Finally Time to Blame HARBAUGH ! | Page 4

mella8 · 2012-09-23T15:36:07-07:00

I was very disappointed in Harbaugh today. I think he actually bought into this team's current success primarily by playing conservative, and that plain sucks. One of the reasons why Harbaugh is credited with the turnaround last year is bc of his ability to improvise and take chances. It was this fiery unpredictable personality that made a cellar dwellar into a contender. Today, on 2 drives where he shouldve and couldve gone for it on 4th and 1 (both drives we were moving the chains easily), he opted to kick (1 was blocked). On several drives, he decided NOT to take advantage of a weak Vikings secondary deep. On several passing plays, we could easily see the defense giving Moss a 15 yard cushion --- only to have either Moss not get a throw OR have him on the sidelines the very next play. And it kinda makes sense. Last week, we marched down the field in 4 plays (opening drive) and scored on Detroit. After that, we went into conservaball mode, killing the clock and letting Det hang around. I think Harbaugh has detracted from his style of coaching and has bought into the conservaball approach this team has been relying on these past few weeks. It's the same approach that Singletary used, except he was adamant on pounding the ball, whereas Harbaugh has allowed Smith to make low risk passes. I hope he gets back to what made this team successful to begin with.

Sep 23, 2012 at 10:00 PM

#46

Shemp
Hall of Fame
Posts: 29,755

Originally posted by Garcia:
Worst coached game of his tenure for sure.

He got outcoached by, IMO, by the worst coach in the NFL.

I question some decisions late in the game.... Conservative play calling after KW's big kick return.
Punting with 2 score deficit and 6 min left from bout mid field
4 minute offensive playcalling (alex smith?) Running when you need to conserve time.

thats just the tip of the iceberg

agree with all of this, esp the bolded

Sep 23, 2012 at 10:01 PM

#47

YungAce
Veteran
Posts: 46,920

Why did we come out throwing like we were down 40?!

Sep 23, 2012 at 10:04 PM

#48

49AllTheTime
Veteran
Posts: 72,935

VANILLA

Sep 23, 2012 at 10:10 PM

#49

tjd808185
Veteran
Posts: 26,075

I don't this game was that different than any other game. The only thing that changed was our formula got knocked out of whack because the defense wasn't lights out.

We had a great drive, got the game to within 3 points and Minnesota marches down the field and scores again. Ball game.

[ Edited by tjd808185 on Sep 23, 2012 at 10:11 PM ]

Sep 23, 2012 at 10:19 PM

#50

Joecool
Veteran
Posts: 70,984

Give credit where it's due. MIN finally took advantage of our main weekness on D and that was the short flats. They also had a good player to throw to there in Harvin. Combine that with Ponder extending plays and making plays off his feet and our Defense got stretched.
Now include the fact that our QB doesn't have some of the intagibles their QB displayed along with MiN not turning it over and thy Ninered us but had better QB play than we normally do.

[ Edited by Joecool on Sep 23, 2012 at 10:20 PM ]

Sep 23, 2012 at 10:22 PM

#51

rk1642
Veteran
Posts: 1,324

Originally posted by sfout:
Agreed. This game has handedly decided by our coaches conservative mindset and game plan. That series after KWs monster return reminded me off the days of Singletary, run, run, run kick -- We basically should've passed 3 times and probably even gone for it on 4th if none of the previous plays worked. Not capitalizing on either of Williams big returns was completely demoralizing for us.

If I had to prioritize blame I'd say this

1. Harbaugh / Roman / Fangio - Bad game plan from the get-go, bad playing in game, bad game management. All around bad coaching.
2. Alex - Not taking chances on the plays that were called for him, he almost hit Moss in the endzone but other then that I dont recall a single pass beyond 15 yards.
3. Gore - That random fumble really hurt us but he did perform solidly in general. That turnover helped take the game out of our hands though.
4. Defense especially Tarell Brown - Brown had a horrendous game, he didn't play through the whistle and would lag behind Harvin and Aromashodu on plays and if/when Ponder bought time he would end up hitting one of them for a big gain.
Our pass rush was "pressuring" Ponder but no one actually sacked him and that is just inexcusable based on how many times we got near him.

I agree with your 4 points but would have to say that the D belongs at the top of the list.

Ponder looked like Rodgers out there tonight, we could not get off the field and let them control not only the time of position but the tempo of the game. And when given the chance, we drop a pick 6 that would have totally changed the game. We always give this unit its props and say they are the main reason for our sucess but they were nowhere to be found tonight.

I'd then say that Alex, Frank and the coachs tie for #2 on the blame scale. All had bad days of equal proportions. None made the plays when presented to them or made an error when we could least afford it.

Don't think the Oline is far behind in the blame and I'm really starting to sour on Staley. He gets beat way too often for his position and if we have to help him out we better start doing so.

We will learn from this defeat and be the better for it I'd like to think.

Sep 23, 2012 at 10:27 PM

#52

9erfanAUS
Veteran
Posts: 16,281

Definitely the worst coached game of his tenure. I have the belief however that he'll learn from his mistakes (unlike some of our previous coaches) and come out a better coach from this.

Sep 23, 2012 at 11:14 PM

#53

MrTruth
Member
Posts: 740

Originally posted by YungAce:
Why did we come out throwing like we were down 40?!

Cause they thought they could

Sep 23, 2012 at 11:18 PM

#54

SealTeam6
Member
Posts: 3,554

I'm cool with that

Sep 23, 2012 at 11:18 PM

#55

ImaMod
Veteran
Posts: 10,482

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
It wasn't the best game in a lot of ways. I actually thought we got away from the run too much early. It was pass, pass, pass early in the game. Usually we establish the run first and then pass. Harbaugh has proven he is good. So 1 game doesn't mean much.

I agree

At the end of the 1st half we passed 19 times and only ran 6 times

Sep 23, 2012 at 11:24 PM

#56

MiamiNiner
Veteran
Posts: 951

Originally posted by sfout:
Agreed. This game has handedly decided by our coaches conservative mindset and game plan. That series after KWs monster return reminded me off the days of Singletary, run, run, run kick -- We basically should've passed 3 times and probably even gone for it on 4th if none of the previous plays worked. Not capitalizing on either of Williams big returns was completely demoralizing for us.

If I had to prioritize blame I'd say this

1. Harbaugh / Roman / Fangio - Bad game plan from the get-go, bad playing in game, bad game management. All around bad coaching.
2. Alex - Not taking chances on the plays that were called for him, he almost hit Moss in the endzone but other then that I dont recall a single pass beyond 15 yards.
3. Gore - That random fumble really hurt us but he did perform solidly in general. That turnover helped take the game out of our hands though.
4. Defense especially Tarell Brown - Brown had a horrendous game, he didn't play through the whistle and would lag behind Harvin and Aromashodu on plays and if/when Ponder bought time he would end up hitting one of them for a big gain.
Our pass rush was "pressuring" Ponder but no one actually sacked him and that is just inexcusable based on how many times we got near him.

5.) Alex taking sacks when he could have thrown the ball away
6.) Why is Randy Moss not more involved? The announcers saying the Vikes defense 15 yards off Moss at the line of scrimmage, but the play goes to Gore into the middle of the line for minimal gain.

Sep 23, 2012 at 11:24 PM

#57

SealTeam6
Member
Posts: 3,554

Coaching and Three 80+ yard drives are at the top of my list, blocked FG, Dropped balls, O play calling, D play calling, WR coach -eight years later same story, Staley, screen pass, gore, penalties

Sep 23, 2012 at 11:25 PM

#58

SFrush
Veteran
Posts: 5,422

Originally posted by ImaMod:
I agree

At the end of the 1st half we passed 19 times and only ran 6 times

Minny dominated the TOP in the first half. That didn't help things establishing the run really the entire game.

Sep 23, 2012 at 11:39 PM

#59

CalNiner49
Veteran
Posts: 5,719

s**t happens. we'll win next week. you can take that to the bank

Sep 23, 2012 at 11:46 PM

#60

killajay209
Veteran
Posts: 93

Maybe Harbaugh should of took the receiving during coin toss just my thought