Niners fan here. I don't think there's any way we win on Sunday. The team is just a mess right now, and the coaching has been atrocious.
I could go on and on about this, but here's a quick breakdown:
Mangini's D:
Against the Steeler's, the niners gave up pass completions of 59, 56, 48, 41, and 35 yards. Most of these were completed with our safeties creeping up into the box to show blitz, and then retreating to cover the deep zone. The problem? Brown and DHB were beating them there, hanging our young corners out to dry. It's possible that the players simply weren't executing the gameplan, but you would think that after you D was burned once, twice, three times deep, that Mangini would adjust. Hell, just park the safeties deep and force Ben to execute the offense 10 yards at a time.
Against the Cards, Mangini was again far too cute. He opted to primarily play our base defense against the Cards 11 personnel. At times, our 270 pound OLB's were not merely dropping into coverage, they were manned up against the slot wr. Brooks versus Fitzgerald isn't going to work. In zone, the players clearly weren't comfortable, guarding "their grass" more than their opponents. Seriously, wrs were catching balls with a 3-5 yard cushion.
The niners D does have some talent. They have a very deep Dline that can stuff the run and collapse the pocket. Their Olb's, when motivated, are good against the run and can also drive OT's into the Qb (but they aren't going to blow by blockers). In other words, Qbs that aren't skittish have plenty of time to throw. In regards to our ILB's Wilhoite is serviceable, and Bowman is great (unfortunately, he doesn't look 100% recovered). Our safeties have been very good in the past, but they have looked terrible in Mangini's crazy schemes. Our corners are very young. They could have talent, but they look lost out there.
BTW if you thought Bennet was bad, you should see how often Brooks jumps offsides.
The Offense:
Under Harbs / Roman, this team was always run first - that hasn't changed. But Roman had the most varied run scheme in the NFL. Geep Chryst now pretty much runs a zone blocking scheme exclusively. The problem here is that the niners have one of the worst OC's, RG's, and RT's in the NFL. The Oline doesn't move as a unit and D's exploit those chasms rather easily. Chryst tries to hide the line by mostly running a 13 personnel (1 back, 3 TE's).
And while Harbaugh tried to incrementally give Kaep more responsibility to allow him to grow as a Qb, this staff has shown zero confidence in him. The mantra around the niners was that they were going to "do what they do well." Apparently that meant hiring a radio host who has stated that "he would rather have a mobile Qb at the sacrifice of accuracy" as the Qb coach. Chryst has also pared down the passing offense to almost nothing. So now we have a predictable offense, no oline, a rb getting hit in the backfield, and a QB with a scaled down playbook and no confidence trying to convert a 3rd and 9.
BTW Hyde is awesome if he actually gets room.
Packers may start out slow after 2 big wins and playing an inferior opponent, but they'll shake it off. SF 17 - GB 41
