By: Ben Leonard

Follow Ben on Twitter @Ben___Leonard

After a crushing 17-7 loss to the Seahawks on the road last week, the Forty-Niners were officially eliminated from playoff contention. The offense stalled once again after taking an early 7-3 lead, largely due to the failures of quarterback Colin Kaepernick. The 49ers are suddenly faced with many important decisions for next year, including whether or not to keep head coach Jim Harbaugh, who along with most of his staff, is under contract for next season. This question, along with several others, will be answered in the next two games.

Saturday’s game against the Chargers will give Harbaugh and his coaching staff a chance for redemption. The Chargers are still in the thick of the AFC Playoff race, and the Niners would revel in an opportunity to play spoiler against San Diego (8-6). They will face an uphill battle in San Diego’s high-powered passing offense, which ranks eleventh in the NFL in total passing yards with star quarterback Phillip Rivers at the helm. However, Rivers will be without his favorite target, Keenan Allen, for the rest of the season with collar bone and ankle injuries. He led the team in receptions and receiving yards, and hauled in four touchdowns on the year. Malcom Floyd will assume Allen’s role as the number one receiver, who has scored five times and accumulated 777 yards receiving on the season. Rivers himself is also somewhat banged up, not throwing in the early stages of practice Tuesday nursing a back injury. To make matters worse, leading rusher Ryan Mathews did not practice Tuesday with an ankle injury, and is questionable to play Saturday. The potential losses of Allen and Mathews will likely put a damper on San Diego’s offense, and make San Francisco’s job somewhat easier on defense and the Niners’ coaching staff, who direly need a vote of confidence at this point.  The Niners’ defense has been solid, but not great, all season long, ninth-best in the NFL in allowing 20.4 points per game.

Unlike the Niners’ defense, the 49ers’ offense has stalled of late, averaging less than eight points per game in losing three straight games. Colin Kaepernick has been partially to blame, but so has offensive coordinator Greg Roman and the offensive line. Kaepernick has been sacked more than any quarterback in the NFL, and has not had many open receivers. This does not excuse Kaepernick’s poor decision making and accuracy, but it certainly has contributed to it. However, San Diego’s pass rush is particularly weak, as they have only accumulated twenty sacks in 2014. This game could prove to be a confidence builder for Kaepernick and the coaching staff, especially with the Chargers’ offense in tatters.

Harbaugh could regain some resemblance of credibility if he adjusts to mask Kaepernick’s weaknesses. The fourth-year signal caller has struggled mightily on deep balls as of late, as heading into last week’s contest, he had completed four of his last twenty-four passes of over ten yards, including two interceptions. If Roman and Harbaugh can recognize this flaw and play to Kaepernick’s strength, running the ball, and give Kaepernick some confidence with shorter passes, the offense will become somewhat rehabilitated.

However, San Francisco likely will be without running back Frank Gore, who is questionable after suffering a concussion Sunday in Seattle. Gore has taken major steps towards regression in 2014, averaging just 3.9 yards per carry and reaching the end zone just three times. Gore’s absence would give San Francisco a good look at second-round pick Carlos Hyde, who has outperformed Gore statistically this season, without receiving significant playing time. Gore will be a free agent after this season, and if Hyde appears serviceable in the season’s last two games, the Niners could opt to let Gore walk to save money. In addition to financial benefits, Hyde is young, and is on the upswing, whereas Gore’s total rushing yards and yards per carry have declined in every year since 2012, signs of a old back on the downswing.

Saturday’s game will have huge ramifications for the future, despite its mathematical insignificance. Conclusions will be drawn that will affect 2015’s team and beyond, on the field and among the coaching staff. The Niners 2.5 point favorites, which seems very generous for a team that lost by nine to the Oakland Raiders, of all teams, just two weeks ago. However, they will have the crowd at Levi’s Stadium behind them in full force, and could be motivated to play to keep their coaches’ jobs.

Stats and info courtesy of NFL.com, ESPN

Featured Image: By Daniel Hartwig [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons