There were bright spots on Sunday, many of which remain one of football’s richest star strikes. George Kittle looked back as hell, ripping off his season-high 98-yard catches and scoring his first goal of the year. Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk gathered 124 more in the lightning strike variants. After the San Francisco 49ers sent out four picks on Thursday, All-Pro and hopeful returning Christian McCaffrey had less than 72 hours to capture Kyle Shanahan’s playbook, but he shone in 10 touchdowns. tight corners wiggle and open space exuberance explaining the price tag.
For all that talent amassed, the Niners sit 3-4 after being smoked 44-23 by the Chiefs – averaging just 20 points per game. The ridges and receivers look a lot like Ferraris pulling U-Hauls, much like Sisyphi pushing stones. The poor guys are enjoying football purgatory: they’re playing (again) with Jimmy Garoppolo.
If Sunday’s final score beats Kansas City’s dominance—Kittle’s goal cut the deficit to five early in the fourth quarter—he also downplays the Niners’ quarterback’s shortcomings. Garoppolo passed for 303 yards and landed two touchdowns against an interception; These were numbers that did not do justice to an afternoon spent in panic or stupefaction. San Francisco’s first five outings within the Chiefs’ 30-yard line conceded just one touchdown. A five-yard lollipop came to nominally wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud, and indeed corner player Joshua Williams, when a pedaling back Garoppolo missed Jeff Wilson’s freehand for the goal line. The fourth quarter safety resulted from two consecutive sacks, the first occurring when Garoppolo stepped into the closing gates of the 600-pound defender, the second he bet He said he could outrun Frank Clark.
“A few games he would love to rewind,” Kyle Shanahan said of his QB after the game. “But it wasn’t him more than anyone else.”
Even runs that didn’t result in Garoppolo giving the ball to the other team lacked all rhythm. At a representative point, Samuel quickly defeated his man, creating a gap in an approaching course. From the middle of a clean pocket, Garoppolo saw his star with open space in front of him and threw the ball behind his hips. More than the various lows of the afternoon, it captured the dynamics of the unfinished – so violent, so frustrating and utterly familiar – 49ers’ group project.
Not doing Garoppolo a favor was, for comparison, Patrick Mahomes being on the opposite side. Mahomes Added 28 Expected Points, a metric that measures not only the quarterback’s cumulative contributions but also situational imports, while Garoppolo achieved just over two. Watching Mahomes meant seeing a shooting reel that Garoppolo wouldn’t even dare to attempt a routine of routine: shooting into pockets that were barely in between shots, dumb-footed darts, deep balls that probably caused some San Francisco fans to suffer. -dead.
The disparity among passersby didn’t cost the Niners their first draw at NFC West. He questioned the wisdom of San Francisco’s precious draft capital mortgaged with a dubious gift. The bet made by Shanahan and general manager John Lynch in the McCaffrey deal is that scheme and star power can elevate a mediocre setter to championship-level production; Mahomes has shown quite well that things are going in the opposite direction. In the off-season, Kansas City replaced Pro-Bowl widefield Tyreek Hill with several free agents, mostly known for passing passes and playing video games. They still have the highest scoring attack in the NFL.
“You only do that when you believe your team is set,” Lynch said after signing for McCaffrey. It was a noble sentiment that evoked the image of a football team as a cooperative, expressed in the preferred terms of the Niners’ brain confidence. But if San Francisco’s defense, corps acceptance, dodging, and offensive line are the envy of most teams, including the Chiefs, they don’t take away some simple football facts.
“We have a lot of guys playing,” Kittle said post-game. “Aiyuk, Deebo, me, Christian, Jeff Wilson… Unfortunately, today showed that we can’t get the ball into those guys’ hands.”
If he’s good enough, a quarterback can also take a team from racing situation to contention and keep them there on his own for more or less years. If it’s bad enough, another quarterback can play the opposing trick.