Last night the San Francisco 49ers took on their division rivals, the Seattle Seahawks.
This game was supposed to show that the 49ers were ready for the Sehawks. While tight end George Kittle was out, left tackle Trent Williams was back, wide receiver Ricky Pearsall returned from injury, and linebacker Dee Winters was also back.
At least that was the rationale for 49er fans as the game approached. Also, all week long there was discussion about how ready the 49ers were. Even on Fox’s pregame show it was mentioned that head coach Kyle Shanahan had his team watch film from the 13-3 loss at home two weeks prior.
Still it was all talk. Any questions about how prepared San Francisco was, went up in smoke from the opening kickoff as Seattle’s Rashid Shaheed took it 95-yards for a touchdown.
There was false hope due to a landing zone infraction by the Seahawks. Yet even after picking up a first down, getting nine yards to get to a third-and-one situation, Shanahan went to a predictable play call and Christian McCaffrey had zero chance for any yardage.
Shanahan went away from his usual conservative approach, more times than not the 49ers are punting in that situation. He elected to go for it and the Seahawks were caught off-guard. Seemingly the ball got snapped on 4th-and-1 with the play resulting in a first down.
Prior to the ball being snapped, Seattle called a timeout. Replays did show that this was the correct call, so no first down for San Francisco. Shanahan gave the official an earful, maybe instead of being so incensed about the timeout being granted, he would have called a better play on fourth down. Like the third down play, this one had no chance of success either.
After the Seahawks kicked a field goal. Tight end Jake Tonges inexcusably fumbled, giving the football right back to Seattle. That turnover resulted in a four-yard touchdown reception for Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
So it did not take long for the 49ers to trail 17-0.
There was a glimmer of hope after the best drive of the game by the 49ers’ offense. Yet the result was a field goal. After forcing a three-and-out, the offense moved the football well again, yet the drive stalled as Pearsall was unable to keep his hands underneath the football on a low throw from Brock Purdy.
Another field goal for Eddy Pineiro got the 49ers within 11. Seemingly the 49ers were going to make it interesting, on a third and short, Seahawks’ running back Zach Charbonnet was tackled short of first down yardage on third down.
Defensive tackle Jordan Elliott inexplicably held; that five yard penalty took any hope away from the 49ers. After a timeout by the Seahawks as Charbonnet was injured on the play, a reverse to Shaheed picked up 30 yards. Kenneth Walker III capped the 10-play 80-yard drive with a seven-yard touchdown run.
With only one timeout left and 31 seconds left on the clock, the 49ers were unable to get in field goal range before the end of the half.
The 49ers were shut out in the second half, there was a turnover on downs, an interception where tight end Luke Farrell did not even make an effort to go after the football, Purdy fumbled after being sacked by Demarcus Lawrence, and then a punt.
Like the game two weeks ago the 49ers were not able to stop the run, their tackling was once again atrocious, the Seahawks did not throw much only 17 attempts, cornerback Renardo Green got an earful from Shanahan and got benched, and then there is the example of a player losing his composure and that was cornerback Deommodore Lenoir who will get fined by the National Football League (NFL) for headbutting Smith-Njigba.
So it is not surprising with zero effort, turnovers, and lack of discipline that the 49ers got dominated by the Seahawks. Though it will not happen, Shanahan has to go.