The Offense since Mariucci was fired

being a defensive team and a somewhat crappy offensive team under Harbaugh got us to 3 straight NFCGs and 1 SB appearance, and losing twice in OT by a FG and by a very small margin, over 4 years

being an offensive team and a somewhat crappy defensive team under Mooch led us to 1 NFCG appearance with 2 division losses and 1 wc loss, over 6 years. the best year being the year mooch took over from seifert. and most of the losses being at least 2 score losses.

numbers never lie, we were a better team under Harbaugh with a focus on defense.

Originally posted by the_dynasty:

being a defensive team and a somewhat crappy offensive team under Harbaugh got us to 3 straight NFCGs and 1 SB appearance, and losing twice in OT by a FG and by a very small margin, over 4 years

being an offensive team and a somewhat crappy defensive team under Mooch led us to 1 NFCG appearance with 2 division losses and 1 wc loss, over 6 years. the best year being the year mooch took over from seifert. and most of the losses being at least 2 score losses.

numbers never lie, we were a better team under Harbaugh with a focus on defense.

Mooch had 2 really good teams (97-98), 2 pretty goods teams (01-02), 1 bad team (2000) and 1 train wreck terrible team (1999). Ranking the units from mooch era I'd go:

Offense
1998
2000
2001
2002
1997
1999

None were really terrible except for the passing game during the 6-7 games after Steve got hurt in 1999. When Garcia got right the offense was pretty good.

Defense
1997
2001
2002
1998
2000
1999

1999 is still the worst team defense I've seen (2004 & this year give it a run for its money though). If the 1998 offense had the 1997 defense thats a 15-1 type team.

The 49ers have simply not drafted QBs and WRs well. If they had only taken Brady or Rogers, we'd not be having this conversation.

Originally posted by Trath44:

The 49ers have simply not drafted QBs and WRs well. If they had only taken Brady or Rogers, we'd not be having this conversation.

Two from their backyard who begged the Niners to give them a look.

Agreed! I am sooooo tired of being that team that is "not built to comeback" and "built for defense and run game". We have been the same crappy team since 2002. This philosophy hasn't worked for us for 13 years, and we need go back to being an offensive team. We have enough youth and talent on the defense to really focus on our offense for the next couple years. We need top flight QB, solid OL, backup RB, and antonio brown like receiver. We keep getting these one-trick ponies, and it is absolutely ridiculous.

The 2000 49ers were a fun team to watch, offensively. The D was young and inexperienced and were routinely torched, but Garcia-Owens-Garner was an explosive combo.

Originally posted by cciowa:

Originally posted by crake49:

Originally posted by Niners99:

The day Steve Mariucci was fired was the day our dynasty officially died.

Or it could have been the day Steve Young ultimately got his bell rung.

The most successful QB's the franchise has had since then are Jeff Garcia, Colin Kaepernick and Alex Smith, all good QB's, but not nearly as good as the two QB's who were under center for the Niner championship teams.

mooch crawled into a fetal position vs tampa and deserved the ax,,,,, i am also tired of having coaches get hired, SAY , they are going to go back to niner basics and run the west coast thing and then we end up with what we have gotten. i do not believe in "major changes" and will not get sucked into the "west coast" talk again.... i will go by what people do and not what they say

Tampa went on to a blowout SB win. Firing Mooch sent us into a 8 year downward spiral. Clearly the wrong choice...

Originally posted by Niners99:

Tampa went on to a blowout SB win. Firing Mooch sent us into a 8 year downward spiral. Clearly the wrong choice...

The wrong choice without a legitimate plan b. Hmm...kinda runs in the family

Originally posted by zeppfan1:
The 2000 49ers were a fun team to watch, offensively. The D was young and inexperienced and were routinely torched, but Garcia-Owens-Garner was an explosive combo.

This. Even upon looking back, that was a fun season. You could see the seeds being sown for the 2001 and 2002 teams.

IIRC, 2000 was the season when Garcia set the franchise passing record.

Originally posted by LayTheWoodall:

Originally posted by zeppfan1:

The 2000 49ers were a fun team to watch, offensively. The D was young and inexperienced and were routinely torched, but Garcia-Owens-Garner was an explosive combo.

This. Even upon looking back, that was a fun season. You could see the seeds being sown for the 2001 and 2002 teams.

IIRC, 2000 was the season when Garcia set the franchise passing record.

2000 was fun.....after a 2-8 start, it was like a switch was flipped. The defense started to play a little bit (over the last 6 games they had games of only giving up 7 pts, 6 pts and a shut out vs chi) and the offense continued to play. They eventually finished the season on a 4-2 run, but it coulda been a 5-1 finish if they wouldn't have blown that game vs the saints at the stick.

Originally posted by Niners816:
if they wouldn't have blown that game vs the saints at the stick.

Kevin Smith's YouTube channel has that full game, and it was just as painful to watch all these years later. You're right about the team flipping the switch.

We also lost a heartbreaker to the Raiders and played the Packers well in Lambeau as well. That could easily have been an 8-8/9-7 team.