Niners undone by Rodgers’ magic.
Gut-wrenching loss was nothing but positive for 49ers
It was right there, in the 49ers’ hands — a win, on the road at historic Lambeau Field, in front of a national TV audience on Monday Night Football.
Given everything that’s happened to the Niners this season, how sweet it a win would have been.
And the Niners were so close. The hard part was over, too. San Francisco led by a touchdown and had the ball in their possession with four minutes left in the game. All they had to do was finish the job. That didn’t happen.
In fact, the 49ers choked the game away.
Aaron Rodgers needed only three minutes to turn a touchdown deficit into a three-point win, handing the Packers a possibly season-saving win and the 49ers their fifth loss of the six-game season.
But you know what? That was the best case scenario for the 49ers.
Coaches, players, broadcasters, and trainers will tell you that there’s no such thing as a moral victory in the NFL, but I’d beg to differ — the 49ers had one Monday night.
Because while it’s frustrating for a team to let a win as improbable as Monday’s slip away, the last thing the Niners want to be doing in April is thinking back to a game in October, one of 16 contests in a lost season, and regret having won it.
These Niners aren’t going to the playoffs — we knew that well before they fell to 1-5 on the season — but Monday’s game showed that they’re not going to be far away from that level in next year.
And between now and then, wouldn’t it be great to add a few really good draft picks?
Yes, it’s a loss, but if you’re a 49ers fan, there are plenty of positives to glean from Monday’s night’s game.
We saw solid play for large swatches of time from this team’s beleaguered defense. We saw head coach and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan call a masterful game (for three-plus quarters) and backup quarterback C.J. Beathard be near-perfect through three.
We saw how much more dynamic the 49ers’ offense can be when wide receiver Marquise Goodwin is running at 75, maybe even 80 percent — opposing defenses don’t know what to do with him, and the entire field opens up for the red and gold.
We saw the Niners run the ball down the throat of a pretty solid Green Bay front-seven, while a secondary that was exploited early and often adjusted and starting stringing together solid possessions (before falling apart at the end).
We saw good things. And that, more than the final score, should be the takeaway of Monday’s game.
At the same time, I feel that the Niners’ loss to the Packers was a tease — I couldn’t help but imagine what that game would have looked like if Jimmy Garoppolo and Jet McKinnon had been healthy for it, what would have happened on defense if DeForest Buckner and Ronald Blair (who had a breakout game) had some help from the defensive end position.
Yes, the Niners nearly won that game with an injury-riddled, flawed, and inexperienced roster.
I know this: they’ll be better for the experience.
And the team will likely be better next year — even if it’s just marginally — because of the loss.
Football is an immensely complicated sport that evolves in tangible ways on a weekly basis. Think about all of the “revolutions” that have come through the league
in the last half-decade — baseball and basketball have eras, but football has fads.
And because football so complicated and variant and no one has the attention span for anything more than Cliff Notes these days, many like to use wins and losses as the empirical metric of success.
That, of course, is foolish. Anyone who watched Monday’s game will understand that.
Because if the Niners play every contest going forward, this year and beyond, with the effort and heart that they put on the field Monday — the same kind of effort and heart we saw all of last year and most of this season — it won’t matter if they go winless down the stretch in 2018, there will be a positive base built for 2019.
And with that being the case, the Niners might as well increase their chance to land Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa (or another elite college prospect) in the draft.
When you have a talent deficit — and even with all of the injuries to the Packers, the Niners still had a talent deficit Monday — all you can ask for is complete effort and sound basics.
That being the case, Monday night confirmed that the Niners are a wellcoached team, and that coach and his general manager are getting the right kind of players to create long-lasting (as much as anything is long-lasting in this NFL) success.
It’s not here yet — no sir. And it might not have come had Garoppolo not tore his ACL in Kansas City in Week 3, either.
At the same time, there are plenty of places to see incompetence around the NFL. In fact, a certain local-but-desert-bound team might be the best example of it going — but save for the 1-5 records, there aren’t many similarities between the Bay Area NFL teams.
One team is directionless. The other team is close to figuring it all out, even if they probably won’t put it all together until next year.
One team is pointing fingers and initiating trade talks. The other team is rallying around a backup quarterback in a season where the playoffs are a pipe dream.
One team plays soft. The other team is willing to engage in every scrap, even if they’re obviously overmatched.
I know which team I’d bet on to come out of this season for the better.
So don’t let impatience get the best of you, 49ers fans. This route might take longer than expected, and the ride might be really bumpy, but it’s the right way to go.
And Monday’s game — as heartbreaking and frustrating as it might be — should help convince you that this team will eventually get to the desired destination.