Reasons for the 49ers to be Optimistic
Analyzing reasons for the San Francisco 49ers to be optimistic coming out of their bye week.
Transcript
00:00 Give me your reasons for optimism.
00:01 The Niners have lost three in a row,
00:03 but they're still five and three,
00:05 and they don't have to play this weekend.
00:06 What are your, are you optimistic?
00:09 - Oh, I'm very optimistic.
00:10 I mean, if you're been a Niner fan for more than this year,
00:14 look at the last two years.
00:16 I mean, they've started much worse, right?
00:19 Much worse.
00:20 I think there were three and five last year
00:21 at one point, correct?
00:23 Right, and they are five and three this year, right?
00:25 And I think in my mind, when they were five and O,
00:30 and everyone was really happy,
00:31 I had a level of anxiety.
00:33 - I wasn't happy.
00:35 - They were peaking too soon.
00:36 Why?
00:37 Well, I mean, it was more,
00:38 other than being boring, correct?
00:39 And that too, right?
00:40 - Yeah.
00:41 - I think it's boring.
00:43 Yes, I think this, I think they needed this.
00:46 I think they needed to figure out
00:48 what was gonna work defensively
00:50 and what wasn't gonna work defensively.
00:51 I do think Chase Young is gonna be great,
00:53 but the statistics, it's a nice to have, right?
00:57 And frankly, they need to solve
01:00 what they're gonna do at their nickel spot,
01:03 because they're gonna go against offenses
01:05 that are coming up where the nickel receiver
01:08 is their primary receiver that's coming up, right?
01:11 So they gotta figure that out fast,
01:13 'cause that guy can't cover anybody.
01:14 So they gotta figure that out
01:16 and hope they get reinforcements.
01:18 So I do think there's-
01:19 - Hold on, let me stick with that for a second.
01:20 Let me stick with that for a second.
01:21 Reasons for optimism.
01:22 I feel like this team has needed to be,
01:25 they've needed to be honest with themselves for a long time.
01:28 This team is the king of like lying to itself.
01:31 Hey, we just lost the NFC Championship game,
01:32 but it's not our fault.
01:34 In fact, we were gonna win that game,
01:38 but some fluky stuff happened.
01:39 Like that's them.
01:40 And then they win five games or three games,
01:43 and they're like, see,
01:44 that proves that we were gonna win the Super Bowl last year,
01:46 and that we are the best team,
01:47 and let's give Kyle an extension,
01:49 and let's beat our chest after five games.
01:51 It's like, nah, man, that's the whole reason
01:53 why you don't win Super Bowls.
01:54 This whole culture right here.
01:56 If you could just look yourselves in the mirror, honestly,
01:59 and really understand your strengths and weaknesses,
02:03 you just might win the whole thing
02:04 'cause you're so freaking talented.
02:07 You know what I'm saying?
02:08 - The Cowboys did it.
02:08 They lost to the Niners,
02:09 and Dred has played his best three-game stretch since that.
02:14 And that was probably the one.
02:16 And I think you're right.
02:18 I think you need to say,
02:20 hey, we can't do this anymore.
02:23 We have to be honest with ourselves.
02:26 You know, we can't say this, this, and that.
02:28 I think they need to embrace that.
02:30 I do.
02:31 - Yeah, like we haven't,
02:33 they talked about after beating Dallas,
02:36 that they've established a standard.
02:38 And it's not about who you're playing,
02:40 or how much you win by.
02:41 It's all about just playing up to a standard.
02:43 You lost it.
02:44 It's gone.
02:46 You have to reestablish that standard in every way.
02:49 It's not just the final score.
02:50 It's how you approach the whole week of preparation.
02:53 And the way they approached the Cleveland Browns,
02:55 with the way they walked out that game,
02:56 felt like a team that wasn't taking,
02:58 not only their opponent seriously,
02:59 but their season seriously themselves.
03:02 - I think that Browns game, again,
03:05 it was very disappointing.
03:07 And, you know, watching it from--
03:08 - Very disappointing.
03:09 - I was at the,
03:11 I was about four or five rows away from the Browns bench.
03:14 And you could tell that skirmish, you know,
03:16 that lit a little bit extra on the Browns.
03:19 So I think, again--
03:20 - Because, again, like real quick,
03:21 it's not a young team.
03:23 If this were 2019, you made this mistake,
03:25 it's like, all right, man,
03:26 like they don't really, they're not really ready for it.
03:28 This is a team that's been there over and over again.
03:30 So you do it now, and it's like, okay,
03:32 this is a character flaw.
03:34 It's Trent Williams, he's 35.
03:35 It's Debo, you've been here, man.
03:37 Like, this is a character flaw.
03:39 And if you guys don't,
03:40 and that's why one loss turned into three.
03:43 Like this, you are free falling.
03:44 You are in, you are finding rock bottom.
03:46 And if you don't honestly look at yourselves
03:49 in the bye week, in the mirror,
03:51 you're gonna lose to Jacksonville.
03:53 You're gonna lose to Jacksonville.
03:54 So don't tell yourself that you needed this.
03:57 You have to tell yourself,
03:58 we are not as good as we thought we were.
04:00 And we need to start from ground zero, start over.
04:04 - Yes, another reason for, I agree.
04:07 Another reason for optimism is that
04:09 they are not gonna go against teams
04:13 coming off buys as much coming up.
04:16 And I think part of the reason why they looked so exhausted
04:20 was that they were coming off a short week
04:23 and they're going against a team that came off a buy
04:25 and they looked, right?
04:26 It was like a first round buy.
04:28 That team looked like it needed rest.
04:31 Now, ironically, Jacksonville's on a buy.
04:33 So both teams will be fresh.
04:34 So there is no advantage for them on this front, right?
04:38 And so I think, but going forward,
04:41 they'll have some advantages in that aspect.
04:43 And I also think people, when the schedule came out,
04:46 I think people underestimated what rest means to the 49ers
04:52 and how lucky they were last year.
04:54 I counted, they basically had 10 home games last year.
04:58 They had 10, that Rams game and that Arizona game
05:01 that was in Mexico, those are 49er home games.
05:04 And they didn't have to get out of the West Coast at all
05:07 at the end of last year.
05:09 - How many actual road games did they have last year?
05:12 Every time they went on the road,
05:14 the stadium was packed with Niner fans.
05:16 The only road games I remember were Denver, they lost.
05:21 - They lost.
05:22 - Philly.
05:23 - They lost. - They lost.
05:24 They didn't have to go very far.
05:25 Now, Jacksonville, that's probably gonna be a home game,
05:27 but you gotta go real far to make it a home game.
05:30 'Cause I don't think Jacksonville Jaguars fans exist
05:32 or if they do, I don't know if they go to the games,
05:33 but it's a far game.
05:35 - Yeah, yes, yes.
05:36 And they're coming right back
05:37 and they're playing Tampa, right?
05:40 So, yeah.
05:41 So.
05:42 (upbeat music)
05:44 (upbeat music)