Originally posted by Baldie:
But to lose at home on opening night of your new stadium, that was the dagger right there. Had this been on the road, its a different feeling.
That's the funny thing with feelings. They go away eventually. I could honestly care less whether this was at home or on the road. Even during the glory years, the 49ers in my opinion were never a great home team.
To the original poster, I love the points that were made. I don't understand giving Bruce Miller the ball. Particularly to pick up a key first down. I like Bruce Miller catching dump off passes out of the backfield and being the 5th option in our passing offense,
I think our coordinators have too quick of a hook with our rookies. If they don't make a mistake or aren't producing immediately, their opportunities are cut. Whether it be Dial with his shoulder to the ribs on Jay Cutler or Hyde not producing in the running game. We've got to keep playing the young guys. That is the only way they are going to learn. At this point, unless Aaron Lynch is terrible against the run, I think it's time he and Lemonier split their snaps behind Dan Skuta. With Jimmy Ward, I saw him as a slot CB that would cover the Victor Cruz type of receivers. Not the Brandon Marshall's. The 49ers will need a plan to help Ward when he is that overmatched in terms of size again with the slot receiver.
I think Jonathan Martin played a fine game until the second half. It just seemed like the Bears were in a zone. I won't single him out. I do hope that Anthony Davis is back in the starting lineup again next week. Iupati definitely will be gone. But if he keeps stringing together poor games, we won't get that 3rd round comp pick I was so sure we'd snag with the FA deal he was sure to land. Could it be that he has peaked as a player?
I think perhaps the most important thing is that the 49ers get themselves cleaned up on offense in terms of penalties. If they can do that on offense, I doubt a team will beat them. Kap's interceptions don't bother me because he doesn't put together back to back multiple interception games. He will be back. The only other area for improvement would be a better mixture of passes and runs with our play calling. I like that they started out trying to establish the pass since the Bears were geared on stopping the run, but as the game wore on.
On defense, it's the same thing. We have to clean up the penalties. We are also going to have to get creative to generate a pass rush. I've accepted the fact that our front four is not the front four we had in 2011. Quite frankly, we haven't played to that level since 2011. They are still very good, but they as a group are not going to destroy anyone, and that's even with Aldon Smith in the lineup. We need more of Tank and Dial because Justin Smith can't get it done alone. If Ray McDonald is indeed innocent, I hope he remains with the 49ers (I originally was in favor of releasing him solely for the cap savings after this season, innocent or not). he is still good against the run, but we need get get more help with the pass rush from the D-line. The point I made earlier about getting Lynch in there more would help as well.
As for Bruce Ellington, I'm still waiting for the 49ers to use him on a deep passing play. We've got to take more shots down the field.