Originally posted by threelittlebirds:
The key is Colin Kaepernick needs to stop turning the ball over. There is nothing complex about it... both of the losses in Seattle this year are directly tied into Kaepernick's multiple turnovers in the 4th quarter. The defense did a great job in both games until Kaepernick started turning it over in the 4th.
The offensive line needs to get a lot better at pass protection. Goodwin was good in 2011, bad in 2012, and worse this year... age caught up with him obviously. I don't know how many times Kap got pressured up the middle by an unblocked guy with Goodwin standing around looking for someone to block or needlessly helping Boone or Iupati. Anthony Davis needs to get better too... with his extension we're stuck with him and he is so up and down with his pass protection.. one week he'll be great and then the next he'll be terrible.
Weapons... Weapons... Weapons. The biggest lesson learned this year was that the 49ers need more WRs. If they can bring Boldin back that will be fantastic... I still like the idea of a healthy Crabtree, VD, and Boldin... hopefully in 2014 none of them suffer any major injuries. I like the little flashes Patton has shown but lets be honest he hasn't done anything and those flashes might be nothing.
Harbaugh and Roman need to grow a pair. In my opinion their conservatism has doomed the 49ers just as much as players making mistakes and turning the ball over at the end of the NFC Championship games and last years SB. We all see them play for FGs instead of TDs nearly every time the 49ers get in scoring range. I suppose I can accept that approach with Smith at QB or an inexperienced Kap, but they are now 0-3 for Super Bowls with a 49ers team that had a real chance to win each of the last 3 Super Bowls.
Although, none of this will matter if they don't do a good job of replacing the secondary. Replacing Rogers and Whitner shouldn't be too difficult considering how bad they've both become... but I will miss Brown if he leaves too. Its good to have Brock but who knows what Culliver will be like when he returns from his injury.
A lot of good points there.