“It’s a difficult situation for us. Everyone had high expectations, especially ourselves. To not have the season go as planned, it’s tough.”
-Colin Kaepernick
The Quest for Six will have to wait until next season, as the San Francisco 49ers have officially been eliminated from the playoffs. Much like the 49ers’ season, today’s game in Seattle started with so much promise, only to be derailed in the second half. The Niners came out looking like the Niners of the last few seasons. The offense was playing a physical game and Kaepernick looked like Kap. They even led 7-3 at halftime. But they came out of the half with three key injuries – RB Frank Gore, LB Chris Borland, and TE Garrett Celek. And it really went downhill from there. RB Carlos Hyde went out with an ankle injury and LB Michael Wilhoite went out with a back injury. An already injury-depleted team was hemorrhaging players left and right. Combine that with a terrible call in the third quarter, and it was just too much for San Francisco to overcome.
In the third quarter on third down, LB Nick Moody was called for roughing the passer on a Russell Wilson incomplete pass. It was an awful call. Troy Aikman said so. Joe Buck said so. Fox’s referee expert Mike Pereira said so. I said so. Instead of it being 4th down and Seattle going for a field goal, it was first down and they scored a TD, making it 17-7. And that was it. I can’t be sure it would have mattered since the Niners didn’t score in the second half (they are averaging five second half points for the season. That is not good.).
Obviously, a lot of questions need to be answered in the offseason. Guys have to get healthy. The coaching situation has to be figured out. Though I believe it is a huge mistake to fire Jim Harbaugh, that seems like an inevitability. But, in the meantime, there are two games left in this season. Even if he wasn’t perfect, today we saw that our Kap is in there and I know that’s what we will see that against the Chargers and the Cardinals. We are the Faithful. We bleed gold. These are our Niners. Let’s enjoy the next two weeks and then figure out what on earth we’re going to do with all that free time in January. As always, Go Niners!
