This year has shown many departures from former excellence, imo.
In no particular order of importance but just a stream of consciousness thing…
The Morris hire.
The DeCamillis hire.
The Atwell pick at 57 with Humphrey on the board.
Not having a single run blocking TE behind Mundt.
Not using Higbee more after loss of Woods.
Keeping Hekker over Bojo despite Bono’s clearly outplaying him in preseason.
Not having a single halfway decent PR on the roster. Inexcusable.
Using Kupp as an occasional PR. Seriously?
Depth at RB was suspect even before the Akers injury. How did THAT work out?
McVay with often puzzling playcalling, including not taking what D is giving him and getting away from running game too often.
McVay has apparently become too predictable and opponents have been taking advantage.
Stafford is very good, but being asked to do too much.
The Miller trade is now looking a little iffy to me. He’s not impressing and we’re gonna really miss those 2 premium picks next year.
I thought DW would be a team strength paired with Ramsey but he’s been neutered.
Burgess can’t get on the field despite impressing late last year pre-injury. This on a team with crying needs at both nickel and Safety, dammit!
The Kenny Young trade is looking like we shot ourselves in the foot as we watch Reeder flailing. Gawd!
These are just some highlights off the top of my head, but I will say this. Both Snead and McVay need to put their respective ‘genius’ trophies back into the closet until further notice.
This team should be in the SB conversation but now they’re no lock to even make a wildcard appearance. Color me extremely disappointed.
How the mighty have fallen, huh?
Feel like it's a fun topic to revisit.
I will point out that I lost my shit at the end of the second 9ers game and questioned a lot of what they're doing.. but feel like I'm back to "big picture" .. and it doesn't look too bad.
The Morris hire was a win.
The DeCamillis hire looks like a big win. I think so much of what we saw early was developing young players and getting people into the scheme. The coverage and return units are crushing it right now.
As much as it was a failure to not have a good returner early.. it shows how this organization seems to keep hammering at weaknesses until they find good answers. Powell's been absolutely golden.
Whatever Higbee's usage was earlier.. they're using him about perfectly right now.
Hekker sure looked good last week.
Kupp as a safety valve PR is fine to me.
They had a rash of injuries at RB.. a healthy Akers looks like an absolute star.
McVay's been better about using the run since the losing streak. Much. He still does some things that make me scratch my head.
The run game, D and STs contributing make Stafford's life much easier, for sure. He was fantastic last weekend.
Miller's been absolutely worth the picks and signing him is a big priority for me.
DW has been up and down. I think some is just him.. I think some is injuries.. I think some is usage and I think some is the league knowing his weaknesses now.
Burgess looked good last week, but was notably taken off the field in some situations and replaced with Weddle. I'm not sure what that means, big picture.
Travin Howard is better than Young, it turns out.
They get to keep their "genius" trophies, imo... and are still in the SB conversation.
Again.. not taking shots at this post as much as revisiting where we are know, versus during the losing streak.