49ers: Arizona dominates S.F. 47-7.
Let’s look on the bright side: Stadium was air-conditioned
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The 49ers came into this game as the cast of a mystery movie in the making. Who are the real 49ers?
They came out of the game starring in a zombie-apocalypse flick.
It was an epic loss to the Cardinals, 47-7. Coming on the heels of an epic loss to the Steelers, the issues become larger than day-to-day questions, such as how road-killish will the 49ers be against Aaron Rodgers and his Packers at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday? Oh, the issues are big. Arizona head coach Bruce Arians earned himself a spot in the Shameless
Hype Hall of Fame last week when he said of the 49ers, “I don’t see any weaknesses anywhere.”
Then, in the air-conditioned confines of University of Phoenix Stadium, the 49ers’ weaknesses were spread out in front of Arians like a deck of cards fanned across the table by a Vegas blackjack dealer.
With those weaknesses so thoroughly exposed on back-to-back Sundays, it’s time to move back from the canvas and take a look at the big picture, raising at least two discussion points:
Forget the blah-blah of putting this
one behind us and moving on, will the 49ers and Colin Kaepernick be able to shake off the psychic hangover from this spirit-crushing loss?
With Kaepernick having the worst game of his career, will the 49ers’ top shakers/movers begin to look to the future with urgency? I’m not the first to suggest this, but what if the 49ers play so poorly the rest of the season that they earn a high draft pick, and there in the green room on draft day sits Cal quarterback Jared Goff ?
Kaepernick, asked if he had any concern there would be a carryover for him or his team to the Green Bay game, said, “No.”
He elaborated a bit, but it was boilerplate stuff, which is mostly what came out of the 49ers’ locker room, from head coach Jim Tomsula on down. What could they say? Hard to wax poetic about a cow pie.
Besides, even the chumpiest NFL team doesn’t quit after a 1-2 start. But this loss was a blow to the entire organization, the leaders of which seemed convinced they had weathered a big storm of personnel change and embarrassment and had come out smokin’, with a competitive new staff and roster. Now, serious doubt has crept in. Linebacker Ahmad Brooks, asked if the 49ers have the players to dig out of this hole, said, “Yeah, we have to take it one step at a time. The losses we had last year were big pieces, man. Guys like Justin Smith, and Patrick Willis and Aldon Smith, those are big shoes to fill.
“We’re all professionals. We’re all here for a reason. This is our team. We’ve got to make the best out of who we have.”
As for Kaepernick, his growing cadre of critics and outright haters had as big a field day as did the Cardinals’ defensive backs. Game clips from Sunday will not be posted on the website of the Kurt Warner College of Quarterbacks.
Hammering Kaepernick now, though, seems almost cruel, a wedgie on his way out the door. In a horrible bit of timing, this was the week Kaepernick chose to come out of his shell, or at least peek out. He spoke, however cryptically, of how he now is allowed to be himself, professionally and personally.
This unexpected revelation built hope that we were going to see a new Kaepernick unfold, free of Jim Harbaugh, operating in an atmosphere better suited to Kaepernick’s skills and personality. Then, boom went the dynamite. In his postgame presser, I thought I saw a bit different Kaepernick. He attempted to answer questions, rather than Dikembe Mutombo them back at the media. Maybe that was out of utter despair.
After Kaepernick threw his second pick-six, Tomsula put his quarterback on double-secret probation, the equivalent of a timeout for a naughty kid, going almost exclusively to the running game. Remember the running game that Jed York, Trent Baalke and Tomsula trumped as the foundation of the New 49ers?
That, too, was exposed. Throw out Kaepernick’s leg work Sunday and the 49ers rushed 22 times for 57 yards.
The defense continued to leak oil like the Joads’ car in “Grapes of Wrath.” Terrible penalties were taken. Nothing worked.
Even the occasional ray of light for the 49ers was dim. Tomsula and his coaches have been trying to pump the brakes on the public hyperventilating over Jarryd Hayne, intimating that his preseason performances were a mirage.
Pressed into duty by necessity Sunday, Hayne returned one punt for 37 dazzling yards. Let’s see Tomsula put
that toothpaste back in the tube. Total disaster for the 49ers in the desert, from the very tip-top down.