A fun thread on Reddit came up discussing the most boneheaded plays in each NFL team’s history. Obviously, the 49ers are no strangers to this discussion as some of the dumbest calls are brought up in the comments daily. They may have won five Super Bowls but they also have been on highlight reels for boneheaded decisions.
Sure, I could bring up some bad luck like the Roger Craig fumble in the 1990 NFC Championship game, or a coaching decision to keep rolling with Kyle Williams as a punt returner in the 2011 NFC Championship game. There’s also a really stupid play Nate Clements made against the Atlanta Falcons; he intercepted Matt Ryan and rather than go down to end the game with a win, Clements instead attempted to run it in for a touchdown. Roddy White chased after him and stripped the ball, handing it right back to the Falcons an eventual field goal.
But I have my “favorite”: The option pitch against the (then) St. Louis Rams. Why Greg Roman (then 49ers offensive coordinator) drew up a read option pitch when the 49ers had their backs to an opposing endzone, I’ll never know, but Colin Kaepernick wasn’t helping anybody with this botch.
Of course, if that isn’t juicy enough, I can just paste in Jimmy Raye’s playbook or the Run-Run-Pass rhythm the 49ers fell into doing when Roman was calling plays. The sky’s the limit.
The sky is the limit and while I’m afraid any bad plays I’ve repressed may show up in the comments below, I’m curious how far back some of you can go, or what you simply haven’t forgotten.
And if this is too painful, remember, through all those gut wrenching bad calls, at least the 49ers didn’t do this.