The San Francisco 49ers 2016 season has mercifully come to an end. The 49ers made things interesting against the Seattle Seahawks, but they ended up losing by a final score of 25-23. The loss drops the 49ers to 2-14, while the Seattle Seahawks secure the No. 3 spot in the playoff bracket.
The 49ers jumped out to a lead on the Seahawks, leading 14-3 at one point. Colin Kaepernick had a solid performance in the first half, setting up two short Shaun Draughn rushing touchdowns. The offense fell apart in the third quarter, then showed some life in the fourth quarter, which has become par for the course. Kaepernick finished the game 17-of-22 for 215 yards and a touchdown, along with 16 rushing yards. Considering how bad he has performed at times against the Seahawks, it was a decent enough performance to close out the season.
The game turned into a glorified preseason game for Seattle in the second half. They sent in Trevone Boykin to close it out even with the score still in doubt. I imagine they saw that the Falcons were winning big in their game. If Atlanta had lost, the Seahawks could have claimed the second seed and a first round bye. Instead, they will host the loser of the Packers-Giants Sunday Night Football game.
Up next: The purge and the No. 2 pick
The 49ers have fired general manager Trent Baalke (soon to be officially announced), and they are expected to fire head coach Chip Kelly after a post-game meeting. This would suggest a purge of the entire football operations department, resulting in a ton of turnover in the coming weeks. Jed York will meet with the media, likely in the next day or two. At that point, we’ll see what’s next.
Once the football operations crew is in place, the 49ers then continue preparations for the 2017 NFL Draft. They hold the No. 2 pick in the draft, and with the loss will hold the second pick in all seven rounds (if they had won and finished tied with Chicago and Jacksonville, the second through seventh round picks would have rotated)