Playoff Bound in 2010: Niners Must Improve on the Road

Obvious statement of the year...maybe. But as we continue to analyze the QB play, OL, head coach and OC, it is the 49ers play on the road this year that kept them out of the playoffs.

The good news...the 49ers are finally doing what good teams need to and winning at home. They finished '09 with a 6-2 record losing to tough teams in Tenn and Atlanta. Winning at home has not been easy for the 49ers in the last few years. They finished 3-5 in 2005, 4-4 in 2006, 3-5 in 2007, 4-4 last year and improved to 6-2 at home this year. A good sign for a team trying to improve.

However on the road the 49ers have continued to find ways to lose. If they eak out a win tomorrow they would finish a dismal 2-6. This year the 49ers faced some very tough road challenges no doubt but it is the way our team has looked in these games that disturbs me. If we only looked at the first half on the road this year, the 49ers have been outscored 61-106. Only due to second half "going for broke"play calling have the Niners been able to stay in the game.
And it is not only the offense. The defense allows 374 yards a game on the road compared to 307 at home. And it really is the blame of the defensive backfield. the defensive line continues to get sacks on the road with 17 in seven games and they have only allowed five more yards per game on the ground. It seems as though on the road we allow the opposing Qb to shine and missing Clements maty have meant more to this team than originally thought after his demotion.

Bottom line is although it is obvious the 49ers must improve the way the come out ot play on the road. Tomorrow's game against the lowly Rams will be no gimme until the 49ers learn how to go on the road and start the game with a sense of urgency and arogance they take to the field at Candlestick.

I would say win outside the division. We only lost 1 division game. so far.

If we can keep that record of 6-2 at home, and be 4-4 on the road we should be okay. 49ers lost a lot of close road games, except for the Philly game. (Bad time for AS of 2005 to show up).

If it wasn't for:

Bret Farve's miracle pass
AS comeback coming up short vs Texans
Colts HB pass trick play
D not stopping the Packers in final 6 min. to give O chance at comeback.
Seahawks taking advantage of drops, fumbles and Keith Smith.

I know IFs don't amount to anything, but what 'IF' Bret Farve stayed retired and we didn't hurt ourselves against the Seahawks. The season would probably still be continuing after the Rams game.

I can easilyunderstand why you are optimistic for next season. If we can just cut down on mistakes and learn to win the close games. Next season could be a fun season to watch. Then again we heard that for the past 3 seasons!

Originally posted by TT49ers:
If we can keep that record of 6-2 at home, and be 4-4 on the road we should be okay. 49ers lost a lot of close road games, except for the Philly game. (Bad time for AS of 2005 to show up).

If it wasn't for:

Bret Farve's miracle pass
AS comeback coming up short vs Texans
Colts HB pass trick play
D not stopping the Packers in final 6 min. to give O chance at comeback.
Seahawks taking advantage of drops, fumbles and Keith Smith.

I know IFs don't amount to anything, but what 'IF' Bret Farve stayed retired and we didn't hurt ourselves against the Seahawks. The season would probably still be continuing after the Rams game.

I can easilyunderstand why you are optimistic for next season. If we can just cut down on mistakes and learn to win the close games. Next season could be a fun season to watch. Then again we heard that for the past 3 seasons!

Agree, the 49ers are not far from breaking thru & winning on the road!

It seems like we always manage to shoot ourselves in the foot on the road. Hopefully, they focus in 2010 on putting the games away, silence the crowd, and control the game. We had no business being ahead of Minn, but we were. Then when we try to run the ball, which was unsuccessful all game, we give Favre another chance at it. I believe had Jimmy Raye playcalled against Minn, how he is now, we would have won that game...

It seemed in Philly that there was no way we were going to win that game. Indy was another game that could have used more aggressive playcalling. While watching most games, our lackluster offense has too many 3 and outs, thereby giving the opposing offense the ball. If you give a good QB that many chances, eventually he is going to find something...

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