SEATTLE — The 49ers’ season — equal parts cursed and charmed, inevitable and bizarre — came to an end Saturday not with a valiant fight to the end with the Seattle Seahawks, but with a splattering.
The Niners ran out of players, ran out of energy, ran out of magic.
The 41-6 beat-down was the 49ers’ worst playoff loss since Jim Burt concussed Joe Montana in the Meadowlands in 1987. It’s the worst loss in Kyle Shanahan’s tenure as Niners head coach.
And with respect to kicker Eddy Piñero (two field goals), rookie running back Jordan James (who?!), and, I guess, Brock Purdy (ehh… scratch that), for the first time in the history of this column, we’re doing it: All duds.
STUDS 💪
N/A
DUDS 📉
Dee Winters • LB
» The 49ers went back to their weak-side linebacker after missing last week, and he was washed out in the run game early and often. There were at least three situations in the first half where Winters overtly didn’t know what the play was. I’m sure the tape will show a half-dozen more.
Eric Kendricks • LB
» A Kubiak-style offense is predicated on ruining the lives of opponents’ linebackers in a way that the Philadelphia Eagles couldn’t even imagine doing last week.
All this to say that while Kendricks and Garret Wallow were good last week, they were exposed as fourth-and-fifth options by the Seahawks and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak Saturday, as the Seattle offensive line ran through them in pursuit of bigger battles, and Seahawks receivers had no problem pulling, prodding, and leaving them in the dust in the pass game.
Chase Lucas • DB
» Missed the tackle on the first play of the game — a touchdown return from Rashid Shaheed. The Niners never recovered.
Renardo Green • CB
» The 49ers did not call Cover 2. That’s what I could surmise from 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan absolutely losing it on Green after a second-down 20-yard Seattle pass play to Cooper Kupp, following a sack, that picked up an improbable first down.
Jordan Elliott • DT
» It wouldn’t be the ‘Duds’ category without Elliott. Why did an interior defensive lineman hold on a third-and-1 pitch to the outside — a play the 49ers stopped for no gain, inside Seattle territory, down 17-6? We might never know. But he did, giving Seattle its first lifeline of what would be a punctuating scoring drive.
Darrell Luter • DB
» The 49ers went to Luter after Green was pulled from the game so Shanahan could berate him, and he never came within five feet of Jaxon Smith-Njigba on the Seahawks’ first offensive touchdown of the game, which came moments later.
Then, after the Niners put Green back in the game, they used Luter in a rarely-seen dime formation (six defensive backs), and he was cooked one-on-one by Jake Bobo, of all people, who converted a third-and-10 from the San Francisco 36-yard line, setting up a 24-6 margin.
Luter also had some tough special teams moments in kick coverage.
Marques Sigle • FS
» Sigle was good enough to be in a position to make a number of plays Saturday. That’s a departure from the player he replaced, Ji’Ayir Brown. The issue? He didn’t make them. Whether it was his pass interference that set up the Seahawks’ first offensive touchdown (making the score 17-0), or his missed tackle on Kenneth Walker’s touchdown that made the score 24-6, Sigle had a tough game in his first start since October.
Luke Farrell • TE
» A season where he did so little right culminated in a truly awful performance in the biggest game of the season — all while he was the Niners’ last remaining “usable” tight end.
Not only was Farrell an overt negative as a run blocker, but Brock Purdy’s game-sealing (and that’s being generous to the Niners) interception in the second half came when Farrell just decided he was done running the scramble drill.
Purdy expected his tight end to step in front of Seahawks linebacker Earnest Jones. Farrell just stood there as Purdy threw it right to Jones. Down three touchdowns and giving the ball to Seattle in San Francisco territory marked the unofficial end of this “contest” — Walker scored his second touchdown of the game moments later.
Brian Robinson • RB
» It’s not Robinson’s fault that the Niners stuck with him on kick returns despite several straight weeks of woeful returns, but Seattle kicked it to him again and again (they had a lot of kickoffs Saturday), and he gave them no reason to question that decision.
Things were even worse from scrimmage. Robinson couldn’t see the admittedly small gaps that existed in the run game, consistently coming up short.
He also had no idea what to do on the 49ers’ woeful double-reverse screen pass that went for one yard. When the Niners first lined up for the play, Robinson failed to execute the correct motion, and Shanahan had to call a timeout.
I could go on with more duds, but you get the point, no?
Leave a Reply