Let's take a quick peek at the Niners losses, and see how and who beat them.
From most recent (Week 16 beatdown by Seattle), to longest ago.
Week 16, Lost 42-13 @ Seattle
The 49ers are clearly a physical smash mouth team. From the OL, RB, to all 3 levels on defense.
But Seattle gave them a strong, overdosage of their own medicine in this beautiful beatdown on NBC Sunday Night.
It was 28-6 at the half.
San Fran had just 1 sack of Seahawk QB Russell Wilson, a mere 1-yard loss as he almost made it to the LOS before Issac Sopoaga got him.
The key stat in the game was Seattle was 11-13 on 3rd down conversions. That's fantastic, and frustrating as hell for the defense.
Kaepernick was just 3-11 picking up 3rd downs.
Turnovers weren't the big factor really as it was 2-1 for the Hawks.
Russell Wilson had a 115.3 passer rating with a career high 4 TD passes, and Marshawn Lynch + Robert Turbin had 150 yards on 5 yards a carry. Frank Gore was held to 28 yards rushing, and Kaepernick had 31.
This was the game that Vernon Davis got plastered, cleanly with a flag thrown. And #2 or 3 WR Mario Manningham had his ACL taken out by a Dashon Goldson clone.
Week 15, Won @ New England 41-34
Patriots outgained them 520 to 388 total yards.
Patriots out-first downed them 32-19.
Total plays run were 92 to 65 for the Patriots.
But the turnovers were 4 by the Patriots to 2 by the Niners.
Kaepernick surprised Belichick with his arm, throwing for 4 TDs.
The Niners rushed for 180 yards.
They sacked Brady 3 times for -18 yards, and they pressured him into 2 Ints.
Still, once New England got down 31-3, they opened it up, spread out the defense, and went no huddle and aired it out.
Brady threw for 443 yards and brought them all the way back to 31-31, this without Gronkowski.
But they lost it at the end.
Still, it exposed the Niners a little bit as they could not stop San Fran in that 4th quarter once Brady got rolling.
But can our OL protect Rodgers in that type of deal?
Week 13, Lost 16-13 @ St. Louis
I really don't know how the Rams match up so well with them. The Rams also tied them earlier in the year in a game that either team could have won.
In this one, Legzilla Greg Zuerlein won it for the Rams with a 54-yard FG as overtime expired, after making a 53-yarder as time expired to force overtime.
Do you think Mason Crosby could do that? If so, I have some oceanfront property in Oklahoma I'd like to sell you.
The 49ers really deserved this game as they had an overwhelming 8-19 to 3-16 edge on 3rd doen conversions and that is usually a very telling stat. The Rams, in 5 quarters in a windless dome, only had 293 total yards.
But the
Rams held Franky Gore to 58 yards on 23 carries - DISCIPLINED TACKLING.
They did let the Greek QB Kaepernick get loose on a 50 yard run, which I fear we are capable of doing, even with Woodson in there. He can't be everywhere.
This game was in the Rams dome, and I'd sure like to play the 49ers in that dome with our passing offense.
Justin Smith was a beast with 8 tackles, 3 for losses, and 1 sack.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=321014025
Week 6, Lost 26-3 at home vs NY Giants
The Giants outrushed the Niners 149-80, a dose of their own medicine. Eliw as efficient but not spectacular. Just had 193 yards, and 1 TD. But no ints.
That's unlike Alex Smith who threw not one or two, but THREE interceptions.
This crept into the back of the mind of Harbaugh and even after Smith had a great stretch, before his concussion, it was there... so when Kaepernick looked great in that one game, that was it for Alex.
Ahmad Bradshaw was a workhorse little guy with 116 big yards on 27 carries. Rookie David Wilson chipped in 35 yards on 7 carries.
If our OL can block like theirs did, whether it's for Harris, Starks, Green, or Grant, we have a chance too.
Here is the key though.
Eli Manning was NOT SACKED AT ALL. In 28 pass attempts.
Can you imagine Rodgers throwing it 28 times with no sacks? Holy Cheese, he might complete 25 or more of them.
The Giants had 6 sacks. There was your ballgame, beatdown. I wish we had Pierre Paul for this one.
Week 3, Lost 24-13 at Minnesota
It wasn't Adrian Peterson by himself, as the strong Niner defense held him to 86 yards on 25 carries, 3.something per carry. Far better than we have ever done.
But here's the KEY again: The Niners got
ZERO, NO, NONE sacks on Christian Ponder. As a result, Ponder threw ZERO interceptions, with 2 TDs.
The Vikings sacked Smith only 3 times, but that helped pressure him into an Int during the game, as well as a lost fumble by Smith and one by Frank Gore.
The stout Vikings defense limited the Niners to 280 total yards for the game, limited the Niners ground game to a long run of 11 yards on the day. IMAGINE THAT.
Third down conversions were 4-10 for San Fran, and 7-14 for Ponder and the Vikings.
The Vikings also were 1-1 on 4th down.
The zebras only called 1 penalty on the Vikings I see, LOL..... they never get called for holding on those edges somehow....
So learning from this, PASS PROTECTION IS THE KEY.
They sacked Rodgers 3 times back in week one. Who knows how many were the OL fault and how many were Rodges for taking so long.
But think about this: Rodgers completes 2/3 of his passes usually, so those 3 big losses (24 yards) not only lost 24 yards, but they prevented 2 possible big plays.
Our OL has to stand strong, and by inserting EDS at center, sticking with Barclay at RT, they seem to be betting that we can. I worry a ton here.
Also, the opposing defenses didn't let Vernon Davis get deep on them, nor let Frank Gore go wild.
With our recent focus on tackling Peterson, maybe they can carry that over on Gore.
But these guys have a lot more variety and dangerous targets than those Vikings did, plus a great OL who somehow are all still healthy. As are their LBrs and DL (Justin Smith hobbled, but he's still there).
For us to win, we need to see some numbers like this:
3rd down conversions:
San Fran 4/11
Packers 8/14
time of possession
San Fran 28:30
Packers 31:30
1st downs
San Fran 17
Packers 22
total yards
San Fran 325
Packers 390
sacks by
San Fran 1
Packers 3
ints by
San Fran 0
Packers 1
That's with 0-0 in turnovers. Each turnover will sway the game, so if they're even zero, with the numbers above, we win about 24-17.