Fooch's Note: Site decorum is in effect for this thread. If you feel the need to let loose rage, go to our prior recap thread. Swearing in this thread will not be tolerated.
Yea, this might be the worst I've ever felt after a 49ers loss. I know they've lost significantly bigger games to the Cowboys and Packers, but given how this team battled back today, the last second loss is a big time kick in the junk. 3-0 was there for the taking and they just couldn't get it done.
We're not going to do the traditional Good, Bad, Ugly for this because there's so much more to consider in this game. But let's get the bad stuff out of the way first. Yes, the refs were absolutely abysmal today. They made an assortment of awful calls and non-calls. The NFL should be absolutely embarrassed by the performance of that crew today. We won't hear anything more about it, but we know they were atrocious.
Second, we all can agree Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan were atrocious today as well. Favre this, Favre that, Favre everywhere. The 49ers loss will hurt double because we get to hear about how Favre is still awesome. Needless to say I'm going to avoid any national football coverage on tv for now. No ESPN, no NBC tonight. It's going to be a Favre love-fest.
And yet, in spite of everything (even the atrocious at times offensive play-calling), I think we (the team AND the fans) can come out of this with a renewed sense of purpose....
This team is clearly a gutty team that will not roll over and die. Under Mike Nolan, a loss like this would have destroyed the team. Actually, under Nolan, they wouldn't have even reached this point. The loss of Gore would have built in an excuse to lose and the team probably would have been clobbered by the Vikings.
It is abundantly clear at this point that Mike Singletary has truly changed the attitude. It's easy to point to all the cliches about never saying die and battling through adversity. And yet, this team did just that today. The end result was not what we expected and I'm not saying this was a "moral victory." Rather, I think this team will not roll over and die as was suggested in the recap thread. This season is NOT over. The 2009 San Francisco 49ers are a team that can in fact bounce back from this and turn this into a magical season.
As bad as this game was, there are numerous positives that this team will hopefully build on in the coming weeks. On offense, Vernon Davis turned in the best performance of his career. I know he'd much rather have the win, but his two touchdown catches were part of why the 49ers drafted him. He rarely has touchdown catches that are easy plays for him to make. They often involve him jumping up over a couple defenders and holding on as he's drilled coming down. In spite of his struggles at times, not many tight ends can make some of the plays he makes.
On defense, the team did an excellent job against the rush as a whole and against Adrian Peterson in particular. If you take out the one 35 yard rush he averaged 2.8 yards per carry and never really hurt the 49ers. The entire front seven stepped up to make that happen. And the defense as a whole does deserve credit up until that final touchdown drive. For most of the game, they were the ones that kept the 49ers in the game. This is a team that will win and lose in large part based on the play of its special teams.
Gore and Hill and the rest of the offense are important, but this is clearly not a high octane offense. Although the team put points on the board, it does feel like the play-calling can get in its own way a lot of the time. Mike Singletary wants a team that can finish games, but the play-calling is definitely not built to "finish."
Either way, this team WILL be back. Mike Singletary will NOT let this team tuck its tail between its legs and fold for the season. It's safe to say that Singletary's first major test as a head coach is how he handles the team this week. Yes they're playing a pretty awful St. Louis Rams team, but if Singletary is truly some kind of master motivator, he will have this team breathing fire next week. I eagerly await the 49ers response next week at Candlestick Park!
GO NINERS!