After eight season of futility, the 49ers have locked up a playoff berth for the third straight season. As we get ready for the final week of the 2013 regular season let's take a look at 3 common myth's about the 49ers offense.
1) "The 49ers have play clock issues"
While it is true that the 49ers rank 29th in the NFL with 8 delay of game penalties, one must look a little deeper for the cause and effect on the offense.
Of those 8 delay of game penalties, 2 actually are on the punt team letting the clock run down, and 2 others have come as the result of the 49ers trying to draw the defense offside in 4th and short situations.
Dig a little deeper and you will find that those 6 delay of game penalties on the offense did little to keep the offense from scoring on the drive. The 49ers have scored on 3 of those drives, 1 touchdown and 2 field goals. Before blaming the delay penalties on forcing them to settle for field goals, it should be noted that on both of those occasions the delay of game came early in the drives and had no effect on the end result.
"But they use so many timeouts to keep from getting penalties" you say, and you are right to an extent. Those often happen in the first half of games when those timeouts are less important to the outcome of the game.
2) "They won't be successful in the playoffs if can't score touchdowns in the red zone"
Through the first 15 weeks of the season the 49ers have scored touchdowns on 58% of their trips to the red zone. That is the 5th highest percentage in the NFL, and the highest among NFC teams that are currently in the playoffs.
3) "The 49ers offense is so predictable with Gore. You know he is running it up the middle"
On the season, 57% of Frank Gore's runs have been outside the tackles. That is the 3rd highest percentage of all backs in the league and trails only Mike Tolbert and DeAngelo Williams of Carolina, both are part time backs and going into week 16, Gore had 35 more attempts than the two combined.
This stat should not come as a shock to anyone. The 49ers bread and butter running play is the Power O, an off tackle play in which the fullback kicks out the end man on the line of scrimmage and the backside guard pulls around to lead the back through the hole.
If you fall into the category of those who believe these myth's to be true, never fear. You're not alone.