Brief Assessment

In 1987 possibly the best team who ever played the sport got ignominiously bundled out of the playoffs by a fairly average Vikings team. They drew on that to go on to win the next two Superbowls and damned nearly the third.

So where are we?

Firstly, the last two seasons have established us in the vanguard of the NFC. May not seem much to the newcomers but its a whole load to those spit when the name TDon is mentioned.

The key non playing positions are strong. Owner, GM and HC are young, settled and committed. Harbaugh still has learning to do, and yesterday should provide the incentive to do it.

The team is generally young, and is widely considered to be one of the deepest in the NFL. On the O we have a stable and improving O line, a franchise quarterback, a # 1 receiver, and a stable of running backs, fullbacks and tight ends to die for. The D, whilst it needs work, is founded on the best bunch of linebackers I have seen.

We are in a reasonable position with the salary cap. No reason to start cutting vets. Baalke has signed some of the core long term and will presumably continue with this.

We have a bucket load of draft picks and a group doing the choosing who have an excellent record. Yes, I hear Jenkins. Well, he isn't down and out and even if he was, even Bill Walsh didn't hit with every one.

And in the future the new stadium will provide a psychological lift as well. Ask yourself this. Right now, would you want to be a Cowboy fan, a Packer fan, an Atlanta fan bearing in mind the position the 49ers are in right now?

We could have used Anthony Carter to replace another ex-Viking Randy Moss last night IMO

The future is bright but one thing that sucks is 10's of thousands of hours that the players put in all offseason and all season comes down to one game, a few plays. The NFL has become a league where the better team that day wins. You could be the best team all season long and have a bad game and be out. It's the same for both teams so it's fair but even though I don't necessarily series like in baseball the better team usually comes out on top. Of course you can't have series in football and the one game elimination makes it more exciting so that's the way it is. Not taking anything away from the Ravens as they are deserving and were playing by far and away their best ball but I still think the 9ers are a better team but played one of their worst games of the season. Funny because a few games before the playoffs started the Ravens looked like they would have a hard time winning more than one game. I think the Ray lewis retirement really motivated the team.

Anyways, I know we should be good for awhile but it sucks that we have blown 2 opportunities to win sb's. I just hope we don't look at this 5 years from now and be like wow we really blew it and we aren't going to get another chance. I am not that confident in going back to the NFC Championship game.... very few teams have went to 3 in a row. Odds are very much stacked against us. If we would make the SB again hopefully the last 2 years motivation would be enough as apparently last year wasn't enough hurt for us.

Originally posted by JerryRice1848:

We could have used Anthony Carter to replace another ex-Viking Randy Moss last night IMO

As a fan of Moss, sadly I have to say right now I think he is finished.

Moss is done. We don't need him, we don't want him.

Mark my words, this team will be scary next year. Nobody is gonna want to play us. Kaep will absolutely murder defenses.

double post

Triple post

Love the perspective English, this one really stung because it feels like the best version of the Niners wasn't out there last night. But San Francisco's future is unmistakeably brighter than most any NFL team right now, and while we still have maturation to go through and holes to fill, I'm really looking forward to what the future holds as a lifelong Niner fan.

Originally posted by thedude:

Love the perspective English, this one really stung because it feels like the best version of the Niners wasn't out there last night. But San Francisco's future is unmistakeably brighter than most any NFL team right now, and while we still have maturation to go through and holes to fill, I'm really looking forward to what the future holds as a lifelong Niner fan.

Nothing takes away the pain, my friend. The Minnesota game and the Giants threepeat game still hurt. I just felt a lot of posters were posting like it was all over.

It stings a bit but the future is incredibly bright. Kaep will win at least 2 superbowls in his career I believe. We have a franchise QB now and he will only get better. We need some upgrades on the D though. Another pass rusher and upgrades in the secondary. We do this and we will be very tough to beat.

We are no longer a team stuck in mediocrity. They did great considering the injuries this year. We lost some play makers don't forget. We will at least be a playoff team for years to come. Good job Niners!

It is just hard to look to next year when it is so far off. I keep thinking of that last series and wishing I had a time machine to do it over.

We have a very tough division. Probably deepest in the NFL.

September can't come soon enough.

Great perspective English, its very hard to look at it like that when we lost like that.

The D does need the most work of the team. HarBaalke could do with getting it right in this draft and we should be set for the playoffs next season

I think the comparison between this year's team and the team that suffered the Vikings' debacle is a good one. That '87 team was clearly caught looking past the Vikes and they were comprehensively taken back down to earth. Most importantly, they took the loss to heart and doubled down on what it meant to be a Niner.

I think this team is in a similar spot. To be sure, the injuries didn't help things, but the thing that stands out to me the most is, for whatever reason, this team seems to have a habit of slow, ragged starts. I don't know whether they're too amped up coming out of the locker room, or if they're over confident, but whatever is happening I think the '87 team's response is the correct one for the this team: they have to double down on getting the little things right, playing mistake-free football, and not giving opposing teams the ability to dictate the tone of the game. Especially with the dynamism and explosiveness of our offense, we really should be driving the tempo and tone of the game. We just need to figure out how to come out and play 3rd quarter football in the 1st quarter.

The future is undeniably bright, and I'm confident that the team will take this loss to heart and become a better team as a result of it.

Good post.

We came back from a terrible loss to the Giants and we'll come back from this.

This game was NOT our defining moment.

Plenty of work to do - starting with the FA, the Draft and getting healthy.

This stings much worse then any playoff loss.

This was the super bowl.

7 god damn yards. SEVEN.

I agree with Staley, wtf was Roman thinking? Put the ball in Gore's hands....