While a lot of fans are becoming fed up with the “Rollin’ with Nolan” mentality of the organization, there are some positives about this team. On offense, they seem to have a good nucleus of young players that they can continue to build around. Quarterback Alex Smith’s improvement over last season is remarkable. Running back Frank Gore appears to be a solid player and is finally being noticed by the media. They just need to make sure that his little fumbling problem is taken care of. The offensive line has some young players on it and could be a team strength for years to come. Right now, injuries have prevented this. If you pair a solid starting wide receiver with Antonio Bryant, they could be a dangerous combo. The defense on the other hand is more frustrating to watch than last year’s squad.
Now, sometimes it is tough to find positive notes in a game like the embarrassing 41-10 rout by the Chicago Bears, but I decided to give it a shot.
Good: The 49ers had 2 weeks to prepare for the Chicago Bears.Bad: The Bears had 2 weeks to prepare for the San Francisco 49ers, but probably did not need that much time.
Good: The 49ers outscored the Bears 10-0 in the second half.
Bad: The Bears outscored the 49ers 41-0 in the first half.
Good: 49ers quarterback Alex Smith showed good leadership on the field despite the fact that the win was already out of reach for the 49ers.
Bad: Turnovers killed the 49ers. 5 turnovers (4 lost fumbles and one interception) are just too much for this young team to overcome.
Good: 49ers running back Frank Gore averaged 9.3 yards per carry, had 111 total rushing yards and another 9 receiving yards. Not bad against a team that was allowing 75 rushing yards per game before Sunday and only 60 total rushing yards per game at home. Gore only carried the ball 12 times. Imagine what he could have done had the team not been down so early.
Bad: The Bears were already up 10-0 before Alex Smith and the offense even took the field.
Good: The pigeons of the Chicago area finally got their day in the sun as they accounted for a good amount of television time on FOX’s broadcast of the game. Apparently, they were more interesting than the game itself.
Bad: Those pigeons may have had a better shot than the 49ers’ defense at stopping the Bears.
Good: Defensive coordinator Billy Davis does not deserve all of the blame for the 49ers defensive woes. Although a good amount of blame will be thrown in his direction. The team’s defense felt that they were well prepared for the Bears and knew what they were going to throw at them.
Bad: Despite being well prepared (or so they say), the defense does not have the talent to stop anyone.
Good: The 49ers defense had a nice goal line stand in the third quarter stopping the Bears from scoring when they started a new set of downs from the San Francisco 7-yard line.
Bad: During that goal line stand, at the end of a drive that started from the Chicago 11-yard line, the Bears had become so confident that they could score an unlimited amount of points that they decided to try and run up the score by going for the touchdown on 4th and 2. They failed, but it has to be bad that the Bears had so little respect for the 49ers defense and their ability to stop them.
Good: 49ers running back Frank Gore is fifth in the league in rushing with 631 total rushing yards.
Bad: After averaging 96 rushing yards per game, the Bears rushed for 145 yards against the 49ers.
Good: The defensive backs are not completely to blame for the team’s lack of solid pass coverage. The 49ers’ lack of a pass rush is really making them look even worse than they are. Wait…I guess this is bad too.
Bad: 49ers tackle Kwame Harris had yet another penalty on offense. It was a 15-yard face mask penalty. But I think we are all starting to expect penalties from Harris.
Good: At least we get to see the 49ers’ 80’s style throwback uniforms next week against the Vikings. However, it is doubtful that it will make them play like the teams of the 80’s. Yes, I am having a tough time thinking of more positives.
Bad: It won’t be long before we start hearing the Niner Faithful complain about the 49ers trying to win and hurting the team’s draft position.
