What In The Black Hole Was That?
Just…wow.
Balke’s fired. Harbaugh’s traded, even though that’s a terrible idea.
Kapernick lost millions in future revenue deals.
Years of belief that that running quarterbacks can not sustain success got another piece of evidence.
Vernon Davis is a has-been.
And it’s all knee-jerk reaction.
The worst part of today, is that it absolutely positively means that Super Bowl 49 will not have the 49ers in it, and that’s a waste.
The 49ers have been building an amazing team over the past few seasons, although this season has had some rough times. And right now they look awful. Heartless, leaderless, and awful. But they shouldn’t blow it up.
Injuries depleted this team. That happens. Suspensions and personnel issues rocked this team. Well, it’s not like the 49ers were hit the hardest by this out of all the teams out there, but there was a definite hit to this team’s leadership. But the heart of this team is its weakest part (The offensive line), and the playcalling has limited the team’s 2nd best runner, Kaepernick himself. This all happens, though it’s fixable.
I don’t know what to say about the leadership. Harbaugh can be innovative and frustrating, but hasn’t been innovative at all. The 2011 draft was pretty damn good, with Aldon Smith, Kaepernick, Chris Culliver, Kendall Hunter and Daniel Kilgore all in it. But in 2012, pretty much the entire draft was a bust. 2013’s top pick Eric Read was good, and there were some solid sleepers even if Lattimore failed. This year’s? Roland’s a steal, Hyde looks excellent, Jimmie Ward has upside…
You know what I”m not seeing? A lot of offensive line. Out of 12 picks in 2014, there were two offensive line picks (both in the third round), only one of who is starting. But before that? 2013 had one pick, a 7th rounder, who hasn’t played a game. 2012 had just one, a 4th rounder who has started just two games in three seasons (both this year).
This team has definitely needed to reload that offensive line, but hasn’t. The search for receivers to play alongside Crabtree has been a crapshoot in the draft.
This team needs to rebuild. They aren’t missing a lot. But tossing out everything will not help. That said, whoever is calling the offensive plays has got to be the first to go. The disappearance of the read-option, the lack of Kaepernick designed runs, the disappearance of arguably the team’s most athletic receiver…This is a team that has strengths, and yet seems to have accidentally selected the 1980’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers playbook on the screen from Madden.
