymore we're average again (although honestly, for their safety they probably should've. The chances of getting a concussion from all sides would favor the odds).

Some spoiled-brat Niner fan have somehow forgotten the pain and torture of Terry Donahue and Dennis Erickson shaking hands with Rashaun Woods at the NFL Draft. We weren't going to beat the Eagles. Going 4-1 gave us unreal expectations and all of a sudden people thought there was going to be a return to the glory years right away (present company included) but we just got promoted from ineptitude to mediocre and that's a HUGE step. And I'd love to take that next leap with Alex Smith. If Smith went to the Packers and Rodgers with the Niners I am not certain Smith would be as good as Rodgers but certain as fuck that Rodgers would be a bust like Smith. But honestly Smith is a bust (so far) whose best statistical games were when the defenses were playing soft with three-score leads. But seriously, let's see what this guy can do in a system that lasts more than one year.

NEEDS for next year:
O-line: David Baas has a very big head, like he looks like a baby with a tiny helmet on his head, but I've seen his stupid ass baby head look at a ref for a false start or a holding call too many times, we need a LG. Adam Snyder at RT is backup material at best, his versatility at OG and OT is basically his biggest asset because dude is average at both.

KR/PR: This was the most inept group of special teams returners I have ever seen and is probably responsible for a handful of losses this year. Arnaz Battle and Brandon Jones have COMBINED for a 3.6 yards-per-punt-return average. Battle doesn't know how to catch a punt and Jones watches balls drop from the 8 yard-line and roll to the 3 every fuckng time I see him there.

Proper gameplanning/coaching/scheming: The defense is fine, although it plays soft for the fourth quarter. Sometimes because the 9er offense keeps them on the field for so long (led the NFL in 3-and-outs) or Def. Coordinator Greg Manusky stops being aggressive.

The offense is schizophrenic but the pieces are there to lead a (I wish) K-Gun for the 21st Century. The offense forced the issue with being a ball-control team but the o-line sucks, and then we went hyper-aggressive with the shotgun which led to mixed results (being able to pass on shitty teams, tons of INTs and 3rd-and-longs against good teams). We went from vanilla to too-cutesy and couldn't find a right balance.

The coaching is shit. Sorry, too many wasted timeouts, blown challenges, predictable playcalling. I'm hoping for two things: 1. Offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye knows the pieces he has and works within their limits and 2. QB Coach Mike Johnson is being groomed for the OC position.

Pass rush/defensive backs: The average pass-rush and inconsistent secondary have killed an elite run-stopping team like the Niners. Ahmad Brooks has shown flashes and hopefully a healthy full year with him next year might be what we need. Cornerback play is only good against big, Fitzgerald/Boldin-like recievers but once they hook up against fast, agile recievers they're not that good.