2018 Losses tied heavily to a single, awful play:
24-16 Loss to Vikings: Alfred Morris fumble on the goal line.
27-29 Loss to Chargers: Celek flips pass up in the air at the goal line, huge runback ensues, Chargers score.
33-30 Loss to Packers: Buckner sacks Rodgers on 3rd down in OT but Sherman gets called for a penalty. Packers drive down & score.
18-15 Loss to Cardinals: 7 seconds, 1 TO left, ball at ARI 45. High snap over everyone. Game over.
27-23 Loss to Giants: 23-20, ball at NYG 49, 2nd & 20. Witherspoon PI puts ball at our 35. Giants score 3 plays later.
14-9 Loss to Bears: 4th down in CHI territory, Mullens scrambles right and stares downfield, with 30 yards of open grass in front. Never sees it, stays behind LOS, throws ball out of bounds. Game over.
Alright, now let's look at the 2019 Roster Changes and What Difference it Could've Made:
1. Weapons added on offense: Jalen Hurd, Deebo Samuel, Kaden Smith, Tevin Coleman, McKinnon (returning from injury). I am sure the Morris fumble and Celek dropped haunted them for a while. They added guys they hope we can trust to hang onto the ball in RB Coleman and TE Smith who was known for soft hands and clutch catches. + 1 Win
2. Return of Jimmy Garoppolo who hopefully plays 16 games instead of 3. Bet he would've run against Chicago. + 1 Win
3. Secondary additions: Jason Verrett, Tim Harris, Adrian Colbert (return from injury). Front 7/Pass Rush Additions: Kwon Alexander, Dee Ford, Nick Bosa, Demontre Moore, Kentavius Street (returning from injury). Numerous games we simply couldn't close out due to defensive deficiency and no ability to create turnovers, such as the Packer game and Giants game. + 2 wins
4. Offensive line additions: Richburg's health, Ben Garland, Willie Beavers, Wesley Johnson, Justin Skule, Daniel Brunskill. The team started giving snaps to Garnett at center late last year over Magnuson. Garnett actually played fine at OG in limited action. While I thought Mags was promising in 2017, this leads me to believe he actually doesn't have the edge over Garnett anymore. The addition of Garland who can also play center means we probably want more experience there so we don't have another Arizona debacle. That alone, plus Richburg's return to health should net one more win. +1 win
5. Special teams additions: Jonathan Brown, Mitch Wishnowsky, Raheem Mostert (return from injury). Brown has the ability to kick 60+ yard FGs. If Gould refuses to play and we don't sign anyone else, we may rely on him to win some games. That's a big risk. - 1 win. Mostert's return gives us another weapon on the coverage team and as a return man if we use him there. Wishnowsky may be good, but is unproven. Neutral net gain here with those two, -1 win over all. This changes to 0 net gain/loss if Gould returns.
Summary Analysis: A bad team with CJ Beathard and Nick Mullens should've beaten two playoff teams in the Chargers and Bears, respectively, and our injury depleted squad with a roster consisting of backup caliber receivers, DEs, OLBs, safeties, and QBs, still could've gone 8-8 last year when you look at how many close games we lost. Considering all the above information, I think we've added roughly 5 wins in terms of talent value and this team is plenty good enough to pull off at least 9-10 wins now with their QB back, new WRs/TEs, new pass rushers, and others returning from injury.
[ Edited by OnTheClock on May 7, 2019 at 1:20 PM ]