The Definition and Continuance of Team Losses

I just hope the owners have that same "back to the drawing board" mentality.

Yeah we need to start from scratch. It sucks to say, but its true. Since we almost certainly aren't going to get Luck, it could be a while before we even get the QB of the future (IMO Newton Mallett and Locker will all be busts). Then we need to build the team around that player.

Originally posted by MadDog49er:
When teams lose, football fans typically hand select the player they like the least, and assign blame to him for their entire team's failure. Or, in the case of Niners fans, assign blame on a specific player, a position coach, a GM, an owner, the refs, the commissioner, and the guy on the corner who sold you a bad hot dog yesterday at lunch.

To target any one particular person, and then rant about it endlessly on the board, is sloppy in thinking. The problems this franchise have are across the board, from ownership, to coaches, to players.

Let's start at the top. Nobody can fire an owner, so while fans can criticize them, the only way they can bring change is to simply not go to games. This may have the effect of an owner selling the team, or moving it elsewhere. All of this is not going to happen for the Niners. So, griping about the ownership is really a fruitless exercise. We are stuck with the Yorks.

The place where changes can happen are in the front office, coaching staff and players. Maybe the team needs to dump Paraag Marathe and Trent Baalke, who seem to always get a free pass. They handle player personnel, and while the salary cap is much healthier than years before, the team still has some major holes to fill.

Mike Singletary is obviously an easy scapegoat. He seems like a nice guy who gives great speeches but cannot get his players to execute well in games. The mountain of errors, especially mental and emotional, fall largely into the lap of the head coach, who is in charge of the on-field performance. Singletary was never a head coach, but was elevated due to his charisma and terrific performance as a former player. But, being a head coach is another animal and he appears to be out of his league at this point. The head coach is also the person who installs a system, and Singletary's system is incoherant, dysfunctional, waffly (sorry for the new word), and haphazard.

Finally, players have to be accountable for their own actions on the field, starting with preparation off the field. While it appears the team is ready to play each week, the players find new and creative ways to lose. Last night, we could find a goat in Clements, Rachal, J. Smith, Norris, A. Smith, Walker, and many, many more.

The bottom line is that the 49ers continue to be a franchise that has lost its ability to win. This may need a change in ownership to resolve (but that is out of our hands), or a coaching change, which fans can promote day and night, or specific players. However, fans need to ask themselves the question: If someone is removed, are they going to get a suitable replacement who is going to lift the franchise higher?

Last night was a complete team loss, and now we go back to the drawing board again.

Good summation.

The single greatest missing link is a good football guy as GM.

AJ Smith, the GM at San Diego has a rep for being a hard A$$ but he gets good players and coaches. Norv Turner has a lot of critics but when that team is healthy, the combination of Turner's offensive mind plus Ron Rivera's defense is a very potent combination.

Just flush it and start over -- real GM, real HC, real offense (WCO), real OC, decent QB, defense that doesn't leave the secondary one-on-one, and a good pass rusher. See where we are in 3 years.

Yes, too bad we cant start with the owner(s).

Its simple. Well Kinda.

York needs to realize that his org is flawed in every dept. (and that he too is flawed)

How many VPs of whatever roam the halls in Santa Clara? Who knows.

This team needs to drop some cake on a seasoned GM and head coach.

Nothing new here.

The learn on the job program w/the 49ers has got to stop now.

We will continue to suck as long as the halls of Santa Clara are being roamed by
bean counters and PR VPs instead of football men.

Most of us have been saying this since they fired Donahue.

Unless there's one guy dropping half a dozen passes including one in the end zone in overtime (Steve Johnson, Bills vs. Steelers), it's hard to single out one guy. Even a close game where the kicker misses a final field goal for the win, you can still say, well if anyone stepped up at any point, it wouldn't have come down to that final FG.

But when a football team is clearly inferior, and despite our playoff hopes, 5-9 means we clearly are, then the spotlight shines brightest on two people: the coach and QB. The coach and QB know it, the fans know it, teammates know it, anyone who doesn't is fooling himself. If you sign up for that job, you know you have to deliver the wins or get out, plain and simple. So you can call it a team loss all you want. The reality is the team will still be here next year. The coach and QB won't. And they won't deserve to be. And that's all there is to it.

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
Unless there's one guy dropping half a dozen passes including one in the end zone in overtime (Steve Johnson, Bills vs. Steelers), it's hard to single out one guy. Even a close game where the kicker misses a final field goal for the win, you can still say, well if anyone stepped up at any point, it wouldn't have come down to that final FG.

But when a football team is clearly inferior, and despite our playoff hopes, 5-9 means we clearly are, then the spotlight shines brightest on two people: the coach and QB. The coach and QB know it, the fans know it, teammates know it, anyone who doesn't is fooling himself. If you sign up for that job, you know you have to deliver the wins or get out, plain and simple. So you can call it a team loss all you want. The reality is the team will still be here next year. The coach and QB won't. And they won't deserve to be. And that's all there is to it.

If the coach and the QB were the only MAJOR problems with this franchise, this thread would not exist.

The Yorks are incapable of finding a good HC but more importantly they refuse to accept their own failure in running the franchise. Eddie D. pointed out last week the facts that everyone knows, including the hot dog vendor on the street:
Not enough football people.
Too many VPs of whatever.
Get a QB.
You know you have the right management when you start winning.

Originally posted by dj43:

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
Unless there's one guy dropping half a dozen passes including one in the end zone in overtime (Steve Johnson, Bills vs. Steelers), it's hard to single out one guy. Even a close game where the kicker misses a final field goal for the win, you can still say, well if anyone stepped up at any point, it wouldn't have come down to that final FG.

But when a football team is clearly inferior, and despite our playoff hopes, 5-9 means we clearly are, then the spotlight shines brightest on two people: the coach and QB. The coach and QB know it, the fans know it, teammates know it, anyone who doesn't is fooling himself. If you sign up for that job, you know you have to deliver the wins or get out, plain and simple. So you can call it a team loss all you want. The reality is the team will still be here next year. The coach and QB won't. And they won't deserve to be. And that's all there is to it.

If the coach and the QB were the only MAJOR problems with this franchise, this thread would not exist.

With a new HC comes a new philosophy on how to win. The means new assistant coaches at all levels, players will get cut that don't fit the new system, players will be added that do, weaknesses will be addressed, free agency will occur, the draft will take place, etc. But the first day of the offseason needs to be devoted to making the coach and QB accountable so this process can take place.

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:

Originally posted by dj43:

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
Unless there's one guy dropping half a dozen passes including one in the end zone in overtime (Steve Johnson, Bills vs. Steelers), it's hard to single out one guy. Even a close game where the kicker misses a final field goal for the win, you can still say, well if anyone stepped up at any point, it wouldn't have come down to that final FG.

But when a football team is clearly inferior, and despite our playoff hopes, 5-9 means we clearly are, then the spotlight shines brightest on two people: the coach and QB. The coach and QB know it, the fans know it, teammates know it, anyone who doesn't is fooling himself. If you sign up for that job, you know you have to deliver the wins or get out, plain and simple. So you can call it a team loss all you want. The reality is the team will still be here next year. The coach and QB won't. And they won't deserve to be. And that's all there is to it.

If the coach and the QB were the only MAJOR problems with this franchise, this thread would not exist.

With a new HC comes a new philosophy on how to win. The means new assistant coaches at all levels, players will get cut that don't fit the new system, players will be added that do, weaknesses will be addressed, free agency will occur, the draft will take place, etc. But the first day of the offseason needs to be devoted to making the coach and QB accountable so this process can take place.

The QB was accountable last night. He protected the ball, he put it in the hands of receivers when they were rarely open (even though they dropped it), he dealt with a very porous OL and did his best to execute a game plan and play calls that came directly from a Pop Warner coach in Cucamonga. What more can the guy do?

crappy offense + below average defense + crappy coaches = Lots of L's

Scot Pioli in Kansas City has proven why a football GM is the most important piece of the puzzle.

KC has been a bad team for a long time. Then Pioli arrives, brings in a new coach with a solid background and progressive ideas, drafts good players, makes good FA decisions, and the team has gone from BAD to pretty good. All this happened in just two years.

Excellent post. I've been saying since the opening day lose that we are woefully lacking in the coaching department.

Every single 49er fan can plainly see that we get out-coached every single week. It is very hard in the NFL to just line up and expect your best to beat the other teams best unless you take advantage of your players strenghts and your opponents weaknesses. How many games this year did you watch and say to yourself "boy, we really have thier number".

I like Sing as a man but as a head coach he stinks. He is too thick headed and seems to be stuck in the 80's with his smash mouth approach. I don't care what qb we draft or pickup in FA, we will never win in this league with that type of approach.

Once we get a new GM, HC and staff, its still gonna take a few years at least to become a playoff team. Way too many holes to fill on both sides of the ball. Alex will go so we need a: qb, speed wr who can catch and if the oline continues to play like last night a couple of Oine as well. On defense we need: pass rushing DE, Pass rushing OLB, a shut down corner and a saftey. And that is assuming we can keep all of the good players we have from jumping ship.

Anybody who thinks changing the HC and qb will then lead to us being a playoff team is not thinking clearly. We all saw last night how truley flawed as a team we really are and its very dissapointing.

Originally posted by dj43:
Scot Pioli in Kansas City has proven why a football GM is the most important piece of the puzzle.

KC has been a bad team for a long time. Then Pioli arrives, brings in a new coach with a solid background and progressive ideas, drafts good players, makes good FA decisions, and the team has gone from BAD to pretty good. All this happened in just two years.

To me, the system is more important than the individual parts. To see a team like the Bucs, who start 6 rookies, including free agent players, become productive on the field, proves that the system is key. The Colts OL shows that every year as well. Most of the guys are journeymen players.

Until we have a solid system on offense and defense, this is never going to work. So, let's go out there and get football guys who can run a franchise, and coaches who can run a system.