No excuses for Niners; no defense either

By Art Spander

No excuses. That was the brief observation of 49ers linebacker Fred Warner. No excuses. And no answers.

No doubt either. The Niners, as constituted now, with all their injuries, all, their backups, aren’t as good as the Buffalo Bills.

Or, the way things went Monday night, probably not as good as most other teams in the NFL.

Buffalo is on the rise, on the way to the playoffs. The Bills swept over the Niners, 34-24, Monday night in the first San Francisco home game to be played in Arizona because of the Covid-19 pandemic sweeping the Bay Area.

But it was the opposition that was responsible for the result, not the location. The Bills have the two basics of winning football, a brilliant young quarterback and fine excellent defenders.

The Niners seemed dumbfounded, as much by what they didn’t do as to what the Bills did. If we heard it once in the post-game rhetoric from the Niners, we heard it a dozen times.

They were not surprised. They were just, well, beaten. Not defeated, at least to their way of thinking. That would be a mental thing, an admittance, a concession. This was, well, confusion.

A lack of execution was the explanation, bringing us back to 1976 and the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers — coach John McKay being asked what he thought of the Bucs’ execution and answering, “I’m in favor of it.”

To a man, the Niners insisted they knew what was coming, other than Allen’s ability to avoid being sacked  — extending the play is what it’s called — even more than perceived from films. Patrick Mahomes did it to the Niners in the Super Bowl, moving, scrambling, avoiding and, when required, running. Now, déjà vu, here came Allen, in the 2018 draft, one year after Mahomes.

Allen on Monday night passed for 375 yards and four touchdowns. That he gained only 11 yards rushing is a trifle misleading. It was the way he kept a play alive that was important.

The Bills had 449 yards in all, the most allowed this season by the Niners, who are 5-7. The Bills are 9-3.

Asked what he thought about the defense, Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said, “Obviously it didn’t work out well.”

The offense also was lacking. And no, the Niners didn’t blame their difficulties on needing to move for several weeks to the Phoenix area when Santa Clara County banned contact sports.

“We just didn’t get it done,’ said linebacker Dre Greenlaw. “They ran similar things to what we expected. We just didn’t execute.”

They were outplayed, but few people — if any — tell you that. Nobody wants to admit they didn’t have a chance, which after the first quarter the 49ers didn’t. Sure, there were a few key plays, an interception by Warner negated by a penalty; a lost fumble by Brandon Aiyuk. But the Bills owned the game.

“They were calling the perfect plays to everything we were dialing up,” said Warner.

The Bills were in control, literally. They had the ball only two seconds fewer than 25 minutes. The 49ers couldn’t get much done on offense and virtually less done on defense.

“We knew Allen could run,” said Shanahan, “and he’s got a big-time arm.”

Watching the game from a box at State Farm Stadium was rehabbing Niners quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, as once more the position belonged to Nick Mullens who, well, looked decent but didn’t look like Allen.

He threw for 316 yards and three touchdowns, but trying a sneak at the goal line in the fourth quarter he was called for illegal procedure.

“I anticipated the snap,” said Mullens, “and moved too early.”

That wasn’t an excuse, just an error in judgment.

Reminder of the ’80s: 49ers don’t whine, they win

By Art Spander

This one was reminiscent of the way the 49ers played in the ’80s, responding to adversity with a win, not a whine.

This one told us all we need to know about Kyle Shanahan’s leadership and his players’ character. 

This one told us that despite the changes and the passing of years, the Niners retain a link to those teams of the ’80s, the team of the decade.

In those great seasons of long ago, with men such as Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Ronnie Lott, nothing seemed to get in the Niners’ way.

They overcame bad breaks and bad flight connections. They played in the ice of Chicago and the humidity of Miami. They had injuries. They had dropped passes.

They never had misgivings.

It was as if their unspoken motto was “Shut up and play,” words that after this weekend would perfectly fit the current team, which Saturday was in effect evicted from its facility and stadium and then Sunday in Inglewood beat the Rams, 23-20, in the final seconds.

“What our team went through really the last two weeks, then a week off, the Covid stuff,” said Shanahan, “I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

What they went through were consecutive defeats, three of them, a bye, then a declaration from Santa Clara County that, because of a spike in coronavirus cases, they weren’t permitted to hold games or workouts at their team's normal venue.

What they went through were doubts about where the team would move temporarily — Texas? Arizona? — and questions about being separated from families.

But the doubts and worries didn’t throw them off the task at hand, playing and winning a football game. Beating the Rams.

Which they did for a fourth straight time, Robbie Gould’s field goal over the crossbar with 0:00 on the clock breaking the 20-20 tie.

The story of the game that pushed the Niners’ record for this confusion of a season to 5-6 was defense.

Along with the unending Covid-19 threat. Along with the return of Raheem Mostert and Richard Sherman. Along with turnovers (four for the Rams, three for the Niners).

Niners defensive coordinator Robert Saleh had a brilliant game plan. (“He’ll be a head coach very shortly,” said Shanahan, as rumors circulated of Saleh replacing the fired Matt Patricia at Detroit.)

The Rams early on seemed incapable when they had the ball, trailing 17-3 midway through the third quarter. It was when the 49ers had the ball that problems started.

Mostert, who had been out the last couple of games — isn’t everyone on the Niners injured, or does it just seem that way? — scored a touchdown for a 7-3 lead in the first quarter.

That went to 14-3 when rookie tackle Javon Kinlaw, the first-round draft pick, swatted a Jared Goff pass, grabbed it and carried the interception 27 yards for a TD. A pick-six, as they say.

Mostert was carrying in the third quarter when the Rams’ Aaron Donald, the best defensive lineman in the league, reached around and extricated the ball. It was brought back 20 yards for a score by Troy Hill. Oops.

After a 61-yard run by rookie Cam Akers, the Rams then scored another touchdown, and the Niners were behind, 20-17. When you’re figuratively homeless for some three weeks plus, and then possibly have to be quarantined to get back where you’re supposed to be, a scoreboard deficit is trivial.

Shanahan said he was impressed the way occasionally maligned QB Nick Mullens (252 yards, one INT) rallied the Niners down the stretch. He said he was no less impressed with the arrangements by the Niners organization in what the TV announcers say “are challenging times.”

“Everyone here has been so committed to keeping safe,” Shanahan said. “We know how big a deal the virus is.”

Without saying so, Shanahan implied the Niners were blindsided by the Santa Clara decision to halt contact sports — is there any sport which has more contact than the NFL? Hockey maybe, but the Sharks aren’t practicing yet.         

The unexpected happens. It’s happening to the 49ers.

They didn’t whine, they won. Like the teams of the past.

Niners learn difference between starters and subs

By Art Spander

What could Kyle Shanahan say? What could anyone say, except that what happened to the 49ers on Thursday night was, given the circumstances, inevitable.

Although as a head coach, Shanahan never would make that sort of a concession.

He called the game a challenge, which is a sanitized way of pointing out that his team — many of whom were injured, three of whom were on the reserve/Covid-19 list — was loaded with substitutes. And overmatched.

Especially against the Green Bay Packers.

The Pack beat the Niners, 34-17, at Levi’s Stadium. Unlike the election, it was decided quickly.

Maybe the game shouldn’t have been played after the Niners facility in Santa Clara was closed Wednesday morning, when it was disclosed that receiver Kendrick Bourne had tested positive.

After all, Cal‘s Saturday night game against Washington was cancelled because a Golden Bears player tested positive. But supposedly the city of Berkeley made the call, not the school. 

And there are two differences. Call off a pro Thursday nighter, and the NFL network is losing money, which we have come to understand is what drives sports. Also, NFL coaches seem obsessed by Tennyson’s Light Brigade, a sense of do or die, figuratively riding onward.

Asked about pushing the Niners-Packers game back a few days, Shanahan said, “I don’t think about that stuff. It was never brought up. I don’t think about it. We were going to play Thursday at 5.”

And so with a backup quarterback, a backup tight end, and numerous other backups, the Niners did play. It was estimated that San Francisco had $80 million of cap space on injured reserve, including of course QB Jimmy Garoppolo, tight end George Kittle, running back Raheem Mostert and defensive end Nick Bosa.

To steal a line from another sport, there’s no crying in football. There’s just playing. And in the Niners’ case, waiting. They face New Orleans a week from Sunday, and for a third straight game a Super Bowl-winning QB — Drew Brees. On Thursday, it was the Pack’s Aaron Rodgers; four days previously, Seattle’s Russell Wilson.

The Niners used Nick Mullens at the position Thursday night. He wasn’t very good, throwing an interception and losing a fumble. But most of the 49ers weren’t very good. As is Mullens, they’re subs.

The Niners were in a hole quickly enough, 21-3, in the second quarter, and Mullens was under a heavy rush. On the other side, Rodgers, the Cal grad who should have been taken by the Niners in the first round of the 2005 draft, was passing for 305 yards and four touchdowns.

Some media considered this the Packers’ chance for retribution, since the Niners last season stomped Green Bay twice, including in the NFC Championship game. But as Shanahan reminded, different years, different personnel. (And it might it be pointed out, a different result.)

“I’m looking forward for the next three days off for our players,” said Shanahan. “Something that’s needed pretty bad.”

After consecutive defeats, the Niners are 4-5. The playoffs seem unlikely, except to the coach.

“We’ve got one game in the next 24 days. After New Orleans, we can enjoy our bye week. Then we can get back on track and try to turn this thing around, come back and play some better football.”

Not if they don’t get some better players.

There’s a reason some people are starters. That next-man-up mantra sounds great, but invariably the next man up isn’t as good as the man he replaced — otherwise he would be the starter, not the replacement.

Nobody’s really to blame for the Niners situation. “Sometimes you bite the bear,” former Niners owner Eddie DeBartolo used to say, “and sometimes the bear bites you.”

There have been too many bear bites this season for the 49ers. Also, too many defeats.

Mediocre may be proper description for Niners

By Art Spander

Nick Mullens was better. The 49ers were not. You take the triumphs where you can. Especially in a season full of defeats. One of those — another of those — coming on Sunday.

That the Niners couldn’t beat the Seahawks, especially at Seattle, especially turning the ball over twice — two interceptions by the star-crossed guy Mullens replaced, Jimmy Garoppolo — was not exactly headline stuff.

The Seahawks have one of the best quarterbacks in the game — yes, Patrick Mahomes is included — and a great quarterback makes a difference. Some would add, “Along with a strong defense,” although until Sunday, when they beat the 49ers, 37-27, the Seahawks had a mediocre defense, ranking 24th of the 32 teams.

Mediocre also may be the proper listing for the Niners. They are 4-4 halfway through a season that, because of injuries and errors both in judgment and commission, appears destined to end up in a manner that fans fear.

We’ll find out more in four days. On Thursday night at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, San Francisco gets another considerable test, the Green Bay Packers.

The Pack lost Sunday to Minnesota, another franchise in America’s cold country. But in Aaron Rodgers, he of the State Farm commercials, and no less a Cal alumnus, Green Bay has what the 49ers lack, stability at QB.

No, you can’t do much about injuries, particularly in the salary cap era. Is anyone old enough to remember when the Niners of Eddie D, Bill Walsh and Carmen Policy signed everyone and anyone? These days, you just have to hope the next men up are talented.

San Francisco has used three different quarterbacks this short stretch, QB roulette, if you will, because Garoppolo incurred a high ankle sprain the second game of the season.

On came Mullens, who did so well some observers thought he should be the permanent starter — until two weeks later when Mullens was, well, ineffective is the the gentle way of phrasing it, and was replaced by C.J. Beathard.

Asked what happened that day against the Philadelphia Eagles, Mullens said, “I wish I knew.” Since then we do know, Garoppolo, gutting it out but restricted by his ailing ankle, returned until Sunday Mullens returned.

Mullens directed the 49ers to a mini-comeback in the second half. He completed 18 of 25 for 238 yards and led touchdown drives of 80, 79 and 61 yards.

Presumably he’ll be the starter Thursday, and presumably he’ll be better than the last start. He certainly knows the proper things to say.

“I think what I learned,” he said, “is how tough the NFL is. The thing that creates energy is making plays. And I feel on the both sides of the ball (Sunday) we obviously didn’t do that well enough.”

The Niners were missing wideout Deebo Samuel, who is as much a part of the running game — which is the Niners’ offense — as the passing game. San Francisco must play from ahead, get the ball and grinding away yards and time off the clock. When they fall behind, as they did on Sunday, well, they stay behind.

All this affects the tactics of Niners fourth-year coach Kyle Shanahan, whose philosophy is built on powerful backs and ball control.

Drawing x’s and o’s on paper can be fascinating, but as what has befallen the supposedly unconquerable Bill Belichick this month — the Patriots lost their fourth in a row on Sunday — you must have the players.

Misery may love company, but football takes no relief if others are stumbling along with themselves.

“I was frustrated with the whole offense,” Shanahan said about the way his team played, “starting with myself. We were trying to hit some big plays. We didn’t get much from the run game (52 yards).

“We tried to get it going. Eventually, we had to get away from it and start throwing.”

Giving Nick Mullens another chance.

Niners looking for their identity — and some touchdowns

By Art Spander
For Maven Sports

This is the season that every team in pro football has, other than the Patriots for that long period. The season that coaches fear and fans dread. The season when you stop asking what’s wrong and instead ask what’s right — if anything.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2020, The Maven