Well, just when I was wondering how the 49ers could find a new way to kick us in the junk, they do it. The 49ers dropped another nail-biter 23-20 to the Carolina Panthers thanks to an incredibly soft secondary and the loss of Alex Smith to a sprained shoulder. While I do think the 49ers probably win this game if Alex Smith does't get hurt, I also think the team could have still won the game if the defense, and the secondary in particular, showed a little bit of aggression on those last couple drives. Instead, Carolina took care of business and the 49ers head off to London in what has to be a deflated locker room.
Rather than hash over a truly depressing game, I thought I'd address the growing negativity here in light of the 49ers struggles. I'll be honest, I'm certainly not surprised that people are getting more and more surly as the team's struggles mount. In the discussions among the various bloggers of SB Nation there has been mention that the best times for traffic are when your team is dominating and rolling along, and then when the team is absolutely awful. Losses bring people out of the woodwork looking for a place to complain.
There's nothing wrong with complaining about the team, especially when they dropped to 1-6 and all six losses have involved some kind of stomach punch. However, I would like to remind everybody that just because the team is struggling does not give you the right to insult other users. If somebody says something you find stupid, you can certainly respond, but to call them an idiot or starting yelling at them is not helping the situation.
At the end of the day, we're all hurting as 49ers fans. Some people express the hurt through sarcasm, others through apathy, and others apparently through rage. There's a lot of talent on this team and they're underperforming to an amazing degree. And honestly, that applies across the board to players and coaches. I do think the 49ers would have won today's game if Alex Smith stayed healthy, but that doesn't mean the team was playing particularly well. 2-5 would have been infinitely better than 1-6, but a win really would have briefly masked the constant problems occurring with this team.
It'd certainly be nice to come back and make the playoffs, but at this point, this team seems way too undisciplined to make that happen. They'll win some games here and there, but this has quickly turned into a lost season and it really, really sucks.
FOOCH'S UPDATE: Yes, site decorum is in effect here. If you need to swear, go to our last game thread.