in your opinion, why are some of our latest wins closer than they should have been?

So I'm a diehard 49ers fan of 31 years and first time Noob poster and I thought I make my first thread be a question regarding why in the last few wins in particular & even the early season losses to the bears and cards, we seem to get these leads and then proceed to get lax with everything and it eventually comes down to a final drive by the opposition with the chance to tie or win the game when it shouldn't have come to that. This is something that has really been driving me crazy and I wanted everyones opinion. Is it....

A. Roman/Harbaugh going Marty Schottenheimer and playing so close to the vest in the last few minutes with Vanilla playcalling?

B. We just still lack that killer instinct.

C. None of the Above (I'll tell you why)

Would love to hear from eveyone about this, because it's been driving me crazy all season with this team and I'm afraid it's gonna bite us in ASS somewhere down the line. Also it seems like the coaching staff in cruch time would rather hand off to gore or hyde with 8 men in the box to try and ice the game when we have a dynamic athlete @ QB who can make a play

Originally posted by jwjr49er:

So I'm a diehard 49ers fan of 31 years and first time Noob poster and I thought I make my first thread be a question regarding why in the last few wins in particular & even the early season losses to the bears and cards, we seem to get these leads and then proceed to get lax with everything and it eventually comes down to a final drive by the opposition with the chance to tie or win the game when it shouldn't have come to that. This is something that has really been driving me crazy and I wanted everyones opinion. Is it....

A. Roman/Harbaugh going Marty Schottenheimer and playing so close to the vest in the last few minutes with Vanilla playcalling?

B. We just still lack that killer instinct.

C. None of the Above (I'll tell you why)

Would love to hear from eveyone about this, because it's been driving me crazy all season with this team and I'm afraid it's gonna bite us in ASS somewhere down the line. Also it seems like the coaching staff in cruch time would rather hand off to gore or hyde with 8 men in the box to try and ice the game when we have a dynamic athlete @ QB who can make a play

We take our foot off the gas because we have very conservative coaches. We get ahead then we play not to lose. There are times for it and times not to do it. As long as we win I don't care but when we lose vs CHI I am pissed!

Lots of different things can attribute to this. Player execution, penalties, coaches getting comfortable, bad play calls, etc.

While Kap can do amazing things, I still expect the run game to work when we need it. Had we not taken Gore out late, maybe those runs all convert and we keep driving. You can have a great passing series but a bad fumble can derail a good drive. Tipped balls, strip sacks, interceptions, and careless fumbles can all happen when passing. I have complete faith that when Gore gets the ball, he won't lose it.

No pass rush. And lately, very few ProBowlers left playing.

And last year I blame Roman.

"Winning's winning"- Dom Toretto

I think it's really on the coaches and very evident that we go into a conservative, eat the clock and TOP mode running the ball and rely on our defense. It does make me nervous but I can also step back and think that we are winning and it also seems we keep more in the tank physically and play call wise for the play-offs.

In 2012 we stopped running Colin the last few games and then unleashed him and I'm sure that I'vve seen the coaches say they try not to put too much on film or hold things back.

Having said that, I'd like to see us 14+ points up or in the 4th quarter before we start doing this - the coaches will take the foot off the pedal at half time if we're up enough.

To me it starts and ends in playcalling. It seems when the 49ers SHOULD Run, they pass and when they should pass, they RUN.

It's football, sometimes your going to have tight games. Plus, there's no great teams so any team can beat any other team on any given day.

It seems ever since we tried to throw the ball more in the first few games, we have lost some of that toughness and sharpness in running the ball. It was evident on this past Monday night. Although some say it was because the Rams stacked the box to stuff the run, while it was true to some extent, however it shouldn't have had such an over-bearing effect on short yardage situations. But, you have to give Harbaugh props for trying to up that killer instinct by going for it on two 4th downs. Unfortunately, we were totally stuffed in both occasions. That's not like us. In the past, Anthony Dixon would have jumped and flown over the goal line. When you get stopped on two 4th downs, it makes the other team think we are soft. We can't afford to let that happen, we need to find our way back to running the ball in a dominant fashion again.

Every game is it's own story. Each side of the ball is it's own story.when posters say were conservative they refer to fangio not leaving his four rush soft cover concepts even when teams start to nibble their way back,I into the game. And that happens. Offensively we are foobar on execution and adroit playcalls so we are inconsistent getting first downs and consequently holding the ball and driving for touchdowns so we never get too far ahead. Now our head coach has gone potato and looks like he will take horrible risks he doesn't need to take in order to win by margins his team doesn't deserve.

That's why.

rams game was closer than it should have been because of harbaughs decision to go for it on 4th and goal instead of kicking the FG.

We don't execute well enough when we're playing with the lead. People want to blame conservative coaches, but we went for it on 4th down twice and didn't convert. We've got to execute our plays better in the 4th.

They win but too many times we are in a situation where one play beats us even though we've dominated.

You are complaining about close wins.......

That's the same thing the media did to Alabama recently.

1) Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes! The team shoots itself in the foot by committing errors--penalties and otherwise. They seem to be eliminating the timing issues a bit but penalties on first down tend to make the team play uphill and they lose field position.

2) Power running teams tend to score less; that and a great defense means the games are often close. Our team is not built for quick hits. Look at the receivers...Crabtree, Boldin, Johnson...all possession recievers. Lloyd is more of a quick hit guy but he's fourth on the depth chart. Gore is not going to take it to the house very often. VD is a big strike guy but has been injured this year and perhaps under utilized.

3) Defense hasn't been much of a scoring defense. One TD this season?

4) Special teams haven't scored.

5) Injuries tend to make the team a bit more conservative...have to get the new players up to speed. Boone was a mess when he came back, many miscues for a few games.