Which one injury killed us most?

[FrankRizzo]

We had a good chance to beat the 49ers.
Just as they, 2 weeks later, had a good chance to beat Seattle.

Games like those, it's often just one, or two, plays that make the difference.

Our loss to the Niners, our defense fared better than a lot of us feared, but there were just a couple of breakdowns or missed picks by Hyde, Bush, Daniels. And we had a ton of injuries on defense.

But where was our MVP-Rodgers Offensive juggernaut?

Rodgers again didn't have a very good game.
He had his trio of WR's in Jordy, Jones, and Cobb, plus Boykin. He had Eddie Lacy and James Starks. Our OL was the same one as all season long, amazingly healthy.

But he was missing Jermichael as the threat at TE, down the seem and wide, allowing the ILBs and safeties to cheat in a little bit and bottle up Lacy.

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I know we won the Super Bowl without Jermichael Finley 3 years ago, but that was with a great Greg Jennings and a great defense when you had Collins and Woodson back there plus Cullen Jenkins.

Losing 23-20, it's hard to fault the defense for this one as a Rodgers-Lacy-Jordy-Cobb-Jones offense should be able to score more than 23, especially at home.

The offense put up goose-eggs in both the opening quarter, and the 3rd quarter. Zips.

Rodgers only threw for 177 yards, 50 less than Colin Kaepernick.
Kaepernick also ran for 98 yards.
Kaepernick performed better than Rodgers did all things considered.

Which one guy (injury), if you can pinpoint just one, made the biggest difference in us being eliminated that day?

I realize Matthews is the best player on our team besides Rodgers. That's clear-cut pretty much.
But I believe us missing Jermichael, that game, was more costly. Our defense did good enough to win.
Not our offense.
They took away Lacy, and the deep balls to Jordy & Cobb. That's because they didn't have to worry about a threat at TE like Jermichael. Finley, for all his problems and criticizms from fans, was a weapon for us. Very underrated what he did to opposing defenses, when healthy.

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Occupy Qualcom

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[Einstein McFly]

20 points in the playoffs isn't bad. Our mistake was not playing Starks more because Lacy was on a bad ankle. That may have helped out. Also, EDS missed blocked the wrong guy on that running play with Cobb. Besides that, our offense was fine. Bulaga was a big loss. Take Staley off the 9ers and see if they're as good.

Our defense played much better than they had previously too, but in the end everyone knew in the last five minutes that the 9ers were going to run, we put everyone and their uncle in the box and couldn't stop them. They ran right down into range and then into better and better range behind Gore. That's how we lost the first bear game too. We only play base 3-4 25% of the time, but if we can't play it well enough to stop teams on obvious "run-the-clock-down-for-the-last-shot-at-a-score" scenarios, we're going to lose that way more and more.

 

[rodell330]

Had Matthews been there Kap doesn't run for a 1st down . Mulumba was chasing him with a visibly bad leg smh.

 

[packfan1]

20 points in the playoffs isn't bad. Our mistake was not playing Starks more because Lacy was on a bad ankle. That may have helped out. Also, EDS missed blocked the wrong guy on that running play with Cobb. Besides that, our offense was fine. Bulaga was a big loss. Take Staley off the 9ers and see if they're as good.

Our defense played much better than they had previously too, but in the end everyone knew in the last five minutes that the 9ers were going to run, we put everyone and their uncle in the box and couldn't stop them. They ran right down into range and then into better and better range behind Gore. That's how we lost the first bear game too. We only play base 3-4 25% of the time, but if we can't play it well enough to stop teams on obvious "run-the-clock-down-for-the-last-shot-at-a-score" scenarios, we're going to lose that way more and more.[/quo

 

[packfan1]

Had Matthews been there Kap doesn't run for a 1st down . Mulumba was chasing him with a visibly bad leg smh.

Agreed...that was the killer. I believe you're talking about the last 3 minutes or so of the game when it was like 3rd and 11 or something like that. With Matthews out, Bush blitzed inside off the edge instead of keeping outside containment-which then allowed Kapernick to get outside and scramble for the first down with only a few minutes left. That play, the missed opportunity of the Hyde pick, and our offenses' inability to pick up key 3rd downs were the difference in a close game IMO.

 

[Powarun]

The second Shields went down I figured our chances were slim, I figured Bush would make a crucial mistake which he did.

 

[FrankRizzo]

I just believe our offense was bottled up partly because we didn't have anyone at TE the Niners even worried about.
It allowed them to key on Lacy (under 4 a carry), and Jordy over the top.

I really now am hoping against hope that somehow he's A) cleared to play again and B) it's with us.
Bostick and Quarless may be "serviceable", but defenses don't gameplan at all for them like they do Finley, and that has a ripple effect and helps the offense.

 

[rodell330]

The second Shields went down I figured our chances were slim, I figured Bush would make a crucial mistake which he did.

That's why backups are backups. The moment I saw Bush blitz I knew he would somehow blow containment. It was a great call by Capers but poorly executed by Bush. Your lone job is to keep Kap in the pocket yet you fall for a pump fake, leave your feet, and watch Kap outrun a hobbled Mulumba to the first down marker ...game over. Watching that play was more painful then watching Hyde drop that pick because you just knew the guy was going to run the dang ball...the entire stadium knew except Bush.

 

[Greenbayphil]

Matthews in the 49ers game. I really believe that if we have Matthews, that game would have looked a lot different.

The one injury that I believe has affected us the most, and unfortunately I think has been a huge hindrance on our ability to make decent runs in the playoffs, is Nick Collins :\

 

[Deleted member 6794]

20 points in the playoffs isn't bad. Our mistake was not playing Starks more because Lacy was on a bad ankle. That may have helped out. Also, EDS missed blocked the wrong guy on that running play with Cobb. Besides that, our offense was fine.

After watching the play again I think it was Lang´s assignment to block Bowman instead of forming a double team with Barclay to block McDonald.

 

[Carl]

Matthews. No question. He's one of the best defensive players in the game when out there.

 

[FrankRizzo]

Matthews. No question. He's one of the best defensive players in the game when out there.

He is.
But we should have scored more than 20 points.
Why was our offense bogged down when Rodgers had Lacy and all his WR's?
Because he was missing his threat at TE.

Not only no plays made from the TE in the end zone, but he didn't take any focus from their defense, allowing them to focus on Lacy & Jordy more.

I realize we won XLV without Jermichael. But A) we had Jennings, Jordy, and Jones as 3 great ones and B) our defense still had Collins, Woodson (for almost one half), and Jenkins.

Jermichael, for all his "issues", has been a very underrated cog for us. I want him back. He'd help more, if back, than any rookie would.

 

[El Guapo]

That was a cold game, and it did make a difference for the 49ers. Our defense may have miraculously played better but San Francisco wasn't performing at 100% in the cold. Let's not kid ourselves.

I honestly think that we missed Johnny Jolly a lot. I'm 50% saying that for what he could have physically done in the trenches, but the other 50% is for the fire he could have inspired done the stretch when players needed to dig deep.