Originally posted by Ninefan56:
And somehow Fangio's defense got us to within 5 yards of winning the super bowl. I will take that defense next year as well.
Wrong. The D had problems since new England. With our personnel, it's pretty strange. The lack of pass rush since November really put our secondary in harms way. Competent, experienced qbs throwing to decent skill lit us up. We couldn't get physical with the qb, and we couldn't defend on target throws.
Lack of pass rush was an issue that coaching was very slow to recognize imo and deal with. It's too bad this discussion is happening after the SB loss. The warning signes were in front of everyones nose against New England, Atlanta, Seattle, Green Bay. What -- 2 sacks against Arizona, worst in the league at protecting the QB? Can you spell u-n-d-e-r-p-e-r-f-o-r-m?
Very little ingenuity, very little smoke and mirrors to compensate for this critical weakness.
On prior SF super bowl champions, the D always overperformed. We had the opposite this year. Very little rotation all year long put the hurt on several performers who couldn't really come through late in the season. No solutions from staff.
I think the secondary is taking too much heat. If the QB has unrestricted time to throw to good skill in a mature scheme, the league rules are slanted such that they will (almost always) produce. Can't expect the back field to blanket WR's for 4, 5 seconds. Just too much these days.