The San Francisco 49ers 13-10 loss to the St Louis Rams on Sunday has put their season on the brink. With a record of 4-4 for the first half of the season, they have put themselves into a position where each game is pretty much a must win if they are going to make their fourth straight trip to the playoffs.
The game continued a theme that has been ongoing throughout the season, inconsistency and lack of balance offensively. Look for more on this later in the week, but for now let's get to the answers for the 5 burning questions that I asked on Friday.
1) Next man up! - Marcus Martin made his first career start, and it was certainly baptism by fire. The rookie center anchored an offensive line that gave up eight sacks on the day, six coming before halftime.
2) Who will be on the Rams offensive line? - The Rams moved right guard Roger Saffold over to the left side and he did a good job, shutting Justin Smith down in the passing game. Smith was held without a single pressure through the game.
Davin Joseph replaced Saffold at right guard and just like a year ago when he was in Tampa Bay had a strong day against Ray McDonald. Joseph allowed only two quarterback pressures to McDonald.
Overall the Rams offensive line was much better than they were back in week 6. In the first contest the 49ers were able to pressure Austin Davis on over 40% of his drop backs. On Sunday they held the 49ers to only 27%.
3) Can the 49ers back seven do a better job against the Rams tight ends? - Yes. Jared Cook and Lance Kendricks were limited to only 19 yards on three receptions.
4) Will Vernon Davis turn it around? - Not really. Davis finished the day with only two receptions for 19 yards, and had a long of 13. Davis was only targeted on 3 of 33 pass attempts.
5) Can the 49ers stay focused? - Yes and No. The 49ers defense had a very strong game, holding St Louis to only 193 yards of total offense. The final two Rams scoring "drives" went 36 and 8 yards.
The offense once again looked disjointed and confused. Colin Kaepernick was under fire throughout the first half, yet Greg Roman and Jim Harbaugh continued to stay away from the running game. Overall the 49ers ran the ball only 18 times and passed 41. It has been proven repeatedly this year that this type of play calling is not successful. Without the threat of the run the 49ers offense is far below average.
Prediction Time:
49ers 34 Rams 10
Not even close.
