And I thought that Tampa Bay vs. Green Bay was a boring game. Jimmy G has broken a decades old curse with his ineptitude as the 49ers fall 11-10 to the Denver Broncos in what has to be the WORST game played in the past 10 years.
And here I thought that the Packers vs. Bucs was going to wind up was the worst game of the weekend. How could two teams combine for an even worse offensive display than what we saw between Rodgers’ Packers and Brady’s Bucs?
Well, leave it to Jimmy G and new Broncos HC Nathaniel Hackett to fulfil that wish (well, more like a nightmare). I legitimately thought that I was sucked back into the 1940’s and watching a matchup between two teams that could only pass the ball laterally in order to move it down the field.
It was actually scary to watch how quickly two “offensive” coaches’ gameplans could go south.
Absolutely nothing on offense worked for either team as that game divulged into a 60-minute-long punting showcase. THERE WERE 17 PUNTS!!! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!?!
This is now the second Sunday Night Football game that has stunk in a row. What is with NBC picking these awful games to showcase for a national audience?
Anyway, as I alluded to, the only thing even worth mentioning from that abomination of a football match was a safety that redeemed the entire career of a certain QB-now-ESPN analyst.
And that would be the one and only…Dan Orlovsky.
Yup, Jimmy Garoppolo committed the funniest play in all of football last night as midway through the 2nd Quarter, Jimmy G and his 49ers offense found themselves pinned back on their own 3-yard line. Already having thrown an incomplete pass on 1st down, the 49ers resolved to call another pass play to get some room and add to their 7-3 lead.
So, what did the ‘offensive genius’ (I think he’s SUPER overrated) Kyle Shanahan call? A play-action screen pass.
Yes, the 49ers ran a play action screen pass on their own 3-yard line with half of the 49ers offensive line rushing out of their protection assignments to set up the screen.
Obviously, the Broncos defense, who was remarkably better than what they showed in their previous two outings, easily snuffed out what the 49ers were doing and blitzed Garoppolo, who was forced to retreat all the way to the out-of-bounds marker in his own endzone.
And that’s where the curse of Dan Orlovsky was shattered for good. Garoppolo looked like a 3rd grader in a trigonometry class as he panicked, stepped out of the endzone, and then lobbed a 50-50 pass that Broncos LB Bradely Chubb picked off and returned for a touchdown.
Unfortunately for Chubb, the play was ruled dead the moment Garoppolo stepped out of the endzone, but it’s still kind of funny to think that Jimmy G was responsible for giving up 9 points on a single play.
You have to be an extra level of incompetent to do that.
Nonetheless, Russell Wilson and the Broncos offense finally woke up with 4 minutes left in the 4th Quarter by leading a TD drive that won them the game 11-10, thankfully putting us all out of misery.
With Wilson lighting up the 49ers defense that entire drive before Melvin Gordon rushed for 7, I’m guessing he was sick and tired of listening to the Broncos crowd booing him and the offense after each 3-and-out drive. And there were a lot.
Wilson actually looked like the hall-of-famer that he will be when he retires.
Still, I’m not certain that Wilson and Nathainel Hackett have figured out this offense yet. There were so many drops, missed throws, rushes tackled in the backfield, and some really questionable play calls all night long that it’d be foolish to think that the Broncos are now going to go on an 11-game winning streak.
Sure, the Broncos are now 2-1, but they are very lucky to even have 15 points across 3 games, let alone two wins in that same span. I still believe that Hackett is in over his with this Broncos job, and the bad receiving and running back play is only reaffirming my beliefs.
As for the 49ers, they might be in some SERIOUS trouble if the offense continues to fail. I honestly believed that Shanahan and Garoppolo would be able to turn things around after a lackluster win against the Seahawks last week, but last night’s game was even worse!
Is the rift between the HC and now starting QB so great that they can no longer work together? If you’re a 49ers fan, you’d certainly hope not.
Only time will tell if the 49ers can overcome their struggles, but it’s not looking good as they’re now 1-2 and have the defending Super Bowl champions next on their schedule.
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