“Who have they played?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Their offense has beaten up on bad defenses.”
“Their defense only thrives against bad offenses.”
These are some of the many arguments heard from the critics of the San Francisco 49ers. And here’s my question to them:
So what’s your argument now?
Can’t they hold an elite quarterback? Russell Wilson was the first test, but Aaron Rodgers, someone outside of the division, is a different beast. A beast that had one of his worst days as a pro when he left Levi’s Stadium. The 49ers defense throttled one of the best quarterbacks in the league.
So, what’s your argument now?
Couldn’t The 49ers play from behind? That happened last week. Jimmy Garoppolo dug the 49ers out of a 16-point deficit and won the game with a go-ahead touchdown.
So, what’s your argument now?
Can’t The 49ers rely on Jimmy Garoppolo? He’s engineered three drives in 2019 within the final minutes where he’s secured the win. Forget the turnovers, those drives—one against the Pittsburgh Steelers and two against the Cardinals—were all Garoppolo.
So, what’s your argument now?
Garoppolo’s comebacks were against bad teams? Aaron Rodgers, a quarterback who is one of the best in the league, did the same thing in 2018, against a bad 49ers football team, and everyone wanted to talk about his legend growing the next day. Double standard won’t work here.
So, what’s your argument now?
Haven’t The 49ers dominated a good defense? How about the Carolina Panthers? The Green Bay Packers? Those were blowouts. Those are respectable defenses.
So, what’s your argument now?
The Seattle Seahawks? You mean one of the best teams in the league that manged a win with seconds left in overtime after the 49ers flubbed a game-winning field goal? Without George Kittle and Emmanuel Sanders? I’d say that’s impressive for both sides under those circumstances.
So, what’s your argument now?
Who have they played? Why not everyone on their schedule. The Panthers were supposed to bring them back to reality and got stomped. The Packers were going to pull the upset? Sure they were:
Aaron Rodgers went 20/33, 104 yards, and a 75.8 passer rating. The least yards with 30 pass attempts in his career. Packers 8, 49ers 37.
So, what’s your argument now?
Jimmy Garoppolo isn’t all that? Well, he’s only doing better than Rodgers did at this point in his [Rodgers’] career. And as far as Garoppolo’s numbers are concerned, he’s at 232 for 337 (68 percent completion) with a 101.64 passer rating. That’s pretty good.
So what’s your argument now?
By now, you should see any logical arguments have run out on why the 49ers are one of the best teams in the league. Even with the loss to Seattle (and they can redeem themselves by going to Seattle for their own upset), they have shown they aren’t a cute team that has surprised a few people. They’ve come from behind, played ugly, beaten good defenses and good offenses, and held one of the league’s best signal-callers to 104 yards. There are no more arguments to be made.
And there aren’t just no more reasons why the 49ers aren’t one of the league’s best, the 49ers themselves are out of reasons why they can’t win it all—and that’s not an overstatement. They are that good, and they are getting healthy at just the right time.
So, what’s your argument now?