Author: joelami

Chip Kelly head coach of the  San Francisco 49ers addresses the media after the loss to the Seattle Seahawks at Levis Stadium in Santa Clara, January 1, 2017. (AP Foto/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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By: Joe Lami

SANTA CLARA, CALIF.–A day after both Chip Kelly and Trent Baalke were relieved of their duties of the San Francisco 49ers, owner Jed York met with the local media. He made it evident that a 2-14 season is not acceptable to anyone in an organization that is so used to winning. He wants to bring back that winning culture, and he plans to be the man to do it.

In the same press conference, York has completely contradicted himself. He noted that he was not involved in any part of the football operations, but also commented he would be the one making the decision of who the next GM or head coach may be. This puts Jed at the very top of football operations, in a role that would be more suited for a President of Football Operations, but he’s not making any football decisions.

The quote of the day was when he stated, and the biggest slap in the face to fans was, “I am own this football team. You don’t dismiss owners”. That may be true Jed, but the point is most owners don’t have the control over the team like you do. They are smart enough or don’t let their egos get bruised if they admit that they don’t know what they’re doing, so they bring in the right people to run the ship.

Everyday Jed York is reminding me more and more of what Al Davis did to the Oakland Raiders in the early 2000s. He had a little bit of success early on and even lost a Super Bowl. But, his downfall came to his ego, believing he knew more about football and how to run a team than anybody else.

Jed York has admitted that he shouldn’t be the one making football decisions, yet doesn’t do anything about it. He will turn to his advisors, who he refused to name drop, yet gave hints as to who they were on this ugly process. But as long as York has the wheel of the ship, the 49ers will not be successful.

It’s time to become the bigger man, step down, and admit you have no clue what you’re doing before your fan base completely abandons you like they should.

espn.com photo: San Francisco 49ers head coach Chip Kelly and general manager Trent Baalke are expected to be relieved of their duties right after Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks at Levis Stadium

By: Joe Lami

The San Francisco 49ers kick off their final game of the horrendous 2016 campaign on Sunday against their division foes, the Seattle Seahawks. It will most likely be the last game where Trent Baalke is the GM of San Francisco, who’s expected to be fired after his drafts have put together a record of 7-24 over the past two season.

Colin Kaepernick is also expected to play his final game in the red and gold. Due to a restructure in his contract, he has the ability to opt out during the offseason to go elsewhere. All indications show that to be the case, as his $3 million San Jose home being put up for sale being the nail in the coffin.

While most of the chatter has been on what might possibly occur on New Years’ Day with the front office, the team still has a game to try and win.

Seattle has already wrapped up the NFC West and are playing for seeding in the playoffs. This means that they won’t hold back against the team that destroyed the San Francisco 37-18 in week three. If Seattle wins and Atlanta is knocked off, the Seahawks will receive a first-round bye. However, if the Niners can pull off the upset, Seattle will drop to the fourth seed.

When Chip Kelly was asked about playing the spoiler role, he said that his team doesn’t look at it that way. They should look at the guys on the other sideline and be pumped up about the competition they’re going against.

The 49ers will be extremely shorthanded once again, as hitting the injury bug has added injury to the insult of this 2016 season. Carlos Hyde, Vance McDonald, Torrey Smith, and Andrew Tiller are all out, with Joe Staley and Rashard Robinson being questionable.

The good news for Niner fans is Sunday will be the end of misery and the team could look forward to their highest draft pick since the 2005 NFL Draft. Once again, the need for the quarterback position is the highest.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan (2) sets up to pass during an NFL game against the Los Angeles Rams on December 11, 2016. The Falcons defeated the Rams 42-14. (Kevin Terrell via AP)

By: Joe Lami

Every week, the San Francisco 49ers seem to find another way to hit what we think is rock-bottom. Last week better have been it for the Niners, after an embarrassing overtime loss to the New York Jets, in which they lead by 14 at the half and by 11 going into the fourth quarter. But 47 total net yards in the second half will cause that embarrassment, even if you’re playing the Jets.

This week, they travel back east for a surprisingly start against the (8-5) Atlanta Falcons. Led by Matt Ryan, who bounced back with an outstanding season that has him already surpassed 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns, the Falcons are trying to stay atop the NFC South standings.

They will be without Julio Jones for the second straight week, but it won’t matter against the second worst team in the NFL. Expect Ryan to throw the ball early, and when the 49ers can finally stop the pass, running back, Devonte Freeman will pick up the ground game to get the passing game back. It’s been a formula that has worked all season against the 49ers, and it should work again for Atlanta.

Expect it to be close in the first half, as the 49ers are surprisingly not terrible in the opening 30-minutes, but are by far the worst team down the stretch of the game. When Chip Kelly was asked about this phenomenon, he said he looked at it on a game by game basis, which means that nothing will change if he doesn’t see the pattern that has occurred over the longest losing streak in franchise history.

With only three games left in the season, the 49ers might start looking towards Christmas Eve to see if they get a present wrapped as a win against the Rams.

AP photo: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) looks for some daylight in the snowy banks of Soldier Field last Sunday against the Chicago Bears. Kaepernick and the 49ers should get better weather this Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons at Levis Stadium

By: Joe Lami

SANTA CLARA–For the second straight week, the San Francisco 49ers have another great opportunity to capture a win, as they go up against a struggling team with a backup quarterback. The New York Jets provide a very similar matchup to what the Chicago Bears brought to the table last Sunday. All eyes will be on the running game and if San Francisco’s defense can come through against Matt Forte.

The biggest problem came on the offensive side of the ball and having zero passing game in the bad weather. Colin Kaepernick finished the day completing one pass for four yards and it gave the Bears the expectation of San Francisco’s tenacity of running the football. With such a one-dimensional offense on the field, San Francisco put themselves in a hole that they couldn’t climb their way out and once Chicago started to get going, they didn’t stand a chance.

It wasn’t until Barkley got going that the floodgates opened, as he finished with 192 yards through the air, but by opening up the passing game, San Francisco also led susceptible to the ground, allowing another 100-yard rusher to Jordan Howard and his three touchdowns.

The second half will continue to be the telling sign of how the outcome will turn out. San Francisco hasn’t put together a full 60-minute contest since week one and if they continue to struggle in the second half, they will continue the franchise’s longest losing streak.

AP photo: Chicago Bears quarterback Matt Barkley drops back to throw against the Tennessee Titans last Sun Nov 27 in Chicago, Barkley and the Bears prepare against the San Francisco 49ers for this Sunday

By: Joe Lami

SANTA CLARA–San Francisco has yet to a win a game on a Sunday, but over the past three games, there has been a lot of improvement compared to early on in the season. The past two road games have also come down to the last play in each contest, where things just didn’t go the Niners way.

This week, they are facing the (2-9) Chicago Bears, a game that will have huge implications on the draft order come April. Chicago comes into the contest on a three-game losing skid, going winless in the month of November.

Their last win came on Monday Night Football against the Minnesota Vikings, where the upset the top team in the NFC North 20-10. The two teams have combined for just one win in the past eight weeks.

Since then, Chicago has lost starting quarterback Jay Cutler and has been forced to ride to the coattails of Brian Hoyer, but he also got injured. Stepping into the position is Matt Barkley. The former USC Trojan made his first NFL start last week, throwing for over 300 yards and completing over half of his pass attempts.

Stopping Barkley in his second career start should be a focus for San Francisco, as it will be a telling sign of what the 49ers are made of.

Having stayed on the east coast all week and practicing in Orlando Florida, the 49ers won’t have to make the cross-country trip once again and will have adapted to the east coast time zone. Hopefully, it will all accumulate for a win for the Niners.

By: Joe Lami

AP photo: New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady shown in game against the Seattle Seahawks last Sun Nov 13th at Gillette Stadium

SANTA CLARA–The San Francisco 49ers are coming off their best performance since the week one shutout of the Rams. Still, it wasn’t enough for San Francisco, as the Arizona Cardinals were able to kick a field goal at the buzzer to win the game.

Even with the loss, the 49ers have stopped the bleeding, at least for now. Thus making Sunday’s contest against the New England Patriots an important game for San Francisco.

Now it’s expected that the 49ers will still lose on Sunday, but the question remains by how much. If they can keep it close, this team has a chance to be on the up-swing.

Now the big story of the week isn’t so much the 49ers having a chance against the class of the NFL, but rather the highly anticipated return of Tom Brady to the Bay Area. The one-time 49ers fan finally gets to go up against his childhood team after being injured the entire 2008 season, the last time the Patriots were in town.

Unfortunately for Brady, he won’t get to perform his magic at Candlestick Park, the stadium he nearly grew up in, but instead the new and very bland Levi’s Stadium will have to do. Brady also reported earlier this week that the game on Sunday is the most ticket request he’s ever received.

Brady will be without his number one target, Rob Gronkowski, after the star tight end sustained a chest injury against Seattle last Sunday night. It won’t matter for the Pats, as they’ll be able to roll San Francisco easy.

Expect another Bay Area product, Julian Edelman to be Brady’s number one target on Sunday with Gronk being sidelined.

The Patriots will be the 49ers ultimate test. If San Francisco can keep it close, there is still hope in Santa Clara for the red and gold to win at least a couple more games this season. However, if they are blown out, it will drain any confidence and momentum built from last week’s loss.