Things have certainly gotten fairly bleak here at Niners Nation. Tre9er wants to punch himself in the face. Ninjames has officially turned on Coach Singletary. Things have certainly gotten ugly quickly. The 49ers technically are still alive in the playoff race at just two games back of the division leading Seattle Seahawks, but that can be spun multiple ways both positively or negatively.
I've posted a fairly simple poll with this post. Do you want to see a win or loss. I phrased it that way because I know we've got a mix of opinions and reasons for both wins and losses. I raise this now because my feelings about this team have taken a bit of a turn. Normally this season when the team has lost on Sunday, by Monday I'm ready to go for the next week's game. I still can see the problems from the loss the day before but I'm ready to rock and roll for the upcoming week.
This week I haven't quite rebounded yet. I think it might happen later in the week, but it's possible Sunday's demoralizing loss followed by a fairly epically depressing Mike Singletary press conference today is keeping me in the dumps about the loss a bit more. Maybe if I just gave in to the dark side this would all be a lot easier for me to accept. At this point I lean towards rooting for a win on Monday, but I can see the arguments on both sides. This team is just so frustrating at this point that I can see why people would just prefer the team go in the tank.
Join me after the jump for a look at both sides...
For the folks wishing for losses the two primary reasons are 1) draft positioning and 2) more losses means the end of the Mike Singletary era sooner, or at least makes it easier to move on from Coach Singletary when the season comes to an end. Given the 49ers struggles, those are certainly both reasonable wishes. Some folks also look at this as an embarrassing season and don't want to just sneak into the playoffs at this point at 7-9 or 8-8. We've had some optimists discuss the schedule and how the team can still win the four divisional games on the schedule and possibly sneak into the playoffs.
The problem with that argument is that the 49ers have shown a total inability to put together solid play for more than portions of individual games. Even when they won back to back games against the Broncos and the Rams they had their moments of immense struggle. They have yet to put together a complete game effort (even in the wins) and there's nothing to indicate they can win four more games. It's really questionable that they can put that kind of sustained effort together considering how much the coaching stuff doesn't seem to get what's going on.
Then we have the other side of the coin: the folks looking for wins. They may not be completely positive about the season, but they're not prepared to accept more losses. There are a couple reasons these folks are rooting for the team to win. First, it's just the inherent nature of what we are as sports fans. Although the idea of tanking has certainly been prevalent, fans generally prefer to see their own team win. Maybe it'll hurt draft positioning, but there's a certain sense of accomplishment when a team wins a game.
This also flows a bit into the second reason, which is the fact that the 49ers are in fact still somewhat alive in this playoff race. It remains to be seen whether the 49ers can string enough wins together, but this Sunday presents a major opportunity for the 49ers to step further into this race. The 49ers visit the Arizona Cardinals while the first place Seattle Seahawks host the Kansas City Chiefs. If the 49ers defeat the Cardinals and the Chiefs defeat Seattle, the 49ers will find themselves one game back of first place.
I realize there are numerous tough games remaining on the schedule, and it's highly unlikely right now that the 49ers can upset Green Bay or San Diego on the road. But for the purpose of taking this thing week to week, that Seahawks-Chiefs matchup certainly makes this more interesting. The Seahawks are a tough home team, and the Chiefs have shown some inconsistencies lately. If the 49ers suddenly found themselves a game out of first place, well they would just keep me sucked in for another week. Like I said Sunday after the loss to Tampa Bay, I really do feel like I'm in the seventh circle of hell as a fan.