First of all, the offensive line has been playing poorly, everyone knows that. Why is this happening to a previously acclaimed group that was regularly praised as the best offensive line in football by Troy Aikman? You have to follow a chain of events and decisions that date back to the beginning of Harbaugh's hiring as a coach.
Yesterday, I saw so many spread formations, 4 and 5 receiver sets. With all of the receivers we have now, Harbaugh and Roman might feel obligated to get all of them involved. But the strength of our line was playing physical and run blocking. So it's no wonder they are struggling. They can't wear out rushers and defenses peddling backwards on their heels all the time. As we have Kaepernick drop back more and more often, we are adding more time that he is in the oven, thinking away.
When I was surveying the field on one of the last plays, Brandon Lloyd was lined up one on one on the sideline. He got open deep but Kaepernick never looked right...his head was fixed to the left side of the field so he didn't even see Lloyd at any point. On one play, Kaepernick threw a back shoulder fade...to the opposite side of the defender!
The receiver (who was toward the sideline) actually had to reach around the defender to get back to the ball. I'm not sure what Kaepernick was thinking there. On another play, Kaepernick tried to force the ball into a receiver that was covered underneath and over the top. Very Cutler-esque. He was lucky that wasn't picked off.The worst play of the game for me was the second to last play. Bruce Miller shifted from the right side into a lead blocking position for Gore. Then they faked the run and then Kaepernick just threw the ball away. From the one yard line!
What is very discomforting about the losses this year with the exception of the Broncos game, is that we beat ourselves through the air. Trying to turn this offense into something it is not. Kaepernick can't be trusted with as much as the coaches are putting on him. Take the thinking part out of Kaepernick's head and have him pass short and hand off the ball the way Alex was in 2011 to extend drives. Our 3rd down percentage yesterday was 25% - 3/12. That's just terrible.
They need to automate plays, get back to the West Coast fundamentals of dumping off short passes, slants and running the ball to stretch defenses. When was the last time we saw a sweep? Frank was averaging 3.7 yards a carry on 14 carries, Hyde was around 8 yards on 2 carries. 33 pass attempts vs 16 rushes by running backs. That's just not balanced enough. Right now, this offense is a mess. The line is not playing well because they are being asked to pass block for 3/4 of the plays. They don't get a chance to go on the attack while run blocking, to be physical with defenses, which was what made them feared.
Getting Bowman, Aldon and Willis back would not have changed the results of this game. We held the Rams to 13 points and intercepted the ball twice. The defense did more than enough to win this game. The coaching staff needs look back at 2011's game planning and put some of the training wheels back on Kaepernick and the offense. Make Kaepernick work on his fundamentals for awhile ie. converting 3rd downs and extending drives before giving him full reign in a spread formation with 4 receiver sets. Make him hand the ball off to Frank and Carlos so that they also have a chance to show what our running game is capable of.
Please dumb down the level of this offense to match the mind of our starting QB until he matures.