Something felt off from the jump. We went from barely losing the Super Bowl in overtime to finishing dead last in the NFC. 6-11. SIX AND ELEVEN. I\u2019ve seen expired milk put up a better fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And if you\u2019re anything like me, you\u2019ve been emotionally checked into the 2025 season since, like, Week 9 of last year. But now that it\u2019s here\u2026 does it actually feel different? Or are we about to get our hearts stomped on again?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now I\u2019m not gonna go full Cowboys on you and say “this is our year”….but I will say: this year hits different and here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problem: <\/strong>It starts with \u201cNick\u201d and ends with \u201cWhy was this man coaching a defense?\u201d Listen, I\u2019m sure he\u2019s a nice guy. Maybe he\u2019ll be a good DC one day. But 2024 was not that day. Our defense ranked 29th in points allowed and dead last in run defense. That\u2019s not just bad. That\u2019s \u201cdid we even line up 11 guys?\u201d bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Part of it was the timing \u2014 we made a Super Bowl run and all the good defensive minds got snatched up before we could blink. So Sorensen got promoted like it was a family business. And like most family-run ventures built on vibes instead of results, it collapsed on itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How it\u2019s been fixed: <\/strong>Robert Saleh is back. Enough said. All gas, no brake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Madden Curse hit Christian McCaffrey hard. <\/strong>Out of nowhere CMC got injured right before the first game and missed the first eight games. When he finally came back, he got hurt again, as did our last shred of optimism. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 13, finishing with just four games and no touchdowns. Brutal year for the former Offensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other starters like Brandon Aiyuk, Trent Williams, and Nick Bosa missed significant time, forcing reliance on rookies. <\/strong>One of them literally got shot and nearly died right before the season even started. But hey, you know what they say: when it rains, it pours. And as if that wasn\u2019t enough, a few players were dealing with unimaginable grief off the field, including the loss of their children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How it\u2019s been fixed: <\/strong>Everyone\u2019s healthy (knock on wood), and the roster has depth again. The rookies are ready. The vets are locked in. Practically full attendance in OTAs. We’re ready to rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019d come out swinging, only to disappear after halftime like someone unplugged the team. In three games against division rivals, we blew late leads. Despite ranking 2nd in yards per play, we couldn\u2019t close. Penalties erased TDs. Red zone trips ended in field goals or worse. We dropped from 8th to 31st in net EPA\/play. Brutal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How it\u2019s been fixed: <\/strong>The offense added depth including Demarcus Robinson, who may not move the needle in a dramatic fashion, but definitely the mid-game jolt we need. Robinson spent 2023\u20132024 with the Rams, helping them make the playoffs in back-to-back years as both a red zone weapon and a legit downfield threat. He\u2019s got that perfect combo of length and speed that makes defenders look like they\u2019re stuck in slow motion \u2014 especially on outside throws. Last season, five of his seven touchdowns came in the red zone. For a WR3\/4? Solid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now picture this:<\/strong> 3rd and Jauan. Demarcus Robinson. Everyone else healthy and back in the mix. Red zone problems? Solved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, okay, technically Jauan Jennings might be holding out for a new contract and technically Robinson could be suspended for a couple of games\u2026 but those are minor technicalities. Blips. Nothing to see here. No one\u2019s panicking. I\u2019m certainly not panicking. Everything\u2019s totally fine. It\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where do we start? <\/strong>Gave up return TDs. Got punts blocked. Couldn\u2019t flip field position. Oh, and 3rd rounder Jake Moody (yes, let’s not forget we drafted a kicker in the 3rd round) got hurt trying to make a tackle and then forgot how to be a kicker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He made just 70.6% of field goals, the worst in the league. Not ideal when your offense stalls inside the 30 every other drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How it\u2019s been fixed: <\/strong>Schneider? Fired. Brant Boyer, the special teams whisperer and Saleh’s sidekick, is in. His special teams units with the Jets cooked \u2014 top five in blocked punts, return TDs, and overall EPA from special teams play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Plus we loaded up on specialists in free agency like it was Cyber Monday: You can\u2019t pretend the Super Bowl hangover isn\u2019t real.<\/strong> Fans felt it. Players felt it. Hell, the water boys probably felt it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If February 2024 gave you d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu, you weren\u2019t hallucinating \u2014 it happened. We lost the Super Bowl. Again. To Patrick Mahomes. Again. We led most of the game, took it to OT, and then just… crumbled. And let\u2019s be real: most of us saw it coming. Like we knew heartbreak was on the way \u2014 we just didn\u2019t know what form it would take this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The energy was flat. The grief was heavy. The locker room felt emotionally stuck in 2023. The 2024 season never even had a pulse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How it\u2019s been fixed:<\/strong> Everyone finally got a full night\u2019s sleep. Everyone\u2019s locked in. The vibes? As George Kittle says, “immaculate”. And the chip on this team\u2019s shoulder? About the size of the Golden Gate. No one\u2019s over it \u2014 and that\u2019s exactly why this year\u2019s different. We had the third hardest strength of schedule<\/strong> and the worst rest differential in the league \u2014 minus 22 days. We played 8 games where the rest disparity was 32 days – meaning the other teams had a whole month of pre-game preparation and napping collectively. Not only that, but we also played 4 teams (Chiefs, Bills, Seahawks and Cowboys \u2013 two of which were away games) coming off their bye \u2013 the most for any team in NFL history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the team that won the Super Bowl? They had the second-best rest advantage in the league of +12 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Add that to our Niner’s roster of:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A kicker with a broken ankle (and brain) \u2026and yeah. 6\u201311 makes sense now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How it\u2019s been fixed: <\/strong>We have the easiest strength of schedule. I would say we got lucky, but the truth is, our time was served. This was long overdue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last year was a disaster movie. This year? This year is the revenge tour. The only thing left is to run it the hell back. And this time? We\u2019re not just going to the Super Bowl. We\u2019re winning the damn thing. And at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let\u2019s not sugarcoat it \u2014 the 49ers\u2019 2024 season was straight-up cursed. Something felt off from the jump. We went from barely losing the Super Bowl in overtime to finishing dead last in the NFC….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,116],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[193],"class_list":{"0":"post-2331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"category-san-francisco-49ers"},"aioseo_notices":[],"authors":[{"term_id":193,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"stacy-zolnikov-1","display_name":"Stacy Zolnikov","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/footballissexy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/49ers-football-writing-scaled-e1752861051242.webp","url2x":"https:\/\/footballissexy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/49ers-football-writing-scaled-e1752861051242.webp"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballissexy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballissexy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballissexy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballissexy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballissexy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2331"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/footballissexy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2362,"href":"https:\/\/footballissexy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2331\/revisions\/2362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballissexy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballissexy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballissexy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballissexy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2331"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballissexy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}2. Injuries on Injuries on Injuries<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. Second Half Collapses and Late Game Inefficiencies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Week 3 vs. Rams: <\/strong>squandered a 10-point 4th-quarter lead.
Week 5 vs. Cardinals: <\/strong>up 23\u201310 at the half but lost 24\u201323. Fumbled at the goal line, threw a late pick. It genuinely looked like we forgot there were two halves in football.
Week 11 vs. Seahawks: <\/strong>Lost another one in the 4th. It was like clockwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n4. Special Teams Was Special and Not In The Good Way<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Long Snapper:<\/strong> Taybor Pepper got the boot. Enter Jon Weeks \u2014 a rock-solid vet with 15 years of snapping experience and exactly zero drama. Stability: restored.
Punter:<\/strong> Mitch Wishnowsky was shown the door. In comes 39-year-old Thomas Morstead \u2014 reliable, consistent, and already has chemistry with both Boyer and Saleh. The man knows the assignment.
Kicker:<\/strong> Greg Joseph signed to keep Jake Moody on his toes and, ideally, remind him how to kick a football between the uprights. Let the pressure cook.
Other ST\u2011savvy players: <\/strong>Luke Gifford, Siran Neal, Richie Grant, and drafted return specialist Junior Bergen in Round<\/p>\n\n\n\n5. Super Bowl Hangover<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
6. Schedule Toughness and One-Score Losses
The 49ers seemed to lose games that statistically they should’ve won. It was frustrating to watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A WR1 with shredded ligaments (literally torn ACL, MCL and PCL)
Another wide receiver that was shot
Two players grieving children
Two running backs on a rotating ER schedule and one in Germany getting his knee blessed by a witch doctor
A defense being coached by someone whose only qualification was \u201cbeing in the building\u201d
Fatigue, frustration, and a locker room running on fumes and flashbacks<\/p>\n\n\n\nTo Wrap It Up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Defense: <\/strong>fixed.
Injuries:<\/strong> healed.
Special teams: <\/strong>rebranded.
Vibes: <\/strong>immaculate.
Schedule: <\/strong>fair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n