Here is the opening to my Tuesday column about the 49ers:
What we learned about the 49ers from their 24-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings:
Although some experts already had ceded the Super Bowl to them, the 49ers are not that much better than other teams in the league. This is another way of saying the teams in the NFL are not as separated as you might think. On Sunday, they lost to the Vikings, a bunch that won a grand total of three games the previous season.
Some fans already have anointed Jim Harbaugh a genius, although he’s been in the league a little more than one season and has not won a Super Bowl. We learned such anointing is a little premature.
To read the full text of the column, please click here.
Dennis
Or maybe they are better than this and they just had a bad day. Maybe they just got to full of themselves being number one in everyone’s power rankings and they decided that all they needed to do was show up. Or maybe they had a little jet lag. We will see, but you are right – they are not going to go undefeated.
September 24th, 2012 5:13 pm
KauaiRobert
…or maybe Alex Smith misses his WRs high…
.
.
.
*ALOHA*
September 24th, 2012 5:56 pm
B-Rad
But Randy Moss would have been a real factor in this game had he been
eight and a half feet tall.
The Niners are 2-1, which most of us probably would have thought would be
the case at this point of the season.
Offensively, last year the Niners were 26th in the NFL
……………….this year so far, we are 21st
Passing offense, last year the Niners were 29th
……………….this year so far, we are 24th
September 24th, 2012 6:27 pm
Art
Great article and it summarizes exactly how I felt about this game. This is the first time I’ve seen an outcoached Harbaugh team. The offensive playcalling was particularly frustrating as it seemed Roman had no real plan for this game. They come out passing and fail to establish the running game. They then proceed to start running when they are down by a couple points. Not Roman’s best day. On the other hand, Fangio’s defense was pretty bad all day. Players looked confused and had no answer to stopping Ponder or Harvin. Maybe it was just an overall bad day for both players and coaches. But I agree that it’s too early to make any definite proclamations about this team. They are a good team, but I would not put them in the “elite” category just yet.
September 24th, 2012 6:51 pm
Brandon Conway
Week 3, people. Week 3.
Week 3 record last year? 2-1.
Looooong season to go.
September 25th, 2012 12:32 am
Bray
I guess we have to talk about something, like Brandon says , looong way to go. Every team lays a few eggs each year, this game had ‘trap’ all over it, I didn’t surprise me at all. I still think they’ll go 11-5.
Art- Question- If the Niners aren’t elite, who is? Besides AZ, every team has already played at least 1 bad game out of 3.
September 25th, 2012 9:14 am
CohnZohn
Bray, I agree with you and I don’t agree with you. Yes, the Niners are an eltie team and I expect them to murder the Jets. But I simply do not believe in trap games. Every team tries hard in every game.
September 25th, 2012 12:44 pm
Bray
Thanks for the reply Lowell, let me elaborate on my meaning of trap game. I don’t think teams ‘dont try as hard’, I played football for many years, that doesn’t happen.
It’s a sub-conscious thing that takes over a competitior when he doesn’t feel as threatened by an opponent as he\she\they have just experienced. It’s an intensity that makes you so tuned in to the ‘little things’ or details that you become consumed by the process. While the players and coaches would never admit such a thing in public, this is a very real thing that even in beer league softball it happens. Call it the Buster Douglas syndrome.
September 25th, 2012 12:57 pm
Art
Bray, to answer your question, the 2 teams that I think are really good so far in addition to the Niners are the Texans and the Falcons. The Texans look like a complete team to me. Their defense is outstanding and of course they are explosive on the offensive side of the ball. They can run the ball just as well as the Niners and have that great passing game. The Falcons have an improved defense and have always been pretty good on offense. If there good defensive run continues, I look to the Falcons as potential competitor for the #1 seed come the playoffs. And of course you can never count out the defensive champs, The Giants, who even with all their injuries..still have Eli Manning as their QB.
This doesn’t diminish the Niners. Like I said, they are still a very good team and this 1 game doesn’t have me thinking the the Niners are anything but a good team. However, 2 things concern me. It’s early, but the defense doesn’t look as strong to me as they did last season. And second, while our offense has improved from last year, the passing offense is still an issue. The team still has a tough time passing when the run game gets shut down. Again, these are things that have a way sorting out as the season goes on.
I guess what most concerned me about this game was not that they lost, but HOW they lost. The defense was the worst we’ve seen in a long time. The offense did not look good enough to pick up the defense on a bad day. It’s only 1 game, but something I’m keeping an eye on as the season goes on. This could easily be an aberration or the beginning of a trend.
September 25th, 2012 2:09 pm
Bray
Art- Good answer, I agree HOU and ATL look real good at this point.
The way they lost was a little concerning, but I don’t think they were ‘exposed’ or anything like that. The entire team looked a little listless to me, they got punched in mouth first and they didn’t expect it.
September 25th, 2012 3:14 pm
Lovely
I think if this game was in SF I might see the Niners winning the game. But it’s not and I don’t. Too much gets denmerited at the line and while I have noticed the obvious improvement in our OL I just don’t think they are ready or good enough to face off with Detroit’s DL. I think it’s gonna be loud as fuck in that stadium and that’s won’t help us either. That’s how I think this game will get away from us all the noise from those re-born fans who have been sitting glumly with bags on their heads for so many years? They are erasing those days who every Calvin Johnson TD .I’d like to be confident on the defensive side but Johnson is a beast who no one can cover.I see this as our *ugly* game. Detroit 37 SF 16. Something like that.The excellent news for Niner fans is that I think Dennis and I are the only ones who see this as a blowout and we all know how Dennis’ betting slips look at the end of a game or a race torn up and thrown over his shoulder. I learned a long time ago to bet the opposite of whatever the biggest betting loser you know does. Since they lose WAY more than 50% of the time, it’s a solid way to make money if you can stomach going with that angle every single time. Plus, they can’t know you’re doing it or that would affect their decisions. Howver, I’m not betting on the game just throwing out my two cents on how I see it unfolding .I’m really looking forward to this game and I’m really looking forward to writing a huge mea culpa on my prediction for it .
October 14th, 2012 7:44 am