PHOTO: CARY EDMONDSON
How do you like your toast?
Sourdough toast is a favorite. Standard wheat toast gets it done. And you can’t beat French toast, sometimes even stuffed with cream cheese by my lovely bride for our kiddos at breakfast.
How about 49ers toast?
In a fit of pique Monday morning on our show, I declared the 49ers season “toast.” They’re 5-5, and currently 10th on the NFC playoff ladder.
My partner Markus has been urging me to unplug the toaster, saying the 49ers are only a game out in the NFC West. Our guy Larry Krueger hopped on and said it wasn’t toast time just yet, and that if the Niners win the West, they host a playoff game.
I get it. The 49ers are still a very talented team, and George Kittle returns this Sunday. The Niners have Christian McCaffrey and Brock Purdy and Fred Warner. The NFC West is hardly reminding anyone of a death march. The Niners still have games against the Rams and Cardinals to make up ground. Heck, you can even point to 2021 — a season that ended in an NFC Championship bid — where the 49ers were 6-6 as late as December. Or point to 2022 — another season that ended in an NFC Championship bid — and the 49ers were only 6-4 after 10 games. Even the advanced analytics like the 49ers — their DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) is 6th in the NFL as a team, as I was just saying to noted fantasy football guru Farhan Zaidi.
And yet … I am preparing the butter and jam for this slice of 49er Toast.
Sometimes, you just know.
Nick Bosa is banged up. Fred Warner’s play has been hampered by an ankle injury. Dre Greenlaw’s return can’t promise too much. The offensive line couldn’t run block against Seattle. Brandon Aiyuk is out for the season. Deebo Samuel’s offensive numbers are down. So are Brock Purdy’s.
Special teams deserves its own paragraph.
And Kyle Shanahan is not having a good year thus far.
Clock management, bad challenges, personnel usage, play-calling — all of it has played out in the three critical losses to the Seahawks, Cardinals and Rams. The 49ers blew 4th quarter leads in each of those games, and that’s on everyone, but mostly the head coach. He sets the tone. He calls the plays. He instills the edge and discipline and fire to close out games.
For his entire career, Shanahan has been outstanding at all of the above. It’s why the 49ers’ 40 wins since 2021 are the fourth-most wins in the NFL, trailing only the dreaded Kansas City Chiefs (46), the Buffalo Bills (44) and the Philadelphia Eagles (42). Heck, if Shanahan and the 49ers had closed out those NFC West fourth-quarter leads this year, they’d trail no one in the NFC the past three-plus seasons.
But that’s the point. They haven’t closed those games out, and you can’t paint those games as one-offs at this point. Each loss has been plagued by more than just one thing. The Niners have been plagued by key penalties, a lack of crispness. The Niners have been plagued by failure in the red zone, a sign defenses are catching up to Shanahan. The Niners have been plagued by special teams failures, a lack of focus from the staff. The Niners have been plagued by an inability to salt away a lead, a lack of finishing touch from Purdy and the offense.
Give Dr. Murphy the stethoscope and thermometer and I’ll give you the diagnosis: all of these are symptoms of the dreaded Super Bowl Hangover. Take two losses and call me in the morning.
The 49ers look physically and emotionally tired. It’s OK to say it, and it’s OK to understand it. You can’t win ‘em all, kids.
That’s why I think their season is toast.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m there on Sunday, on the couch, hi-def TV dialed into Lambeau Field. And the following Sunday, out in Buffalo. And on and on. It’s 49ers football. I want to watch. I just know in my gut what I’m seeing.
But that’s why they play the games, sports fans — to prove mouth-breathing radio/YouTube/Twitch morons wrong.
Now let me get to the toast before it burns.
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