Week 13 Review: Dreadful loss dents 49ers playoff hopes

The San Francisco 49ers slipped to a 19-3 loss to the NFC West rival Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night, here were review the Niners' performance in a defeat that severely damaged their playoff hopes.

It was not a happy Thanksgiving for the 49ers.

On a night of celebration across the country the Niners gave their fans little to be thankful for as they produced an anaemic offensive display in an embarrassing loss to the Seahawks.

A smash-mouth contest was anticipated from a rematch of last season's NFC Championship game, however, the meeting was instead dominated by Seattle.

The defense played well, yet this was an encounter that will be remembered for the offense's failure to get anything going against a defense that had supposedly suffered a drop-off in play from the Seahawks' 2013 Super Bowl winning campaign.

Defeat leaves the Niners at 7-5, a game back in the race for an NFC wildcard spot and more than likely needing to win all of their last four games to have a chance of earning a postseason berth.


The Good

Yet again, pretty much all of the positives from a 49ers standpoint came on the defensive side of the ball.

San Francisco's defense kept the Seahawks in check for the majority of the game, with the only touchdown of the game coming after a Richard Sherman interception had gifted Seattle a short field.

The pass rushers consistently pressured Russell Wilson, sacking him four times, but unfortunately the Seahawks signal-caller was able to consistently use his ability to scramble and buy time to pick apart the 49ers with passes to the open man in the flat.

Nobody in the secondary played particularly badly, while inside linebacker Chris Borland put up another sound showing, recording 16 tackles to take his tally for the year to 87. However, the simple fact is that the defense was not able to do enough to make up for the abysmal play of  the offense.

And the fatigue of the defense was evident in the second half as Seattle running-back Marshawn Lynch wore them down to ensure that the 49ers gave up 100 yards to an opposing rusher for the third time in four games, an indignity that this unit did not deserve to suffer.


The Bad

Everything about the San Francisco offense was bad, this was a night where nothing worked but the really frustrating thing for the 49er fans is that it was not surprising.

Greg Roman's group has been medicore throughout 2014, however, Thursday night served as a nadir for this offense.

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick gave further credence to the argument that he is not developing as a pocket passer by tossing two terrible interceptions to Sherman, who celebrated the turnovers with his usual humility, in a mistake-ridden performance.

Kaepernick made bad reads, displayed questionable accuracy and looked far from worthy of the six-year extension handed to him in the offseason.

None of the receivers nor tight end Vernon Davis - whose woeful year shows no signs of abating - were able to get anything going, and the struggles of the passing offense allowed the Seahawks to turn the 49er running game into a complete irrelevance, with Frank Gore gaining just 28 yards on the ground.

In the offseason the 49ers made additions to the offense that had many believing that this unit could develop into one of the more explosive groups in the league.

That has not happened and Thursday night's showing confirmed that nobody is scared of a 49er offense that should be far, far better.

Next Up

The 49ers have room for a maximum of one loss down stretch but, if we're being realistic, they cannot afford any slip-ups in the race for a playoff place.

Jim Harbaugh's men now make the short trip to Oakland to take on the Raiders for a 'Battle of The Bay' in which they figure to be heavy favourites.

Having seen the Raiders in person at Wembley this season, I can say firmly that the Raiders are not a good football team. however, they do possess some young and hungry players, particularly on defense.

The Oakland defense - despite shipping 52 points to the St Louis Rams - is unlikely to be daunted by the prospect of facing the San Francisco offense, which will need to be vastly improved at the O.Co Coliseum in order to avoid a shock setback that would effectively end the season for the 49ers.