Tag Archives: San Francisco 49ers
Everything to know about Super Bowl 58:
Four years after Patrick Mahomes pedaled backwards and hit Tyreek Hill on “2-3 Jet Chip Wasp” to convert a third-and-15 and start their comeback over the 49ers, these two sides are set to face off again on the biggest stage. This time around, Kansas City is looking to cement itself as a dynasty, with their third championship in five years, while San Francisco is going for their sixth title in franchise history, but the first one in 29 years, after knocking on the door with four NFC championship game appearances in those last five seasons.
The Niners looked dominant throughout the regular season en route to the NFC’s number one seed, before having to battle until the end against the Packers and Lions, coming back from a 17-point deficit in that conference title game. Meanwhile, it wasn’t nearly as smooth a ride for the Chiefs, trying to defend their championship, finishing with an 11-6 record and having to go on the road in the playoffs for the first two teams in the Mahomes era.
Based on the current active rosters, the 49ers are slated to return nine players and the Chiefs seven who were also part of those Super Bowl 54 teams. Both Kyle Shanahan and Andy Reid return as head coaches, while Steve Spagnuolo on defense and Dave Toub on special teams for the Chiefs are the only two of six total coordinators still around. They also have the benefit of a quarterback starting his fourth Super Bowl in five years, but the Niners have their best signal-caller under Shanahan in the Bay Area.
I want to look at both sides of the ball, break down in detail how the offensive and defensive units function respectively, along with how I believe they’ll match up, before presenting a couple of X-factors for each group and ultimately giving you my prediction for the final score.
Let’s dive in:
The 15 minutes that cost the Lions a trip to Super Bowl LVIII
The two teams facing off in Super Bowl 58 are now set, but before we move on to discussing that matchup, I felt that it was necessary to break down why the Lions couldn’t advance past the 49ers.
It’s certainly not simply based on a couple of aggressive fourth-down decisions by their head coach, which was actually a big factor in them even making it to the championship game, but rather a 15-minute stretch where everything went wrong for them!
NFL Power Rankings heading into the final month of the 2023 season:
It’s that point of the year again – we enter the figurative fourth quarter of the NFL season. Teams are starting to separate themselves at the top-end and bottom of the league, but there’s still very little clarity in the middle of the pack. So now I’ll try to distinguish between those squads with similar records, as we head down the home stretch, and rank them one through 32.
As always, these are power RANKINGS rather than standings. So I’m well aware that these aren’t fully compliant with how records stack up and that some teams may have beat others, who are listed ahead of them. I base this on what my eyes tell my first of course, but will bring up different metrics, in order to make my points, as well as add context to certain numbers.
Let’s get into it:
Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers masterpiece at Philadelphia
After having December 3rd circled on the calendar ever since losing the NFC Championship game, the 49ers came back to Philadelphia with revenge on their mind and an incredible gameplan in their pocket.
Kyle Shanahan put together an absolute clinic on how to expose defensive rules and put guys not just in conflict but in absolute hell. Let me break down for you how exactly he did that!
The 5 coolest touchdowns of NFL week 5 (2023):
Every week we see a bunch of interesting play-designs and wrinkles coaches put in the gameplan. These are my five/six favorites from week five!
NFL power rankings after the first quarter of the 2023 season:
We’re one month into the NFL season and it’s time for our first power rankings over the year. While there are teams we feel more or less confident about in our opinions on them, generally I believe we have a good understanding for who the main contenders in both conferences are and which ten plus/minus two teams have a legit shot at lifting up that Lombardi trophy in February. At the same time, there may be about the same amount of groups I feel like don’t have real playoff aspirations. That’s why the middle of the pack may end up being so interesting, to see who still rises of falls.
As always, these are rankings, not standings. I did not want to simply list teams by record and then shuffle them around a bit, but rather actually evaluate how good these 32 franchises are right now. I will incorporate a lot of numbers to support my case, but also try to add the needed context to them, based on what I see on film. That means even if we have two teams with the same record and one of them beat the other head-to-head, that doesn’t automatically determine their order.
Let’s get into the list:
Continue reading
Most pivotal situations of the 2023 NFL season:
Only two weeks away from the 2023 NFL season being kicked off, I decided highlight some situations across the league that are highly volatile and I’m most interested in how they work out. These can be players, team units or coaches heading into crucial years. Altogether I came up with eight questions I’m waiting to have answered.
Just two quick disclaimers:
– Obviously how Deshaun Watson might bounce big for the Browns will be key, but I wanted to focus on different topics, without any off-field implications
– And I had already recorded this before the 49ers lost Taco Charlton to IR
NFC West 2023 draft & roster review
The last week of our divisional draft and roster analyses has arrived and we’re finishing up with the NFC and AFC West!
This particular group of four teams is pretty interesting, since two of them could be competing for the conference when it’s all said and done, while the others I would label as two clearly rebuilding franchises.
The seven sins of NFL week seven:
With Halloween coming up and the seventh week of games in the books, the theme of “the seven (deadly) sins” came to mind for me and I decided to take a closer look at the most recent slate of games through that lense. That way I would seven terms to describe how certain teams hurt themselves by committing those errors.
Halil's Real Footballtalk 