The San Francisco 49ers were crushed again on Sunday, this time losing 41-23 to the New Orleans Saints for their seventh consecutive loss.
It’s been hard to find many positive takeaways during San Francisco’s miserable start to the season. Former 49ers quarterback Steve Young pointed to one potential ray of light when he joined Tolbert and Lund on Wednesday afternoon, noting that Colin Kaepernick looked more comfortable than he has all season in the losing effort, due to a simplified game plan.
“The good news is it seems like they made a correction with Colin so that he could go back to what he does really well: come off a fake, take the drop and then put your foot in the ground and hit a guy,” Young said. “I don’t want you to think about three or four guys, I want you thinking one guy and find him and let it rip. I think there is something to that.”
Kaepernick had by far his most productive game of the season last Sunday, throwing for 398 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Young believes that while simplifying things is not necessarily a recipe for long term success, it’s the best option for the 49ers right now.
“It makes him more decisive. It helps him not get cluttered and I felt like that’s what was happening,” Young continued. “It’s like Chip says ‘every play has a solution.’ Every defense you throw at me there’s a solution in there, you just have to unravel it and that’s not what you want right now. You want to just say look we’re going to call this play and it’s to Vance McDonald and that’s what we’re going to do. Or we’re going to run. That way, you come out of the huddle with a clear picture. Now you can start to make some throws. And do some stuff that at least you can get productive.”
“We all know what it takes to play for 15 years and decipher defenses, and calculate through all of it and throw guys open. That’s master stuff, and that’s not where we are. We’re taking it where we sit and we’re going to try to make the most of it.”
Listen to the full interview below.
