The 49ers’ run defense has lost its vauntedness this year. That’s the general consensus of the blogosphere and the statistics back up this concern. Teams are averaging nearly twenty yards more per game running on the Niners in 2012 versus 2011.
It’s also the general consensus that the NFL is a passing league, but seven of the best records in the league belong to teams that pound the ball with serious dedication. The 49ers have played four of them, winning once, losing twice, and tying last Sunday against the Rams. It might be noted that the Bears are next on the schedule and they are one of the above seven teams.
The 49ers still rank near the top of the league in total run defense and yards per carrry, but the fact that teams are not giving up on the run, like they did last year, has had a ripple effect on the entire defense — hampering the pass rush, wearing out the defense, weakening the secondary, . . . blah, blah, blah . . . you get the message.
I don’t pay much attention to the Bears. If we played them more often, I’m sure I could hate them. The Chicago fans tend to overrate the team, so they can feel good when the team fails to achieve anything. It’s a Chicago deal. They take a lot of pride in the enjoyment of losing.
The Bears just lost to the Texans, the only AFC team among the top seven rushing attacks mentioned above. If they crap out against the 49ers, too, they’ll have gone from a two game lead to second place in one week. That’s some expert face splatting. Just in time for the holidays, so Chicago families can happily bemoan their team as they gather for, fittingly, turkey dinner.
The Bears have won only one Super Bowl, but naturally were the only team that lost one to notorious playoff choker Peyton Manning. They even have a place in the world economy as a description of stock market devotees who are sure the money world is about to go into the tank — the Bear Market. When you say you are bearish about something, it means you are looking forward to the shit hitting the fan.
I was in Chicago briefly a long time ago. Met a nice looking girl and spent some time with her. Then I moved on and she stayed. Somewhere out there she’s older now and looking out the bleak window each day thinking, “That dipwad wasn’t so bad after all. I should have left town while I had the chance.”
Michael Jordan made Chicago a winner, but he destroyed basketball in the process. What other civilized entity in the world would proudly boast, “World famous stockyards!” Yes sir, screw the Eiffel Tower and the Pyramids. I gotta go see those cows milling around all day in their own turd piles, waiting to have their throats slit.
Have I mentioned that Mike Singletary played for the Bears? There was a guy named “Geomak” on the blogs during Singletary’s tenure as Niners HC who was a big Bears fan and naturally thought Singletary would be a HOF HC here. Haven’t seen old Geo since sometime in the early part of the 2010 season. He was a pompous SOB, but you’ve gotta have some kind of schtick if you spend your life rooting for a team that thought Mike Ditka was a brilliant HC.
The best memory I have of the Bears is this: 28-3. “They kicked our ass from the get go.” Let’s hope we can all go to bed Monday night with similar sweet dreams.
That girl from Chicago missed a shit in front of an office building and ingenuitive use of a T-shirt for toilet paper. After all, the only difference between a shit and a shirt is an “r”.
A loss this week would be un-Bear-able!
Our team will just have to bear down Monday night.
Cutler is out for Monday. Campbell starting.
Chcago’s a great place to live, if you can skip the summers and winters.
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I have 9 cousins (and a busy uncle) that grew up in Chi-town. 7 are in CA, one is in GA, and one is in TN. They all got out of town.
Harbaugh was back in the locker room today. Alex was cleared by neurologists yesterday.
All systems go. Time for some Bear hunting.
Here is the offensive game plan against the Bears, IMO.
Draw the linebackers in, the backbone of their team.
Play action deep outs, can Alex hit those?
Screens,traps, and slants behind the backers.
Run Frank a lot.
The Bears have a great defense. I still can’t hate them the way I hate the Cowpatties.
One thing we did last week, to mixed success, was run screens. Those work well against overpursuing LBs. The problem is when we go screen, the D linemen usually get in too fast and blow them up. That’s when the big mistakes crop up.
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I’m with Bergs for once. Spread the formations and run out of them. We showed a little pistol last week. Bring in more WRs and spread them out.
The QB was a little too deep to be the authentic Pistol formation, but what the hell, close enough for the NFL. I’m sure the coach had the QB a step back for a reason. Since Kaepernick is on the team I’m asure the coaches know the difference. Every team who runs the Pistol has the QB farther back than the inventor of the Pistol Chris Ault at Nevada. According to Ault, the QB is closer than in the shot gun, which is why it is called the Pistol. A pistol is shorter than a shot gun. The QB is lined up closer because it is supposed to be a running formation. If the QB is farther back it becomes more of a passing formation. Everybvody is running a version of the Pistol, but they are not using it properly if they want rushing stats like Ault gets.
The NFL is in big trouble. They just tripped over their smoking gun.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/report-nfl-retirement-board-paid-2-million-ex-163614698–nfl.html
Well, since nobody is posting.
http://www.civilwaracademy.com/civil-war-battles-in-new-mexico.html
I visited what you can of Glorietta this summer.
Texas invaders vs. Missouri and Colorado regulars.
Saved the State for the Union. But Canby, along with Generals Sherman and Sheridan in the north, proved to be a really bad, bad stain that the world remembers when we talk politics.
Some guys want to die on the footbal field.
http://news.yahoo.com/former-bears-coach-ditka-suffers-stroke-031253510–nfl.htmll.
If not, in a poker game.
Get well, Mike.
Berger says he can’t post here because a message about a valid email address comes up. Anybody else getting this message? If so, let me know at skeebers@49ersoutsider.com
On the plus side, if anybody wants to say something snotty about Berger, this is probably a good time to have at it.
Being snotty isn’t my style. But if it were, I’d ask Berger if he plans on starting Carson Palmer this week on his fantasy team.
Del- It works now, fuk you.
Wasn’t that 28-3 game in Chicago for the NFC Championship, with Joe at the helm, in 1988 or 1989? I could check myself of course, but let’s see how our collective memories are.
About two weeks ago a friend said Chicago had the best D in football. Naturally, I said, say what? The Niners had given up the least yardage and the least points, so I reasoned that they had the best D. Then came the team Previously-Known-As-The-Lambs and our D looked like various forms of doodoo. So I’d have to say that their D is better than ours. But I’m not impressed with their O, even if Cutler is playing.
One of these weeks I’ll probably predict a loss. But not this week. I see a sloppy game, 20-14 Niners.
Matt Barkley is the top rtaed QB by draft guys like Kiper but I think he will follow Sanchez and Leinart into being average at best.
His team just lost to UCLA and he has now thrown 15 picks this year.
His numbers are inflated because he has very talented WRs that get wide open. The difference in the b vig boy league is fitting the ball into tight windows.
Maybe the Jets or Jags will take him and scratch their heads when he underperforms.
bullit- Barkley is as over rated as Landry Jones was last year. I have no idea how anybody could take Barkley in the first round. When he came back for his Senior season I was bummed. Now I know why. Start Max Whitteg from here on out. I have never been a Matt Barkley fan.
The thing about USC is they are no better than a typical Big 12 team. They are all offense and no defense. At the beginning of the year I said they would be as good as their D-line. Guess what, their D-line can’t 2 gap, and the coach won’t shoot the gaps until they are down by two TDs. Kiffen might need to go if he can’t recruit D linemen to fit his scheme or change his scheme. This reminds of Mike Nolan’s hard headedness on defense when he was our coach.
omg i guess there are people who really think oregon and k state r better than alabama and fla !
hahahaha
i’m goin to bed !
Hogan is looking good.
and notre dame too ?
zzzzzzzzzzz
‘Bama? Please.
Florida played Jacksonville State
and beat them 23-0.
They are not a Division 1 school.
That’s like playing SF State or UC Davis.
Nothing to brag about there.
K-State is getting smoked by Baykir. 28-7 and they aren’t even at the half.
Hogan blew the 4th down throw. Looking a bit shakey, but they can take the lead at the half.
Wow. Hogan with a horrible throw. Picked.
BULL…
IMO THE SEC RULES !
imho alabama , fla AND georgia might all be better than oregon , ks and notre dame !
Alabama played whom, Rob?
Hogan is a good game manager and runner. He’s a lousy passer.
Let’s see if the Stanford D holds.
Rufus, Hogan is Gaelic for “Smith.”
You said it, Dennis, I didn’t.
I’ve been having fun reading the NY Jets’ blogs.
I’ll take 6-2-1.
Neither of these guys are going to be NFL QBs.
Ahh, well college football.
Oregon’s PK just hit the goal post. You know why? He wears #41. Get a real kicker # if you want to be a kicker…
Party down on the Farm!
Notre Dame #1
And you know why Stanford’s PK made his kick? He wears #19. He’s a real kicker.
25/36 211 yards 1 TD 1 INT.
Pretty darn good for a Frosh.
I would say USC has a chance to upend ND if not for the fact that Lane Kiffin is worst college coach bar none. He cheats and he still can’t win. Pat Haden should fire his dumb ass post-haste.
If the projected rankings hold, and it’s a ND vs ‘Bama BCS Championship Game it’ll be a ratings bonanza. But I’m already making plans to paint the barn and watch it dry if that matchup comes to fruition. I protest both of those institutions.
It won’t dry here, Dennis. The paint will freeze.
So Lane Kiffen has been given a vote of confidence at U$C but he might have to sacrifice his dad
as the scapegoat for a disappointing year.
Kiffin has a standing feud with Jon Gruden when they had a bad parting of ways in Tampa.
Another Sunday without Niner football. Bummer.
Ariz benched Skelton with the team leading in the first half.
They are playing Lindley the rookie at QB.
Watch them try to draft another QB. Maybe they’ll take Barkley or Landry Jones in the first round and start from scratch.
Steve Young says Kaepernick is on I-80 in Davis on his way to Reno. Ouch!
Skeebs, is that a joke that flew over my head, or is Kaep really on his way to “The Biggest Little City in the World?”
Beats me, Del. I just report the news.
Jets are stomping Rams in St. Louis. Is the NFL a weird world, or what?
I guess playing 75 mins. last week really tired out the Rams. Rams may be tired, but the Texans are asleep. They’re down 14 to the Jags. THE JAGS.
Chad effing Henne has thrown 4 TDs today. Go figure.
Matt Ryan has thrown 4 picks.
The Cowpatties escape with one and are only 1 game out of first.
Make the FIVE picks by Matt Ryan, Skeebs. I’ll give ya three guesses who’s fantasy team “Stinks on Ice” is on.
Not over yet in Arlington.
Brownies take the lead! Gawd I hate the Cowpatties.
That game isn’t over in Big D, Rufus. Brownies get the ball back with great field position and a penalty on Dallas to boot. TD Browns!
See, that 15 yd PF against the Browns is total BS. That was a clean and legal hard hit with his shoulder. The NFL has turned into one huge vagina.
Make up call for the horse collar that wasn’t on Joe Cribbs on the punt return.
OT. So much for watching Peyton or Luck or Brady on network TV for awhile.
Rufus, who needs to watch Peyton, Luck or Brady when we’re locked and loaded with Jason Campbell and Alex Smith on Monday Night Football?
And Houston wins in OT to go 9-1. Two years ago Jacksonville selected Blaine Gabbert with the 10th overall pick. The Texans selected J.J. Watt with the next pick. ‘Nuff said.
Some teams you can count on, though. Carson Palmer, two possessions, two picks.
And Rivers just threw a completion on the numbers to the Broncs backer.
The Broncs D-line is teeing off on Rivers now.
Fore!
Their secondary is weak, but their front 7 are as good as anybody in the league.
The Broncos D has stopped their opponents on their last 24 3rd dn attempts and counting. Now that’s some shit.
OK. Who had Brad Keselowski winning the Sprint Cup Championship?
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Rob, you lie like a rug.
25 now. I’m still rooting for a Broncs-Niners Super Bowl in the Superdome.
It would be a great matchup.
The streak has been crushed on this drive.
Dumb play going for glory by the Denver S. Lost 15 yards getting the interception on 4th down.
But, you don’t try to rein in a good horse when he’s cruising.
I’m rooting for the Niners 13-2-1.
Broncs 12-4. The only good team they play until the playoffs is the Ravens.
Super Bowl for the Ages.
Here we go with another Ravens/Steelers head knocker. I’m thinking Niners/Seahawks will get into this territory soon.
80 yards in 3 plays 0:43. Leftwich.
Rufus, trust me on this one. The last thing you want is Alex Smith vs Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl.
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However, if it happens, I’m setting the O/U at 186 as the number of times that I post, “Did we sign Peyton Manning yet?” during the game.
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Frank the Cat has already placed his wager. The early money is on the OVER.
Peyton is no longer the QB he was 10 years ago, Dennis.
But I think the Choo-Choo still has a bit more in his engine.
Cowpatties got a gift ‘incompletion’ with Austin too.
Clearly caught and several steps followed before it was popped out.
Fumble.
Farkin’ Cowturds.
The Cowpattie Palace was as quiet as a Pat Robertson Sermon event.
Home Field crowd rivals a Church crowd in terms of noise.
For all his self appointed personnel expertise, Jerruhs’ Roster is repleat with underwhelming talent.
Same old Cleveland Browns.
Pulled another victory from the jaws of defeat.
Where’s Berger when ya need ’em to dissect a QB’s throwing motion and mechanics? Byron Leftwich takes more time to deliver the ball than Juan Marchial did off the mound.
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Get rid of the goddamn ball already.
How about Rivers’ motion Del?
He’s always been a sidewinder.
Now?
He seems like a guy with no arm strength to go along with the poor mechanics.
He’s got something wrong and it’s not just his OLine.
Rufus, of course Manning isn’t the same QB today that he was 10 yrs ago. But he’s still 100X better today than Alex is, has been or ever will be. World without end amen.
NJ, I don’t know WTF is up with Rivers. He has made some throws this year and especially in the last couple of weeks that still makes me scratch my head. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the fix was in and Rivers and the Chargers were trying to throw those games. That’s how egregious and atrocious his INTs have been. Palin and simple, Rivers is lost.
Baiting me, Dennis? Good for you, my old friend.
Peyton is not mobile. He got help (good and bad) from special teams today. Lots and lots of help from the D.
I think he’s still calling protections and audibles from Indy at the line, and the rest of the offense doesn’t always get it.
They are learning how to win behind him, though, and they will get it in a big hurry.
He’s still along with Brady the most accurate passers in the league.
BTW Berger, I think I have our next DT lined up.
Kawann Short, Purdue.
6’3″ 315.
Through 2011, 34 TFL and 11 sacks.
He’s already signed on for the Senior Bowl too.
Early projections have him as a late 1 early 2 prospect.
A guy to keep an eye on.
I’m thinking injury Del.
Shoulder/Elbow perhaps?
He’s throwing quails.
Rivers has no fight in him it seems?
NJ, did Rivers go soft all of a sudden? Remember. This is the same QB who played in the AFC Championship Game with a torn ACL and MCL some five years ago. Maybe he has lost the passion for the game. His body language suggests he’s uninterested at times.
Too many years with Norv Turner, draining the passion out of his game.
I agree Del.
Somewhere along the way Rivers lost the fire.
You might be onto something Skeebs.
Milquetoast Turner.
The lifesucking presence on the sideline.
Here’s a quick snippet analysis on Kawann Short Berger.
“Short is a large human being with a huge wingspan, using his long arms to bat down passes (11 pass break-ups) and make plays on special teams (4 blocked kicks).
Short can be an immovable object in the middle of the field when he plays disciplined and generates power from his lower body. However, he too often gives streaky effort and doesn’t consistently play with leverage.
Short sees a lot of double-teams, but scouts want to see more of a mean streak and less passiveness. He has been productive over his first three seasons in West Lafayette, but there is also some negative game tape out there on him. And while Short will still be an
attractive pro prospect because of his natural size and tools, he needs to prove he can be consistently more than just a plugging space-eater to cement his top-50 status”.
–Rob Rang
Tebow brought the fire back to Denver.
Peyton has lit it.
Sometimes the leader of the offense, the QB, has to elevate his play.
Leftwich is playing the whole game with a strained/separated shoulder.
That’s what I’m talking about.
According to Schefter, Smith is out tonight. Kaepernick starts.
NJ- Short’s scouting report sounds a little like Kentwan Balmer’s. I like linemen that play with passion and fire, this guy does not sound like that. I wouldn’t count him out but I was not loving what I read from your post.
I’m looking forward to watching Kaepernick tonight!
Some good news out of USC. Matt Barkley is our for the ND game. I don’t know much about Whittek the back up but I’m tired of watching Barkley. Go USC!
Tolzien will finally be activated.
Jason Campbell vs Colin Kaepernick. ESPN is going to take a major punch in the gut with the ratings. I’m not sure I’ll even watch myself. What’s on AMC tonight? My. My. It’s “The Princess Bride.” Anybody want a peanut?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP5-qJSzDUg
“Ed Reed has been suspended without pay for one game for violations of rule prohibiting hits to the head and neck area of defenseless players.”
Look out, Goldson. Goodell just sent a real loud message.
Funny thing about Denver is, all those Tebow-loving maniacs have tossed him like a rented tent. It’s all Manning all the time in Denver.
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Good for you, Dennis. Watch Heidi. You were never much of a fan anyway.
Did we sign Barry Zito yet?
Dennis
Let me get this right. You whine on endlessly what a crap QB A Smith is and force us to read those rants.
He’s out of the game tonight and Kaepernick is starting and you declare you’re not watching?
Seems like your mission here is just to pile on somebody.
Take care of the ball and avoid dumb mistakes and Niners will win.
Take away Marshall on Defense and
put some pressure on Campbell with all kinds of blitzes and force him to make turnovers which he will do. Niners 27-13
Should be a real fun game to watch. Cappy’s had a full week to work with the #1 crew and I bet we see some trickery tonight. If I was Harbaugh I would institute one of those fake punts just to do it.
If you guys actually think that I’m not watching tonight’s game, you’re even dumber than I think you are. We’re talking “Ernest Saves Christmas” dumb. Hey, Vern!
DEL
here’s your chance to see what copernicus can do !
oh , btw what day is this ?
Did I forget your birthday again?
yes , but that’s the wrong answer buddy !
it’s GAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
49ERS 6 BEARS 3
LoL. 24-13 Niners
20-17 Lions, and Tigers and Bears! Oh, my!
Kaep looks really damn good. Someone go concuss Alex and make sure he doesn’t start next week in New Orleans.
Kappy has never had a defense like this. He always had to shoot ’em out in Nevada. He probably doesn’t know what to do without the pressure of having to score every drive.
BERGER
” He probably doesn’t know what to do without the pressure of having to score every drive.”
i think he figured out what to do … score every drive !
(we pretty near have !)
My pre-season warning to Alex was to not get hurt. He was the obvious starter, not so sure now. I watched Kappy’s entire college career up close. What he did tonight is what he does. He usually runs more but it was not necessary in this game. I couldn’t be happier than to know we have two capable QBs. Evewrybody here knows I want kappy to start but if Harbaugh goes with Smith I’ll be good with that too. Is there another team with our QB depth?
There are those who think Kappy has a funky throwing motion. I’m not one of those observers. It looks a little different but it is very fundamentally sound.
kap did everything i hoped he would !
we have two QB’s !
superbowl here we come !
Let’s see, 2011 draft: Aldon Smith in rd #1, Kappy in rd #2, Culliver in #3 and Hunter in #4. Wow!
Culliver had really good coverage on Marshall on the TD throw. It was a perfect throw and a great catch.
Is a QB controversy a bad thing? Not when both QBs are good. But Harbaugh does need to make his mind up and stick with it. A coach that waivers in this situation hurts the team, IMO.
If it were me I would give Alex one more week off for medical reasons. If Kaepernick repeats this performance Smith has lost his job. Can the 49ers even pull that off?
no
Best game the Niners played this year, CK answered a lot of questions tonight.
I am a believer you shouldn’t lose your job to an injury in the short term. This will however make a quick hook by Harbaugh more probable but the success of the team is the priority.
Now the Aints have a game and a half of game film of CK running the offense so they can gameplan against him.
Playing Alex Smith against the Aints in the Superdome is risking his health for the season because it is not easy to audible there due to the noise. I;m just thinking back to the 2011 first preseason game where they beat the hell out of him by the sadistic Greg Williams blitzes.
Highlights are available
http://www.49ers.com/media-gallery/videos/Game-Highlights-49ers-32—Bears-7/eb468bf9-ed00-459a-ac85-625afafcd792
Frank Gore needs 234 yards rushing to become tha all time leading 49er rusher.
Loved Gore’s block where he decleated Briggs on VD’s TD catch.
They should make that into a training film.
I’ll need to look this up later this week, but I think this win ties us for the most wins on MNF!
“Loved Gore’s block where he decleated Briggs on VD’s TD catch.”
On the replay, that was where my eyes went. Spank.
That game was a total pleasure to watch. It fits right into what weve done all year, when we’re on we make good teams look inept and we’re not we look lost. It was a great gameplan and Cappy looked at ease the whole way. I didn’t see any “happy feet, or deer in the headlights eyes” come from him at all. I think this was a great win for the whole organization because we got a good look at the future.
Kappy was startlingly good tonight. I only saw a few plays on NFL dot com highlights, but what I saw, he kept plays alive with his feet, but when he did, his eyes stayed downfield, looking for receivers to come open. With Alex, he can pass, or he can run, but once he starts moving he rarely throws longer than a dump off.
I don’t envy Harbaugh the next few weeks. The fan base is going to be pushing hard for Kaep right now. But that could change if he has a bad game, as is likely with a rookie – this will very likely NOT be a linear progression. IMHO, he should not get the permanent starting job until he wins one more game ‘in relief’, and then he should not have it taken away if he has a down game or two. Young QBs need time.
In the long run this is a good problem to have, but Jimbo needs to manage the situation carefully. Alex has been loyal to the organization and – while the best player should play, as always – nothing is served by treating AS shabbily. This transition will be one of the key moments in Harbaugh’s coaching tenure here.
New post is up.