No need to panic: 49ers will be fine

Understanding our record against winning teams and how badly this team, especially the offense has looked in the 3 losses, panic isn't something that the 49ers nor their fans need to do after today's loss.

First it was a tough loss yes, but a one point loss in which the defense played very well, giving up just 2 scores for 10 total points. All this with Aldon playing just 11 snaps, Ray Mac missing the entire second half, Skuta missing some time and Reid going down with an injury. This IS one of the best defenses in the NFL and they will be there all season long. Reid will comeback, hopefully Ray Mac won't miss anymore time and Tank/Wright are coming.

Second: The run game is fine, Hunter's fumble was ugly but Gore looked good today for the most part. The passing game was terrible but let's look at the facts. The Panthers have one of the best front 7's in football, Kaep didn't get much time at all and hardly any room to run all game. Manningham was rusty in his first game back, sure he made a couple plays but he also dropped 2 balls. VD missed most of the game and outside of Gore, he's the most important player on this roster and Crabtree isn't back yet, he's going to make a HUGE difference. We still aren't at full strength offensively.

Lastly: The ball just didn't bounce our way today's boys. If Vance catches that deep ball, we get at least a FG and win this game. On that same drive that penalty on Boldin after Mario's catch killed us. We almost came up with a big fumble recovery on Carolina's last drive, we get that, we get way more time and much better field position to try and take the lead and ultimately win the game.

I'm betting the coaching staff learned their lesson on a couple of mishaps on ST's. One, I'd be willing to place money that Osgood won't be inactive anymore this year, we missed him on our coverage units. LMJ did a good job with the PR duties, Dixon made an idiotic decision to take it out of the EZ and looked a little slow, I'm also betting LMJ is back on KR duties next week.

Last season the team couldn't win more than 2 games in a row and we thought that was going to doom us. Come playoff time we came back against 2 good teams and went to the Super Bowl and within 5 yards of winning our 6th trophy. Do we have problems? Sure, every team does. Are we perfect? No, but we have 7 games left boys. The re-reinforcements Aldon, Mario, Wright, Tank just got here, Moody is on his way and after him Crabs will be back. I still believe we haven't played our best football yet, especially on offense. The NFL season is a long marathon, not a 40 yard dash. We're 2.5 games behind Seattle, we win week 12 that makes up the 1/2 game, we beat them at home that's another game, I refuse to believe Seattle won't lose one or two other games this season. We can still win this division and we are a Superbowl contender with one of the best rosters in football that is still not a full strength.

Have faith 49er fans!

I want to hug you so hard right now.

LOL, we have NO OFFENSE. Seattle is going to run away with the division, and Carolina will take the wildcard.

The good news, we should be good to compete again next year if Kap can figure out how to throw or we replace him with someone better.

We have zero offense at all. We are due for more losses and playoffs is seriously in question.

Doesn't help. All I know is that, barring a miracle, we're probably going to have play at NY/Dallas, NO, and Seattle if we want to go to the SB now. If the offense doesn't get a grip, that WC slot isn't even safe.

I'm not sure what it is, but Kaepernick is really sucking this year. Maybe defenses have figured out Kaep, maybe the coordinator doesn't know how to coordinate a passing attack. Either way, Kaepernick has been terrible throwing the ball this season.

Unless the QB and coaching staff makes serious changes in their philosophy, this is a lost season. Based on how comfortable the coaching staff was with Kaepernick in the preseason, it seemed like Kaepernick had made the leap to being a franchise QB with command of the offense.

Instead, it looks like Kaepernick's offseason preparation was s**t - he obviously spent more time working on his upper body strength and speed than he did on actually learning to throw a football with precision and footwork. And now that he's gotten his s**t kicked in time and time again, he's not only failed to improve, but actually regressed.

The team has the talent to put it together and win it all, but it's going to be really hard now that we've wasted the bye week to made mid-season adjustments.

Originally posted by PrisonOfGlass:
I want to hug you so hard right now.

lol just trying to get people to understand a loss isn't the end of the world.

Originally posted by smithgdwg:
LOL, we have NO OFFENSE. Seattle is going to run away with the division, and Carolina will take the wildcard.

The good news, we should be good to compete again next year if Kap can figure out how to throw or we replace him with someone better.

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
We have zero offense at all. We are due for more losses and playoffs is seriously in question.

Probably won't be after today but we came in with the #1 rushing offense in the NFL. 2 of our 3 losses we have been without VD. Zero games yet this season have we actually had a healthy set of playmakers. Mark my words, this team will be fine.

I've been making excuses for Kaepernick throughout this entire season to anyone who asked. His passing yards are down because all they've needed to do is run! His receivers are terrible! Etc. etc.

This game is the straw that breaks the camel's back. The fact is Kaepernick hasn't done anything for this team since Week 1. Have we really been crying that Kaep hasn't had Boldin, Davis, Crabtree AND Manningham all to throw to? When people like Brees and Brady can turn no-name receivers into stars? To make it seem like Kaep can only be expected to succeed if he has a 1000 yd receiver as his third receiving target is making it too easy.

Kaep really needed to step up this game and he failed with SO MANY chances. All the defense needed him to do was score 3 points in the second half and he couldn't do it. Even career backups like Tolzein, Hoyer, Thad Lewis can get more than 91 passing yards. Kaep looks like a deer in headlights under any kind of pressure and the dude is just not ready to start. The team should've opened their wallets bigger for Peyton Manning and let Kaep back him up for a few years. The team is built to win NOW and does not have time to screw around and wait for Kaepernick to grow up.

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
We have zero offense at all. We are due for more losses and playoffs is seriously in question.

This. Going to New Orleans is a nightmare right now, and this team just got dominated (forget the scoreboard) at home by the team they will be competing with for a wildcard spot.

Originally posted by dhp318:
Unless the QB and coaching staff makes serious changes in their philosophy, this is a lost season. Based on how comfortable the coaching staff was with Kaepernick in the preseason, it seemed like Kaepernick had made the leap to being a franchise QB with command of the offense.

Instead, it looks like Kaepernick's offseason preparation was s**t - he obviously spent more time working on his upper body strength and speed than he did on actually learning to throw a football with precision and footwork. And now that he's gotten his s**t kicked in time and time again, he's not only failed to improve, but actually regressed.

The team has the talent to put it together and win it all, but it's going to be really hard now that we've wasted the bye week to made mid-season adjustments.

Serious question, imagine if one of this scenario had played out. Vance makes that catch, we score a TD on that drive and end up winning 16-10. The reactions here wouldn't be close. The theme would be that we did what we had to do to win. I know it didn't happen, I know we didn't play as well as we would like. But at the end of the day, we're 6-3, a respectable record, we've had a ton of injuries to key positions and we are still on our way to getting healthier. I'm very optimistic about this season. Those who thought we were going to/have to run the table the rest of the year just weren't being realistic.

Originally posted by TheRatMan13:
This. Going to New Orleans is a nightmare right now, and this team just got dominated (forget the scoreboard) at home by the team they will be competing with for a wildcard spot.

THIS. Trust me, I want to see the silver lining as much as anyone. 6-3 isn't a bad record, but putting that number into perspective is really tough on a fan right now.

Originally posted by matt49er:
Serious question, imagine if one of this scenario had played out. Vance makes that catch, we score a TD on that drive and end up winning 16-10. The reactions here wouldn't be close.

I'm sorry, I just hate that mindset. It's fairly similar to what people are complaining is Harbaugh's conservatism on kicking the third FG instead of going for it on 4th down. The fact is the game does not just come down to "that one thing" if the defense holds them to NINE points. Kaep had opportunity after opportunity to lead the offense to another field goal and failed every time. That is a bigger picture problem with this team, not just that one drop or that one kick. If people weren't talking about it for the last five games it's because people were just happy the team won and looked the other way, but we all knew the QB performance wasn't very impressive.

sound post but here is my response to this

1. Defense was lights out but if they don't learn to tackle we'll lose the next 3 games. The saints, washington, and seattle all have shifty backs and power backs that will be hard to tackle and after watching 3 or more of our best defenders whiff on DeAngelo Williams huge run I am not encouraged about our prospects.

2. Agreed, run game was great. Gore was amazing, Hunter's fumble was done by textbook tackle that dislodged the ball with his helmet but he was carrying the ball loosely in 1 arm rather than clutching it. Gotta coach that out of him.

3. Luck is luck and it didn't go our way but it was close enough that better coaching would've made the difference.

4. Osgood being inactive was massive mistake especially since I don't recall seeing Baldwin on the field and Williams barely saw action.

5. Why isn't LMJ handling KRs as well? Dixon a player that runs a high 4.6 returning kicks is kind of bas-ackwards, especially when the kicks routinely reach 7 yards deep.

6. Thank god LMJ's returns showed promise again. Williams should never see the field again on ST.

7. Asking the Seahawks to lose to anyone besides New Orleans, which is in Seattle, for the rest of the season is highly unlikely. Vikings, Cardinals and Rams, are also in Seattle. With only us and the Giants as away games. While we play NO, Washington, Tampa, and Arizona away with the Rams, Seattle, and Atlanta at home. 3 of those games are incredibly possible to lose, and after the last 2 years we can't discount the Rams or Cardinals.

I like the hope but the odds of us catching Seattle are so slim they are probably non-existent.

We need to go into New Orleans with a "f**k them all and Run the Ball" attitude....Just keep pounding them, because Kaep has been off most of the year but good for us is that were a damn good Running the Ball team.

I'm very skeptical with Kaep, roman and the whole offense in general. I know the d will be there but they can't stay on the field forever. I keep telling myself were not in full strength on offense but got damn this is horrible.