49ers thumped by Giants in dispiriting performance

So much for redemption, revenge, or whatever you want to call it. The San Francisco 49ers welcomed the New York Giants to town today and absolutely took one on the chin, losing 26-3. There is plenty of blame to go around as this game featured a sizable mix of poor game-planning by the coaches and equally poor execution by the players. You cannot hang this game on any one coach or player.

Since we all like to play the blame game, if I had to look at one particularly frustrating aspect of the game, I'd have to point to the lack of touches for Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter. The two 49ers running backs combined for 11 rushes for 60 yards. They each benefited from a long run (Gore - 13-yard run, Hunter - 15-yard run), but even still the 49ers were finding some success in the run game. It reminded me of the Vikings game where the team was having success on the ground, but for some reason decided it made sense to go away from the run.

The 49ers will not have a lot of time to dwell on this loss as they will host the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday Night Football. The Seahawks are coming in with a full head of steam as they just completed a big upset of the New England Patriots. Pending the Cardinals overtime against the Bills, we could very well have a three-way tie at the top of the NFC West.

We now find ourselves in gut-check time for the 49ers. I suppose you could say it was gut-check time today, but moving past this game, the 49ers need to step their game up. We'll see what three days of prep time can do for the 49ers.