clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Baldy Breakdowns: Bosa was dominant

The effort was there for San Francisco. The execution was not.

Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images

Sunday sucked, and Monday was worse. Negativity was everywhere when talking about the San Francisco 49ers. The takes were out of control. Fire Kyle Shanahan. Cut Jimmy Garoppolo. The refs were the reason the Niners lost. Fire....Robert Saleh? I understand losing sucks. Nobody likes it. Perspective is everything.

There are a few very informative national talking heads that you should be following on Twitter if you are interested in learning about the game of football. Brian Baldinger isn’t a new name, but he continually goes in-depth. With only one game to breakdown, there was plenty of content surrounding the Super Bowl.

Here is four minutes of Nick Bosa kicking site decorum:

The craziest part about watching this is Bosa is nowhere near his ceiling. He’s going to get a lot better. There are plenty of examples in the Super Bowl and throughout the season where Bosa’s aggressiveness is used against him. He’ll get better at staying home and in his gap, and also bringing the quarterback down. There’s a high probability of this being Nick Bosa’s worse season if he stays healthy. That’s nuts.

We talked about how the 49ers would be able to throw the ball at will when using play-action. That was the case on Sunday.

The designs weren’t the issue. The execution was:

Seeing the field/underneath defenders has been an issue for Garoppolo all season. If I’m Shanahan, that’s where I’m spending the most time with Jimmy this offseason. When he plays fast and gets the ball out on time, Garoppolo is a top-8ish quarterback in the league. That’s why the 49ers made it to the Super Bowl. You can acknowledge that and still understand there is room for Garoppolo to improve as a player. Knowing where to go with the ball is as important as traits like accuracy and arm strength.

Garoppolo only had six batted passes in the regular season, which was the seventh-fewest for quarterbacks with at least 500 attempts. I do think he can improve with holding defenders with his eyes. On the plays above, Chris Jones made a play. You don’t teach your quarterback to look off receivers in the quick game. That’s not on Jimmy there. He does everything correct. The process is right, the results don’t match that. That happens in football. Again, it’s okay to give the other team credit without dragging someone else down.

The 3rd & 15 pass remains the most inexcusable play of the game for the 49ers.

Later on today when he talk about the PFF grades, I discuss how this is on Ward and not Moseley. With that said, Baldy is correct. Tell me which player in the NFL that’s capable of guarding Hill for that long?

I’ll end with the Shanahan blunder to end the half.

We have to talk about it, as repulsive as the topic may be. Shanahan was aggressive in the fourth quarter from a late-game playcalling perspective. It was the opposite in the first three quarters. I don’t want to call it coaching scared because it’s happened all season. I genuinely think Shanahan doesn’t understand the issue. When you are facing a great offense, you can’t waste possessions. Whether Shanahan wasn’t confident in his quarterback is another story. Jimmy completed a pass to Wilson on one play, and through one of the better passes, you’ll see all season to Kittle on his next throw. The Chiefs are capable of scoring with 20 seconds left. My biggest issue with Kyle is that he coaches to avoid the worst-case scenario as opposed to “playing the odds.”

Yes, Kansas City could score if you give them the ball back with over a minute to play. You know who else can score? The team that was averaging over seven yards a play at the time. Scared isn’t the correct word here. Shanahan wasn’t coaching smart. Based on how the game was going, the probability of Kansas City stopping San Francisco’s offense was quite a bit lower than the Chiefs getting the ball back and scoring. If Shanahan is going to sit with Jimmy G and help him, he needs to take a long look in the mirror at his coaching decisions and judging the game flow.