The San Francisco 49ers dropped a 29-13 game to the Seattle Seahawks, and there was plenty to be embarrassed about. Although there were some positives to take from the game, the coaching display was unbelievable. It felt frequently like the coaching staff was coaching so as not to be embarrassed, rather than coaching to go for the big plays and the wins.
And yet, that might not have been the most embarrassing thing about this broadcast. And I say broadcast instead of game, because I noticed something very disturbing about Chris Myers and Ronde Barber. The duo made several references to the benching of Colin Kaepernick, and some of their comments felt like they were being coached by the 49ers front office.
Early on, Chris Myers made mention that some of the players were happy Gabbert was starting. I suppose it is not surprising, but this strikes me more as a front office or coaching staff comment than what some of the players would say to the announcers during the week. Then, he had another comment about Kaepernick's performance during the season. He said that in speaking with someone from the 49ers organization that watches a lot of game film, he was told Kaepernick left more than 20 touchdowns on the field by missing open receivers. He did preface that comment by saying, "not to pile on" Kaepernick. So, there's that.
Fooch's update: Folks are saying they also heard Myers and Barber say they were told the 49ers offensive line was happy for the change as well.
It is entirely possible these things are true. And yet, given what we hear over and over again about this front office, it is hard not to think they wanted to use the broadcasters as easy tools to bury Kaepernick a little more. I'm sure some will disagree with this assessment, but if you heard the broadcast, let me know what you think. Given this was only Gabbert's second start, I see it as the team wanting to push the Gabbert option publicly a bit more.
It seems obviously bad from my perspective, but somehow this kind of crap keeps happening. If this was the first time something like this happened, I would be fine being skeptical. But this kind of thing happens again, and again, and again. Tell me why I shouldn't believe this wasn't the front office piling on?