For extremely optimistic San Francisco 49ers fans, there will be a path through this brutal remaining maze to the playoffs.
They’ll point to a very tight race for the NFC West crown that could hang in the balance until the final week of the season. They’ll be crossing their fingers with injuries to three of their four best players (quarterback Brock Purdy, defensive end Nick Bosa and offensive tackle Trent Williams), all hoping they can come out of the tunnel next week and turn things around against the Buffalo Bills. no see. 9-2). And they certainly won’t be thinking about how eerily similar this campaign has become to the 2020 season. San Francisco struggled with health and identity issues following their Super Bowl loss the previous season, leading to an incredibly disappointing 6-10 record. Final roster reorganization.
On the latter point, it’s hard to ignore the symmetry of the lost 2020 season. The 49ers went 5-6 in December, looked like a shadow of themselves, and hosted the Bills in a game that felt like their last golden opportunity to salvage their season. San Francisco lost 34-24 in a game that was never as close as the score would suggest. As it turns out, the season is over and it’s clear that the 49ers have a lot of work ahead of them.
A week later, the same can and likely will be said about the 2024 49ers, who look nothing like the team that came off last season’s Super Bowl loss. You can increase by 10 minutes within Sunday’s abysmal 38-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers (the 49ers’ worst loss under Shanahan since 2018), and you’ll find surprising features everywhere. This is a team that can’t dictate the run or find something explosive throwing the football. The Packers’ defensive front got hit in the ear on Josh Jacobs’ first carry of the game and never seemed to recover. Due to general lack of concentration nine Penalties, many things happen at critical moments. And an overwhelmingly disappointing football presentation that suggests the 49ers will never recover like they did last season, when they lost in the Super Bowl.
“The whole game was (disappointing),” Shanahan said afterward. “If I had to pick the biggest (disappointment) point, the scoring defense in the first half was really disappointing. … The way they were able to control that clock in the first half was one of the worst things I’ve ever been a part of.”
Shanahan repeated the word “embarrassing” several times in his postgame press conference, applying this label to the entire team, which seemed like an appropriate response to a loss that was half lesson, half warning.
Lesson: The 49ers are just as lethal as any team that can’t survive without a great starting quarterback, an elite edge rusher and an offensive tackle that sets the tone. Injuries make them vulnerable, especially against top NFC teams like the Packers.
And warning: Let this be the standard to end all talk of Shanahan being able to make it work together. any In his scheme, the quarterback is the one, especially if it’s a one-game situation. It’s a proven error before, but one that’s conveniently and repeatedly forgotten every time someone dares to enter Purdy’s name into a conversation about the league’s best QB. Yes, he’s had his ups and downs this season. But rarely have the attacks seemed so ordinary and like they were trying to shoot themselves in the foot.
Rather, the Packers’ loss is a snapshot reminder of what life can be like when you don’t have a dependable quarterback running Shanahan’s offense. Certainly the whole problem wasn’t simply Purdy’s absence, but the inability to find any kind of fix during the game certainly had to do with the quarterback position. As a result, the system usually looks best when the control is taken by a quarterback who fits and masters that system. There will be food for thought this offseason, when there will inevitably be conversations about the cost of Purdy’s contract extension and his actual value to the franchise.
Of course, that’s a story for later. For now, the focus is on what this loss means for the 49ers. With the Los Angeles Rams losing to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night, the NFC West remains in the hands of the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals. Both are at 6-5 and are fighting to see who will win the division and who will take home the championship. Qualifies for the NFC’s final wildcard slot. The 5-6 49ers haven’t been completely ruthless in the postseason. But even if the math still remains to be done, the spirit of trying to achieve it is problematic.
Purdy was already experiencing consistency issues before he was forced out of the recent game against the Packers due to soreness in his throwing shoulder. There’s no telling how big of a problem it will be when (or if) he returns. Although the game certainly suggests the 49ers should win against Green Bay, his shoulder was a big enough concern to keep him out. The same goes for Bosa’s hip and Williams’ ankle. Both may be close to returning, but there’s no guarantee that either will be able to play at the highest level. That is, for a team that needs to play at a high level right now. And if that wasn’t enough, two other key players, defensive tackle Jordan Elliott and offensive guard Aaron Banks, both exited Sunday due to concussion concerns.
Now, with a loss to the Packers, the intersection of those health issues heads into the most cross-country road game of all. It’s Sunday night’s primetime game against a Bills team on a winning streak. The franchise is coming off a well-rested week and will be gunning for the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seed after a convincing win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 11. The next game, the bye week, and the Bills’ postseason seeding stakes effectively guarantee they’re ready to rock.
Let’s be honest about what the 49ers face from a scheduling perspective: their time to win is against the Packers. The fact that they didn’t win on Sunday makes this game against the Bills and every game after that a fake playoff game. Basically, that’s where the 49ers are. They participate in a single-elimination postseason tournament starting this week. And after the Bills, it’s the Chicago Bears (still figuring things out, but getting better), the Rams (who beat the 49ers in September), the Miami Dolphins (with Tua Tagovailoa under center), and Detroit. A road game against the Lions (Super Bowl favorites, winning their 9th straight, seeking revenge for their NFC title game loss), and finally the Arizona Cardinals, who are no longer behind.
If you want to summarize San Francisco’s problems in a nutshell, there’s no need to go into detail about in-game injuries, focus, and inconsistency. We can see an uphill climb more similar to climbing Mount Everest at this point, which tells us all we need to know.
The 49ers’ 2024 season is over. We haven’t seen how it plays out yet.
