Bad teams fool you. The 49ers fool you. Against the Packers the 49ers defense played well and the offense stunk. You might have thought the Niners solved the defense’s problems and, if only the offense could improve, they’d be a good team. So what happened? Against the Giants the offense was better and the defense lost the game.

Bad teams give false hope and false signals. It’s very hard for a bad team to get its offenses and defenses on track in the same game. Over the years, I’ve noticed that phenomenon.