The 49ers Get Desperate
That was probably one of the worst ways to watch a playoff season end. Sometimes you reach the playoffs and you see your team just get utterly annihilated, like the Giants last week. It hurts, but watching a game like that when you never had much chance doesn’t burn as bad. Your team was outmatched and hit a wall they could never climb. You come to terms with it quickly and look back on the good times. Watching your team lose a close fight hurts more, and you wonder if you missed the chance to win it all, but at least they put up a damn fight and went down swinging, and you just couldn’t win the day. Sometimes you are the Saints, and you lose a game thanks to a horrific missed call, and that absolutely blows but at the very least you can channel that frustration into righteous pissiness.
But what happened to the 49ers was just…depressing. They got blown out, but it was at the expense of what could have been, what should have been, a better game. The 49ers didn’t hit a wall, they were thrown into it by the cruel bus of fate. All of us were robbed of what could have been, not just 49ers fans. The 49ers and their fans were robbed of a chance to see their team compete and win. The Eagles were robbed of a fair fight, a genuine challenge on which to prove themselves to the doubters. Those of us rooting against the Eagles got robbed of a chance to see them struggle and die. Those rooting against the 49ers got robbed of a chance to see them eat shit, fairly. All of us were robbed of a fun, competitive football game between the two best teams in the conference. All from one little boop to the elbow.
The 49ers pulled some magic out of their asses this year. I can’t remember if a team has ever achieved this much while starting their 3rd string QB before. Lance going down was bad, but at least they could turn to handsome Jimmy to hold steady. Hold steady he did; until he died. After Brock Purdy came in I think most 49ers fans assumed that was probably it. Playoffs maybe, deep success unlikely. But Purdy outperformed all expectations and just…didn’t lose. Was he incredible? Not really. He didn’t need to be. He just had to be smart, safe, and effective, and he performed that just fine. The 49ers did indeed have an easy schedule (just like the Eagles), but just like the Eagles, they did their duty and shut those teams down.
All of it ended on their third play on offense. After the first Eagles drive ended on a touchdown they never should have had (Devonta Smith dropped the 4th down ball but it wasn’t challenged), the 49ers went up in smoke immediately. Maybe you were convinced the team could hold out hope. They got there on the strength of the defense, right? All Josh Johnson had to do was not fuck up, right? Kyle Shanahan is an incredible mind, but even he can’t turn an emergency 4th stringer who has never been good into a champion. Johnson tried but never stood a chance. Not against a team that now knew it could sell out vs the run and just blanket the offense.
The game was lost on that 3rd play. The 9ers kept a smidge of hope for a little bit, CMC had a brilliant TD run after they were gifted a short field. But it was over. You could see it was over. You could see the frustration and existential sadness on the 49ers sideline. The Eagles didn’t play their best game, but they didn’t have to. They could have trotted out Minshew for the second half, handed the ball off every play, and won. A great defense can hold up a weaker offense for a long time, but the Eagles have a great offense and when you get absolutely zero support from the other side of the ball, every defense crumbles.
I absolutely believe the 49ers had a chance if Purdy doesn’t get hurt. I think the Eagles would have still been my pick, but if Purdy stays in the offense at least stays more functional and lasts longer, giving the defense some breaks, possibly okay scoring support, and the Eagles have a real fight. Johnson couldn’t do it, and then he also got knocked out and spared the memory of this catastrophe. Purdy came back in and clearly just could not throw a football. A slow, painful, depressing death to one of the more magical seasons the 49ers have had. A shame.
Who is the comic’s QB supposed to be?
Given todays breaking news, Tawmy
I think it’s implied to be just a random guy tending his garden, correct me if I’m wrong, Dave.
A random ass dude
Bom Trady
THANK YOU TOM
that what hepend that game
Nick Bosa getting hurt on a play where he was standing on the sidelines pretty much summed up that game for San Francisco. The injury curse struck them at the absolute worst possible time. Never seen anything quite like it.
The sad thing for me is that as depressing as this nfc championship was as it easily could’ve been the evenly matched slugfest I was looking for, it’s still infinitely better than last year’s just by virtue of the rams not being there at all, much less winning the damn thing.
Ben and Dak were technically 3rd stringers their rookie year, so they did it like Purdy lol
I’m an Eagles fan. I was at the game. It was bad.
I’ve read of old warriorsn who made a name for themselves with their trusty and legendary sword, who were then challenged by an opposing warrior. Said opponent would, occasionally, refuse to do battle unless said legendary sword was used. Something about defeating your opponent at their best.
I felt that. I enjoyed the win, but just barely. I celebrated those touchdowns but somehow it felt empty. It was a far cry from 5 years ago when we defeated the Vikings. That time we were the underdogs, yet we destroyed the opposing team. They were healthy and playing great, we were just better. That felt great. This felt kinda sad to be honest.
What a horrible way to go down.
But at the same time, we made our own luck by smashing their QB’s to a pulp. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t have rather beaten them at their best, but it wasn’t like Purdy got hurt by a dirty play or non-contact. Same goes for Josh Johnson. I agree that it’s not the same, but I do think that we made our own luck in this regard.
Oh yeah. I for sure remember a few years ago when went Wentz got knocked out due to an unflagged dirty hit to the head by the Seahawks. That was pain wrong. This was just… Unfulfilling yet legit?
The hit was fair and clean but that was still awful luck. How many QBs get hit on their arm like that on occasio and don’t tear their UCL?
If might have helped if Shanahan hadn’t tried blocking Haasan Reddick with a backup TE. Solo, with no help.
But yes, as an Eagles fan, that game was horrid. It’s really no fun beating up on the kid using crutches. You could almost see Sirianni trying to figure out if there was a way to keep out of the endzone the rest of the game, once Johnson had the concussion, just to avoid getting accused of running up the score.
I can’t say I enjoyed this one as an objective football fan looking for a good, maybe great game before the Super Bowl hype begins, but I also can’t lie and say I wasn’t laughing hysterically when the announcers were legit bringing up CMC as a possible qb choice. I feel bad for Niners fans because no team deserves a game like that, and I hope they get a fair shot next year.
I was honestly surprised they didn’t even try to get CMC under center for a few plays just to open up their offense a little. Sending out a wounded Purdy to hand the ball off for the rest of the game just seemed like the Niners quitting.
CMC was the emergency QB, he was getting suited up to go and play QB, the problem was they were taking away their top RB, although I think Mason could have done just fine filling in as RB1. CMC is a bit like Taysom Hill, he can throw, but his accuracy is a bit better than Jimmy G’s, but worse than Purdy’s, his arm strength is also a bit weaker, and his instincts are not built for QB. I still say CMC was a better option than Josh Johnson.
how many qbs did the 9ers go thrgho
The 49ers have got to be so disappointed. They’re like the reverse Packers: They’ve built an incredible team, one of the most consistently talented ones over the past 6-7 years, and have utterly failed to find a QB able to get it done. I’m sure Jimmy G missing that pass to Emmenuel Sanders stings with each and every passing year. Building a team as good as the 9ers takes time, luck, and enough suck-equity to get great players at cheap contracts. Not to mention they’ve generally hit in free agency as well. I’m genuinely curious how long they can keep it together before the wheels come off.
Also, RE: the Eagles. Two things can be true: The Eagles have not beaten a legitimately great team that was operating at full capacity, and the Eagles have destroyed virtually everyone they put in front of them. At the end of the day, the Eagles are great and have seemed to largely avoid a more scrutinized look at their entire season (we’ll see what happens as we get closer to SB week) which is nice so we don’t have to deal with a “did they actually deserve it” debate for the rest of time. I say this as a salty Vikings fan who’s still not fully over getting flattened in 2017, take it how you will.
“Those rooting against the 49ers got robbed of a chance to see them eat shit, fairly”
Like I give a shit if it’s fair or not, lol.
49ers are gonna need a hydra at this rate