49ers Post Game

[RandyMoss84]

If Vikings do end up 8-8 and miss the playoffs next year, Wilf better fire Speilman and Zimmer

[NJVikes]

Vikings were beat in all 3 phases and owned on both lines of scrimmage. Team is soft and the play calling is absolutely horrible. At what point do you not realize that play action on first down needs to be called as they just got stuffed time and time again. Zimmer is unable to learn from past experience. This was not a game they were going to win anyway but the lack of fight is really hard to stomach.

[VikeFanInEagleLand]

So I know there will be posts about "OL is to blame", "Cousins is to blame", Zimmer/Stefanski" is to blame..... BUT I feel that every single negative thing that I saw in this team this year, reared their ugly heads today...including all of the above.

First off and most importantly, it would have been a huge hurdle to overcome to beat a physical team like SF with them healthy and having 2 weeks of rest, and the Vikings injured/lame playing with 5 day of rest. The only way you're going to overcome that is to also overcome the above weaknesses. We didn't.

The 49ers defensively were going to stop Cook and the screens and make the Vikings win by throwing downfield. Because the OL doesn't often give you time to throw downfield, it mean that you have to take advantage of the times that you do and sometimes take chances when guys have a step. Offensively we tried to do exactly what SF thought we'd try to do...run the ball to open up the pass. That didn't happen, again because of the OL and a tired looking Cook. Cousins didn't take advantage of the occasions he had time, and as the game was slipping away, there was still hesitation to throw into coverage every now and then.

I actually thought the defense played as well as could be expected considering the soft play calling, being on the field all day, with 5 days of rest.

I was hoping to see a more aggressive, loose game plan, but like I said in chat, that's just not in the DNA of this coach/staff and Cousins. All week we heard about Goroppolo weakness under pressure, but when put in 3rd and long, Zimmer played it conservative. I was disappointed.

Out rested, out coached, out played = 27-10 loss.

[Pondering Her Percy]

Another 8 win season would be right on schedule and continue a pattern...

Looking at the cap situation, we probably are an 8 win team next year.

I heard the same tune last year. Not worried about the cap with bryzinski. He’ll figure it out

[Pondering Her Percy]

I blame everyone this game. Not a soul played well other than fricken Abdullah. When everyone plays bad, that usually points at the coaches for a lackluster game plan on both sides of the ball.

Onto the off-season. It will be an interesting one. We have to be careful that we aren’t just cutting guys and creating too many massive holes that we can’t fill in one offseason. As much as I want Rhodes and Reiff gone, again, have to be careful.

[Bowhunting Viking]

I am too damn depressed that I haven't even read the above posts yet. I will tomorrow. I'm getting ready to open up the first of the 4 Great Lakes Blackout Stout hoping to have a few in celebration. I think now I will have all 4 in mourning, and maybe add a few Stone Italiano coffee Stouts to it.
But before I cant type I'm not gonna go into an in depth synopsis of what went wrong.
I'm gonna give the Cliff notes.
1. We got owned on both sides of the ball and ST included.
2. I sincerely believe the young spike buck Shanahan outcoached our 12 pt old buck.
3. We ain't gonna do s"$t on the offensive side till we get an O line that can be consistent.
4. Secondary needing some help
5. As far as officiating, that was prob the best officiated game I have seen in seasons. Kudos to the ref crew for calling a good game.
Now I hope the Packers get their #### kicked tomorrow the the Niners kick the Seachickens ####.
Gotta go. Got the AFC game to watch and some medicinal drinking to do.

[Pondering Her Percy]

Another 8 win season would be right on schedule and continue a pattern...

Sad but true with this coaching staff, OL and QB.

Blame the QB all you want. Not many QBs walk into New Orleans and beat the saints on their turf in the playoffs. And it didn’t require a lucky miracle or obvious pass interference for it to happen.

Cousins isn’t the problem. This OL is terrible. Our DTs are weak. Our CBs have imploded and the coaching has been questionable.

If cousins holds us back as much as you try to claim, I can guarantee you we wouldn’t be beating the saints in OT in the playoffs that’s for sure.

[RandyMoss84]

Sad but true with this coaching staff, OL and QB.

Blame the QB all you want. Not many QBs walk into New Orleans and beat the saints on their turf in the playoffs. And it didn’t require a lucky miracle or obvious pass interference for it to happen.

Cousins isn’t the problem. This OL is terrible. Our DTs are weak. Our CBs have imploded and the coaching has been questionable.

If cousins holds us back as much as you try to claim, I can guarantee you we wouldn’t be beating the saints in OT in the playoffs that’s for sure.

I agree with this post, Cousins had an another good year, the offensive line needs to be fixed again

[quiznut1]

Well...that was a stinker! Looked like the Green Bay game on Monday night all over again - except on the road. Plenty of blame here.

After the 7-7 tie, the offense couldn't stay on the field. OL was dominated up front. Cook couldn't get anything going. And I knew once it was going to be all on Cousins, we were in deep trouble.

DL was also dominated up front. That SF drive of no passes and all rushing plays to go up two scores was absolutely abominable. It seemed like every time they rushed it was a minimum of 4-5 yards a carry. That'll wear any defense down, needless to say one on only 5 days rest.

Muffed catch on the SF punt was costly too. Still had some hope at 2 scores down to make it interesting, but in turn the short field was the last nail in the coffin.

Oh well. Hope to see a good Super Bowl this year, and guess the waiting for that elusive Super Bowl win will continue for the franchise and fan base. I tell my wife (I'm 35) that it'll happen sometime in my lifetime, and if it can happen to the Cubs (108 year drought), and Red Sox (86 year drought), it can certainly happen for us someday. Gotta still believe!

[CharVike]

We hit the road to the west coast and played a rested team. They controlled the LOS and we couldn't do much on either side of the ball. Plus we didn't play clean football. Not a good combo.

[StumpHunter]

We lost because the offense couldn't score. A single TD and FG drive won't win you many playoff games.

There are issues with the D, they were not good. Too many yards given up on the ground and not enough stops. You clean that up and we still lose this game. You clean up the offense, and we have a chance at winning.

The #1 culprit on the O in this game: Pat Elflein. I have never seen a LG play as badly as he did at times. Simple stunts confused the heck out of him, and he just flat out failed to block anyone multiple times. I know he started playing better towards the end of the season, but I think that might have just been the competition he was facing. The guy does not belong as a starter on any football team.

The #2 culprit on the O: Our boy Kirk Cousins. He played awful in this game, and not just because the Oline played poorly. Whether he had time or not, he did nothing. You cannot rely on your defense and run game to keep you in games in the playoffs in every game. Eventually the QB has to step up and do something. Anything.

I love that he had a great overtime drive against the Saints to win that playoff game, and it was a big step in the 8 year vets career. However,in this game he has proven yet again in this game he is just not good enough.

You can fix Elf easily enough. Finally draft a guard in the early rounds after it being the biggest hole on your offense for 10 straight seasons. Cousins will never be good enough. There will always be a reason he can't succeed, always an excuse.

Cue those excuses....now.

[Mothman]

Chip Scoggins on Twitter:

Eric Kendricks summed up game precisely with this quote ...
Kendricks: "They ran the hell out of the ball. We couldn't stop it. That's Football 101. We've got to stop the run, and we've got to run the ball."

[VikeFanInEagleLand]

We lost because the offense couldn't score. A single TD and FG drive won't win you many playoff games.

There are issues with the D, they were not good. Too many yards given up on the ground and not enough stops. You clean that up and we still lose this game. You clean up the offense, and we have a chance at winning.

The #1 culprit on the O in this game: Pat Elflein. I have never seen a LG play as badly as he did at times. Simple stunts confused the heck out of him, and he just flat out failed to block anyone multiple times. I know he started playing better towards the end of the season, but I think that might have just been the competition he was facing. The guy does not belong as a starter on any football team.

The #2 culprit on the O: Our boy Kirk Cousins. He played awful in this game, and not just because the Oline played poorly. Whether he had time or not, he did nothing. You cannot rely on your defense and run game to keep you in games in the playoffs in every game. Eventually the QB has to step up and do something. Anything.

I love that he had a great overtime drive against the Saints to win that playoff game, and it was a big step in the 8 year vets career. However,in this game he has proven yet again in this game he is just not good enough.

You can fix Elf easily enough. Finally draft a guard in the early rounds after it being the biggest hole on your offense for 10 straight seasons. Cousins will never be good enough. There will always be a reason he can't succeed, always an excuse.

Cue those excuses....now.

Usually don't get much arguments when you criticize the coaching, or the OL, etc. BUT criticize Cousins and you'll get chastised...HE ISN'T THE REASON WE LOST!

Anyone that watches his performance in big games with objective eyes will see that his ratio of good passes to bad passes just isn't acceptable. I read so many praises of his game last week as "Great!". It wasn't great. How many bad/awful passes should a top level QB be allowed? Maybe 1 out of every 15? Well, he threw 31 passes last week and he threw way more than two bad passes. He had 29 attempts today. I bet when I go back to watch it, I will se at least half a dozen bad passes. And these aren't when he is under pressure either. Last week the bad passes are overlooked because he threw some good/great ones too, especially in OT.

I wonder how many of those drives early in the game might have led to a score if you turn some of those bad passes into good ones. We'll never know of course. I have no reason to believe that if he had an OL in todays game that would have given him all day to throw that the outcome would have been any different.

[VikeFanInEagleLand]

I posted above why I thought we lost, and Cousins was only one of the reasons. I'm just so sick of all the Cousins defending.

[S197]

We are now the first team in NFL history to lose 30 playoff games. The Cowboys are 2nd with 28... but they also have 5 championships.