The 49ers' downward spiral

[Eleazar]

Two articles describing Krapernick and the 49ers in general seeing their season circle the drain.

Kaepernick’s lack of progression holding back 49ers
By Glenn Dickey
San Francisco Examiner

Most of those who have discussed the problems with the 49ers have ignored the primary one: They don’t have a reliable quarterback. Colin Kaepernick can make spectacular plays but he can’t be consistent against top opponents.

That showed dramatically in the 49ers’ dreadful loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Thanksgiving night. When Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson was blitzed, he scrambled, always looking downfield until he found a receiver and often connecting. When Kaepernick was pressured, he decided to test the best corner in the NFL, Richard Sherman. The pass was offline, right into Sherman’s hands. As Sherman noted later, “He said he was going to throw to the open man. I was the open man.”

That’s Kaepernick. He’s a gunslinger, always trying to prove he can beat any defense and any team. That can work against weaker teams. It doesn’t work against quality opponents. More and more, it seems Kaepernick’s career peaked in his first season, when teams didn’t know him. It’s not working now, especially not against Seattle.

Kaepernick is certainly smart enough off the field, but there’s often a big difference between regular intelligence and athletic intelligence.

Willie Mays is probably the best example. Mays is of average intelligence off the field but his athletic intelligence is off the charts. I saw him score for the Giants one time on a pitch that bounced in the dirt and went no more than six feet away from New York Mets catcher Choo Choo Coleman, who simply stared in disbelief as Mays scored standing up. Years later, Mays explained to me that he saw as the ball left the pitcher’s hand that it would be in the dirt, so he just started running. You can’t teach that.

Joe Montana and Steve Young are another example. Off the field, Young is clearly the more intelligent but Montana slipped into the Bill Walsh system almost effortlessly, leading the 49ers to a Super Bowl win in his first year as a starter. Young struggled to learn the system, often using his feet to get big gains until, as he said in a recent interview, he realized that a quarterback wins championships only when he learns how to stay in the pocket and throw downfield.

Kaepernick still hasn’t learned that lesson. I doubt he ever will because he’s basically playing the same way he did when he was first made a starter with the 49ers. It worked better that first year because nobody in the league knew him. Now, they do.

He’s obviously not the only problem. Because of injuries, the offensive line has not protected him well, so he’s had to face a much fiercer pass rush than earlier. But he doesn’t handle that well, either. He’ll abandon the pocket at the first sign of a hard rush and, unlike Wilson, he doesn’t look downfield.

Usually what he’ll do is run off to the right, which reduces his targets for a pass, and then takes off running. Sometimes, he succeeds only in holding the ball long enough to get sacked.

General manager Trent Baalke is probably looking right now at a potential trade or drafting a quarterback.

Kaepernick is not the answer.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancis...nt?oid=2913259

[Eleazar]

And number two:

49ers offense has more critics than answers
By Eric Branch
San Francisco Chronicle

On the heels of their Black Thursday, the 49ers awoke Friday to discover there are no holiday bargains on effective NFL offenses.

That means they are stuck with their current model, which looked outdated and in desperate need of repair in a 19-3 loss to the Seahawks on Thursday night.

The wretched performance inspired what must be a professional-sports first in the social-media age: Twitter criticism from the owner and general manager’s daughter.

CEO Jed York apologized to the fans for the “unacceptable” performance and presumably wasn’t referencing a defense that allowed one touchdown. It was widely viewed as a denouncement of York’s offensive-minded head coach, Jim Harbaugh, whose team managed as many points as turnovers.

Meanwhile, Trent Baalke’s daughter, Cass, took aim at the offensive coordinator in a since-deleted tweet: “Greg Roman can take a hike ... the 49ers don’t want you no more.”

And you thought you had a miserable holiday with your dysfunctional family.

The 164-yard Thanksgiving effort certainly cast more doubt on the beyond-2014 futures of Harbaugh and Roman with the team. The more pressing issue: Can those two principal characters help fix the offense with the 49ers (7-5) likely needing to finish the regular season with four straight wins to reach the playoffs?

The season-ending stretch will include dates against the Cardinals and Seahawks, who rank second and fourth, respectively, in points allowed this season. Recent history doesn’t bode well: The 49ers have scored a total of 17 points while losing both games this season against Seattle and Arizona.

Whatever the necessary fixes are, they don’t appear obvious. On Thursday, members of the offense had no explanation for what caused them to average 3.2 yards per snap, or fail to gain more than 16 yards on any of their 51 offensive plays.

“We just didn’t play well,” said quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who later offered, “We just didn’t execute.”

Wide receiver Anquan Boldin? “Lack of execution, like I said earlier,” he said.

Even running back Frank Gore, who routinely offers thoughtful and substantive answers, seemed to be at a genuine loss. Gore has termed the team’s collection of offensive talent the best of his 10-year career.

“I know we have the players,” Gore said. “Things just aren’t happening for us, and I don’t know why. We need to look at ourselves as a whole and see what is going on. It’s tough.”

Kaepernick was given a tough assignment Thursday: Beat the Seahawks without using your legs.

After he had 130 rushing yards and averaged 11.8 yards a carry in a 23-17 loss to Seattle in the NFC title game, the 49ers didn’t call a designed quarterback run, according to Pro Football Focus. Kaepernick had three scrambles that gained 17 yards, which accounted for slightly more than 10 percent of their offensive total.

The Seahawks’ response: Thank you.

“We know that if we keep him in the pocket, it is hard for him to beat us throwing the ball,” linebacker K.J. Wright said. “When he can run and pass, be multidimensional, that is when we have problems with him.”

Defensive end Michael Bennett was asked to account for Kaepernick’s lack of running.

“I think that it was more his choice,” Bennett said. “He wanted to throw the ball more than he wanted to run. He had some lanes, but there is probably a lot of pressure on him to be able to be a passing quarterback. He did that.”

And he did it poorly in another mistake-filled performance against Seattle.

Kaepernick arrived with just one interception in his previous 142 attempts, but he tossed two in 29 attempts Thursday. Kaepernick has nine interceptions in 146 career attempts against the Seahawks. He has 15 interceptions in his other 1,031 attempts, including the playoffs.

On Thursday, Kaepernick’s two interceptions came on errant throws that were corralled by cornerback Richard Sherman, who gleefully gave the index-finger-to-his-lips signal to the crowd after his second pick in the fourth quarter.

“The second one was pretty entertaining,” Sherman said. “I was laughing the whole time because I told their sideline if they throw it my way, I would end the game. And they threw it still. Way to be. Way to be, those guys.”

The 49ers, of course, have endured Sherman’s mocking in the past, most notably after Seattle’s win in last season’s NFC title game.

Following that game, York also took to Twitter to express his disappointment. The tone of that message, however, reflected pride in his team, not disgust.

“Thx #49ersFaithful for cheering us on this season,” York wrote. “I’m sorry we couldn’t get it done for you tonight ... Thx to our guys for fighting so hard.”

GM’s daughter disparages coordinator

Niners general manager Trent Baalke released a statement Friday after his college-age daughter, Cass, criticized offensive coordinator Greg Roman via Twitter following Thursday night’s 19-3 loss to the Seahawks.

“My daughter and I both regret that her feelings got the best of her after last night’s game, and she chose social media as an avenue to express her feelings,” Baalke said. “We have apologized to Greg for this unfortunate matter. While disappointed, as a father I will use this as a teachable moment to help my daughter grow.”

After the 49ers had a season-low 164 yards on Thursday, Cass Baalke wrote: “Greg Roman can take a hike ... the 49ers don’t want you no more.”

Her Twitter account has since been deleted.

— Eric Branch

Inept offense

The 49ers’ offensive issues didn’t begin when they faced Seattle’s top-ranked defense. They have managed just three touchdowns in their past 39 full drives, a stretch that dates to the second quarter of their 27-24 OT win over at New Orleans on Nov. 9. A look at those 39 drives:

Punts 21

Turnovers 7

Field goals 7

Touchdowns 3

Downs 1

[ModSocks]

Couldn't happen to a nicer person.

[L.A. Chieffan]

Niner trolls preparing anus as we speak

[rabblerouser]

Kraperdick is a terrible qb.

But he is so well-spoken...

[Hydrae]

They should have kept Alex.

[ROYC75]

Originally Posted by Hydrae

They should have kept Alex.

He can be had for 2 # 2's and a # 1.

We gotta get something out of it.

Time to pay up!

[Mr. Flopnuts]

I've said from the start that at least we got the better of their QB's out of the deal.

[Eleazar]

It'll be amusing to see Harbaugh leave for Michigan or wherever, and Krapernick be on the market at the same time as RG3 and another bust or two, so the 49ers get minimal value.

[Hootie]

I'm not going to read those because I don't have time ...

but someone really needs to explain to me why the 49ers no longer run the read option. Like ever.

It makes literally no sense.

I just feel like Harbaugh is sabotaging the team knowing he's done after this year. Because honestly, it makes no sense. Kaep was amazing at the read option. Seattle spent the entire game against KC running the read option.

Why are the 49ers not running the read option?

[ViperVisor]

The O-Line and Drops are no worse than 2011.

Akers had a great year. Made 13 out of 20 from 40+ *money from 50+
Dawson is having a good year. 9 out of 12 from 40+ *4 from 50+

Offense was utterly mediocre in 2011. It is somehow fallen below that in 2014.

Gore is doing less but it is not a huge difference.
He was 28th in avg in 2011, 4.3 per carry
What he did then was a few long runs
132 yards on his 3 longest runs

This year
31st in avg getting 3.9 per carry
67 yards on his 3 longest runs

The rushing Kaepernick does makes the run games about the same.

The difference is the QB in his 4th year and 47th start this past Thursday still can look like a guy trying to navigate without a compass or blatant disregard for what direction it is pointing in.

[Jimmya]

I don't want Kaep on the market because dumbass KC will sign him. Apparently KC loves niner retreads.

[beach tribe]

Originally Posted by rabblerouser

Kraperdick is a terrible qb.

But he is so well-spoken...

I see what you did there.....

Racist.

Kap sucks BTW

[chiefzilla1501]

I would bet you harbaugh is coaching Michigan next year

[Dave Lane]

We have become soul mates with the 49ers after all.