Big plays and losses in 2022.
It’s been slim picking for the 49ers recently. Although on paper, they are one of the best teams in the league — to me I have to see it. The Patriots have done more with less.
Let’s jump back — because a lot of this is includes the nucleus: Kyle Shanahan.
He was a successful offensive OC in Atlanta, and they went to the Superbowl. Although they had a 27–3 lead, and blew it.
It’s a fact and you can point the finger at many people but Kyle was leading that offense, and it seems he didn’t lead it in the right direction for the entire 60 minutes, and at the most important times.
Fast forward to San Francisco. An exciting young coach comes to the 49ers. An ‘offensive mastermind’. Hmm. The 49ers had won but just 1 game until John Lynch traded a second round pick to the Patriots for Jimmy Garappolo.
When Jimmy stepped on the field, it seemed like love at first sight. There was a gunslinger in SF once again, and they closed the season out 5–0. We got to see Shanahan’s ‘brilliance’.
This is the moment when the ‘Superbowl’ window was cracked open. It wasn’t completely open. But one could reasonably be optimistic.
In past years, the 49ers and their fans, who are used to remembering an imposing history of winning and talent, were seeing none of that recently. Lots of dark years in San Francisco. Not much to look forward to — especially during the Baalke era.
We had the Harbaugh era that was very short lived. And to me, the Kaepernick era taught me a lot.
It taught me that the 49ers needed a game manager that could control time of possession and hit the short routes for 1st downs, ultimately giving the defense a rest and not going 3 and out. If they score — great. If not, you’re still getting a return.
Unfortunately, just as the clouds were fading away, Jimmy G gets hurt in Shanahan’s 2nd year.
I learned more that second year. Shanahan couldn’t get anything out ofthe other quarterbacks. You could argue that he had nothing to work with, but with the right coaching, you could have made something out of a quick release, smart Nick Mullens, or a tough and gritty, semi accurate CJ Beathard. Hoyer was in the mix at some point?
The entire time, you heard rumors of Kirk Cousins, Matt Ryan, then Tom Brady was on the market, and they didn’t grab him. That would have certainly been the best option for a win now team.
And bring the best QB, born in Bay, back…
Sigh.
Okay, then 2019 comes around. And I also realized that the whole ‘ultra’ focus on the run game was actually an Achilles heel because if it doesn’t work— we’ll you’re screwed.
So entire in 2019, Jimmy G. and the 49ers, where I would argue balled out put W’s’ in the column and to me nothing else matters. The course is to win the game. How you get there, well, it’s like starting a company, you figure it out and pivot. You look at KPI’s and what you could afford to try.
You do it with conviction.
During the entire 2019 season, I felt that Shanahan had too tight of a leash on Jimmy. And I suppose I can understand that because the team endured a very tough schedule that year, but the QB, the team, rallied and ultimately made the Superbowl.
Even the best of the best haven’t had the best performances in the Superbowl, Tom Brady included. The only exception might be Joe Montana. And that’s the bar in San Francisco, so after a Superbowl loss, all eyes were on Jimmy G.
Wrongly so.
What is the common scheme. The 49ers were up in that game, by two scores. Again, Kyle Shanahan was in the middle of all of this, except this time as the head coach.
That makes two substantial Superbowl leads, and two leads blown.
Perhaps if he had loosened up the leash on Jimmy, then Jimmy would have been ready for that 4th quarter. It came down to inches, and you could argue that the defense allowed Mahomes to get his momentum back.
A dude in a game where until very late, had none of that Mahomes magic.
They ran the ball. They ran the ball. The Chiefs were ready for it after the 1st half and you had 3 and outs. Probably the worst thing in football. 3 and outs. Interceptions are possibly better.
So now, you look to Twitter, the media, and Jimmy G is heading to the guillotine. It seemed almost inevitable.
Kyle’s next move was, from a draft perspective, mortgaged the 49ers future by trading 3 1st round picks to move from 12 to 3 in the 2020 draft for a guy that has promise but I wasn’t sold. You could have grabbed, idk, the guy that just won the national championship in Mac Jones at 12, while keeping your picks. But okay — now we have Trey Lance, out of North Dakota State. A D2 school not too long ago. Not mention the kid hadn’t really played that much.
Shanahan’s history with QB coaching hadn’t won me over. So even if this was the golden boy, his development would always be a question for me. And apparently Shanahan wasn’t so confident in his pick either, because he chose to keep Jimmy for another season, who salvaged the season and the team, with Jimmy under center found themselves surprisingly in the NFC Championship game.
There’s no denying that when Jimmy is healthy, he’s putting up W’s. Forget interceptions, because Trey had one, and almost 3 in week 1 of 2022.
Even with the very obvious loss of Deforest Buckner. Kinlaw, his replacement is injury prone and showed so in game 1 of 2022.
Matt Ryan won his MVP, not Shanahan. Matt Ryan was surrounded by some of the finest weapons of the time too.
Compare that to the Northeast. It seams like ol’ Bill and the Pats seem to do it without all the flashy diamonds.
Shanahan needs the diamonds. Otherwise he can’t win. And we saw that this Sunday.
He picked a QB whose footwork is not very good at all. I know a lot of friends who can chuck a football very far. I do not know too many QB’s that can throw darts with near immedicable footwork to get 1st downs and move a team forward, yard by yard.
We’re going to see some big plays, but is that going to translate into a win?
We always want what we don’t have, and we didn’t realize what we had with Jimmy.
And now it’s just weird. We’re now in 2022 — Trey is starting but Jimmy is on the bench? It’s just odd, and this is just fuel to your own Quarterback feud.
We’re lucky that Jimmy is so quiet and is rolling with the flow. If Trey continues to play the way he did in Week 1 — the question will be asked.
Every single week.
We’re not focused on what’s happening on the field. Instead we’re going to be focusing on everything bad that is happening. Instead of looking at Trey Lance to learn and improve, we will be knocking his potential development and Jimmy could easily be playing elsewhere.
Or Kyle still just doesn’t have full confidence in Trey but knows that he could not go a year without starting the expensive rookie barring an ironclad excuse.
Still, the 49ers are ultimately a Superbowl ready team, without a starting QB. Yes, Trey is the QB, but the questions are starting to bubble.
Trey and out. That’s what I believe we’re going to be seeing a lot of. 3 and outs and a few big plays to give the Trey Lance cheerleaders something to defend this debacle. That generally leads to losses.
You’ve got the Lambo on the field with Trey Lance, but when it comes to racing, I’d much rather have a custom, loyal QB, picked by Bill B himself for the race.
An OG staple of racing, that reflects the Montana’s and the Brady’s of Football. I.E. The west coast offense.
Peace,
Roh
