Blaming Garoppolo and Shanahan for loss to Seahawks

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The 49ers are back to square one.

After an impressive three-game winning streak, the Niners lost their first game in nearly a month on Sunday, losing 30-23 to a Seattle Seahawks team who needed a win to save their season and maybe her frankness as she knows it.

In a game that was pure chaos, Seattle – which is used to such games – came out on top, but the Niners have only themselves to blame for falling into last place in the playoffs and failing to do so. failing to keep up the tremendous momentum the team had created over the past few weeks.

There have been good performances in the game – the best players have had the best games – but others have been bad, including from the game’s most important participants: the coaches and the quarterback.

Here are the studs and misfires of a game misfire:

NAILS (Photo by Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

George Kittle – The 49ers’ top offensive player needed a big game and he did it, catching two touchdowns and galloping for 181 yards in the win.

His toe kicks along the sideline for that second touchdown – a rush and a 48-yard scorecard – told us he was fully recovered from his calf / Achilles injury early in the season. His ability to stay within limits – going so far as to stay on his toes halfway through the race – suited a player of his pedigree.

Frankly, given how dominant Kittle was, it seems silly that he wasn’t targeted near the end zone in the last practice of the game.

Azeez Al-Shaair – An elite performance from the player who has arguably been the Niner’s second-best defenseman this season, behind Nick Bosa.

Playing middle linebacker for the first time in his 49ers career, Al-Shaair made 16 tackles, a forced fumble, a loss tackle, a quarterback hit and a half-sack. He also nearly had a game-changing interception, but he couldn’t get the ball fully in.

Al-Shaair has arguably been the Niners’ best surprise this season – even those who are bullish on him didn’t see that climb coming – but he’s playing well enough to deserve Pro Bowl consideration.

DJ Jones – It was a really powerful game of the big guy in the middle. He was the best player on the pitch in the first half of the game.

Jimmy Garoppolo in the shotgun with under 3 minutes left – We can be honest he was pretty brilliant on the last drive, going over 90, before missing.

DUDS (Photo by Abbie Parr / Getty Images)

Jimmy Garoppolo under center – Kyle Shanahan had put Garoppolo in the shotgun for the vast majority of his shots over the past few weeks and the Niners quarterback has become a solid football distributor.

On Sunday, Shanahan returned to his favorite playing attack, under center, and Garoppolo was sad.

Yes, there were some decent throws – nothing special, but enjoyable – but the interceptions and the airborne bullets defined this game. Garoppolo left big plays all over the court and gave Seattle some momentum in the game with his two interceptions.

Seattle was selling itself to stop the race and they did. Garoppolo found a way to stay short (or long) on ​​way too many passes.

The 49ers didn’t cross the 50-yard line on offense in the second half before the game’s last practice.

Shanahan has to shoulder a lot of the blame. He put Garoppolo in positions he failed most of the time and his desire to throw the ball into a nine-man box was laughable.

Still, this level of offensive execution from the quarterback is unacceptable for a playoff team.

Deommodore Lenoir – After Emmanuel Moseley left the game in the first half with an ankle injury, Lenoir entered the game and was then beaten deep and caught a defensive pass interference in the end zone .

He was replaced at halftime by Dante Johnson, who was better, but only because you can’t divide by zero.

Josh Norman – Johnson might have been the best cornerback in the competition when he came in as Norman was distressing the entire game. If he doesn’t force a fumble, he’s negative for the Niners.

The 49ers’ right side of the offensive line – Dan Brunskill and Tom Compton were overwhelmed Sunday by an unimpressive Seattle defensive line on a good day.

Brunskill missed blocks in both running and passing games on Sunday, including a few game-breaking opportunities.

Compton was simply overwhelmed. Remember Mike McGlinchey and his inability to anchor last season?

It was Compton on Sunday.

He granted a safety that ensured Seattle had momentum for the rest of the game and although I won’t blame the veteran for the game’s final game, where Carlos Dunlap was able to deflect Garoppolo’s fourth pass deep into the Seattle territory, despite being owned by the Seahawks’ defensive end, suffice to say that this was indicative of his overall game.

DeMeco Ryans – The 49ers cornerbacks have been under siege. The Niners were their last guys off the bench in all of high school.

So why was Ryans constantly blitzing, leaving those cornerbacks and safeties in individual positions for Russell Wilson to exploit?

It’s easy to call something bad coordination, but it was bad coordination. I understand the level of talent Ryans is working with this season. He must do the same.

Richard Hightower – The 49ers had one of the most dismal special team performances of recent seasons on Sunday. And special teams coordinator Richard Hightower was not responsible for Travis Benjamin’s fumble, or Robbie Gould’s missed extra point, or the questionable decisions on punt returns, but he can be blamed for n ‘ have no protection when Seattle not only faked a punt in the first quarter. , but ran that false punt for over 70 yards into the end zone.

A desperate team, seeing wide double coverage on the gunners? Of course, they pretended.

Hightower is a good guy and Shanahan trusts him, but the Niners special teams have been bad this season. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a change of coordinator during the offseason.

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