Not Quite Good Enough: A Postscript on the 49ers, By Chuck Strom

As most of you are aware, the San Francisco 49ers ended their season in dramatic fashion, losing the NFC Championship Game in overtime to the New York Giants due to a turnover on special teams and a subsequent field goal . Since the 49ers had won many of their games in the same way during the season, it was an appropriate end to it all. For those who want detailed breakdowns of the game and the future prospects of the 49ers, I would recommend the articles and podcasts on Bill Simmons’s website www.grantland.com, a great source of entertaining and literate writing on sports and pop culture. To those of us who went to North Park when it was still a college instead of a university, I would suggest that it is the publication that the College News might have been with an unlimited budget and Web access. I mean this as a compliment; the CN was ahead of its time.

A few observations in regard to the 49ers and their season’s end:

1. Whatever might be said of the 49ers’ management, they demonstrated a perfect sense of the moment by having Huey Lewis sing the national anthem at the playoff game with the New Orleans Saints. Lewis was a constant presence with the 49ers during the glory years of the ‘80s and ‘90s, performing at many of their games and spending a lot of time on the sidelines with Montana and Clark. He signified the resurgence of the franchise as much as anyone that day, including Vernon Davis. For that moment alone, I wish I’d been there in person. 2. On defense, the 49ers played a masterful game against the Giants. Their adjustments in the second half totally shut down Eli Manning and the New York offense, and if Kyle Williams, the substitute punt returner, hadn’t gifted the Giants with two short fields on which to score their final ten points, the 49ers would be on their way to Indianapolis. 3. Not that I have hard feelings toward Williams; Jim Harbaugh asked a lot from him to take on such a crucial role in a game of that magnitude–in sloppy conditions to boot. Williams was clearly having difficulties; during the second half he had to dive to catch another punt. That should have been enough for Harbaugh. Replacing Williams during the game was out of the question, but Harbaugh could have instructed him to fair-catch every subsequent ball. This may sound drastic, but the likelihood of Williams breaking a long return in those conditions was remote, and Harbaugh should have recognized the danger and made the necessary adjustment. 4. Dramatic as the overtime turnover was, ultimately it may not have mattered, because the 49er offense looked like it wouldn’t have gained another first down for the rest of the night. Alex Smith has received much of the blame for this, but it’s hard to tell how much of the fault was his and how much was due to the inability of his receivers to get open—at least those not named Vernon Davis. The game films should tell the tale; my guess is that they will induce the 49ers to make the wideout position their highest priority in the upcoming draft.

It would have been nice to see the 49ers win another championship, but at least I had more fun watching these two games than I’d had in over a decade from the NFL. Now the Big Eastern Syndicate has the Super Bowl match-up it wanted all along in the Giants and Patriots. Sigh. Hopefully the commercials will be worth watching.

– Chuck Strom

http://youtu.be/qBWH4TuhP1Y