We're a bit past halfway through the season and the San Francisco 49ers are sitting at 5-4. 5 wins and 4 losses. This is not the team we expected when we started the season. They were in the NFC championship three straight years. Their team looked to only be getting better after an offseason of marvelous acquisitions. Many even had them in the top three of their power rankings before the season started! But here they are, sitting at 5-4. 5 wins. 4 losses. As of now, in terms of playoff standings, they're from the outside looking in. Now where are the problems coming from? Well, when a team underperforms like they have to this degree we have to turn to the blame game.
The rules are simple. On scale of 0-5 each of the following will get a number, the higher the number the more they are to blame.
Team Defense/Special Teams
I'm making this part of the article dedicated to these squads to highlight how great they've been playing. Despite countless injuries and Aldon Smith's suspension this defensive unit manages to carry the team. Other than a few poor punts by Andy Lee, special teams has been top notch. The problem is entirely with the offense. This makes me wonder if key players returning will necessarily change anything. The defense can't get much better than it already is so it's basically improving something that doesn't need fixing.
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| Will Navarro Bowman's return from injury make much of a difference? |
Blame Scale 0/5
Offensive Coordinator - Greg Roman
Many assume the focal point of the offense to be QB Colin Kaepernick but that's not the case. It starts with the man upstairs, the offensive coordinator Greg Roman. His conservative play calling has driven fans nuts for years and despite early reports saying he was expanding his playbook to suit a strong armed quarterback, he hasn't changed a thing. Poor play selection leads to a stagnant offense and the 49ers are no exception to that law. Roman's stubbornness and lack of creativity leads to his team not advancing the ball. Weak play selection becomes even less acceptable when you consider all the firepower San Francisco has. The power run game has been well documented so I'm not going to go into much detail, but let's look at the passing game. They have an all-around tight end who is a top red zone threat in Vernon Davis, Crabtree who picks his spots well and boasts surefire hands, a veteran receiver in Anquan Boldin who is good at bailing out QBs by fighting in tough coverage well, and a burner in Stevie Johnson who compliments everyone around him by spreading the field. This is all topped off by the most dynamic quarterback in the game who has some of the best "big play" potential we have ever seen. Greg Roman's wimpy play calling is getting embarrassing and far too predictable.
Blame Scale 5/5
Quarterback Colin Kaepernick
Most people are quick to blame Kaepernick for the problems but in all honesty, I don't think he deserves that much of it. Pass protection has been lackluster all season and the wide receivers have failed to meet their standards. I'll explain more in the following sections but let's look at last week's game against the Saints to justify my claims.
By glancing over the box score you can say that Kaepernick didn't fair very well since he only completed 14 of his 32 passes. If you actually watched the game though, you wouldn't attest those incompletions to inaccurate throws. The 49ers dropped six passes, the most by any team in a game this season. Boldin recorded four of those himself which is particularly strange since he only had one drop coming into the game and four all of last season.
Opposers to my argument would say that this would be an anomaly because we know these receivers are otherwise reliable. Except this has been a consistent trend the entire season. Kaepernick has had to deal with more drops (25) and sacks (31) than any other quarterback in the league, proving that the team around him isn't helping him succeed.
Additionally Colin has shown a lot of positives for why I alleviate some of the blame from him. In the three game span of Weeks 6-9 (including a bye week) Kap threw five touchdowns and only one interception while maintaining a QB rating of 99.6. These are numbers that are good enough to win games but San Francisco only ended up being 1-2 in that quarter of the season.
With all that said, Kaepernick doesn't walk free from all of the blame. Some of the sacks he has been apart of can be accredited to the fact that he holds the ball too long. He also needs to get better at changing the play upfront because Greg Roman isn't doing him any favors. Lastly, fumbles have been an issue all season long. While I do think it's unfair to grade a QB poorly based on simple plays that his teammates aren't making, Kaepernick isn't exactly playing perfect football.
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| Kaepernick converts a play that may have saved the 49ers season |
Blame Scale 2/5
Offensive Line
The offensive line has been hit or miss this year. Losing LG Mike Iupati and RT Anthony Davis to injury really hurt (no pun intended). They struggled to run the ball without Iupati and Jonathan Martin made for a dreadful replacement in Davis' absence. Martin was constantly bulldozed which lead to a collapsing pocket on that side almost every play.
Pass protection has been horrendous as indicated by the number of sacks they have given up this season. One game where they were particularly bad was their most recent meeting with the St. Louis Rams, who came into the game with only six sacks on the season, but against the 49ers they managed to compile eight. Eight sacks. In one game. Even against the Saints, whose defense has been struggling for much of the season, the offensive line didn't shine as they still managed to give up four sacks.
The numbers shown here reflect poorly on this department, but the one silver lining is that this group has shown bright spots in the running game albeit in short spurts.
Blame Scale 4/5
Vernon Davis
Yes Vernon Davis has been injured this year which gives him a slight excuse as to why his season stats are not meeting expectations but my problems with him go beyond that. After having a lockout and refusing to go to training camp you'd figure that he would be playing hard to get the money he desires. More often than not, it seems like Davis isn't even giving his full effort. I remember on a deep play designed to go to him last week he didn't even put his hands up to reach for the football. Sure the ball was in a tight spot and the catch would've been contested but a player with Davis' talent has a good chance to complete that play. He's also been suspect of a few drops.
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| A painful play for Vernon Davis and Colin Kaepernick fantasy owners. |
Michael Crabtree
As some can remember, Crabtree has been a prima donna since coming into the league. He started his career off by refusing to sign a rookie contract the 49ers offered him and didn't agree to terms until halfway through the season. Now that he's in the final year of that contract we'd presume that he'd be putting up his best numbers. Wrong.
People were hopeful that he'd emerge as the top receiver but he hasn't been playing like it. The only dependable ones are Boldin (apart from his four drops last game) and Stevie Johnson. Maybe in December he can catch up to full speed but as of now it doesn't look like that'll happen.
When Kap did first come into the league the connection the QB and WR formed was astounding. Since then he's been injured but this year he just seems disinterested. He's even called himself a third down receiver. If you want to be paid like a superb player like he wants to be, this is not how you conduct yourself. Leave the baggage and play hard. Simple as that.
Blame Scale 3.5/5
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