• Civ7 is already available! Happy playing :).

Who Are You Picking to Win the Superbowl?

Who are you picking to win the Superbowl?


  • Total voters
    15
  • Poll closed .
I'm still having trouble believing they won. It's like the morning after the KU vs Memphis Final in 2008, where they were down nine points with just over two minutes to play.

J
 
I'm betting this morning they're wishing they had fixed it.

It was working until Shanahan "fixed" it by going pass-happy with a fourth-quarter lead in a Super Bowl. Not the first time he made that mistake either.
 
Maybe if the had tried to score at the end of the half, that wouldn't have been necessary.
I still think it was so conservative it was actually gutless.
 
Maybe if the had tried to score at the end of the half, that wouldn't have been necessary.
I still think it was so conservative it was actually gutless.
I think it was a clear indication of what he thinks of his quarterback., and if it was I agree with him. I don't ever expect anyone to be comfortable saying "it's a critical moment in a huge game, and we're putting everything on the shoulders of...Jimmy Garapollo."
 
I think it was a clear indication of what he thinks of his quarterback., and if it was I agree with him. I don't ever expect anyone to be comfortable saying "it's a critical moment in a huge game, and we're putting everything on the shoulders of...Jimmy Garapollo."
I was certainly squirming, wincing, tooth-sucking, and facepalming every time Jimmy G dropped back to pass... and whining "Just run the ball! Gah! Why are you passing?!?" My baby sister was at my house watching and she started making fun of how uncomfortable I looked every time he dropped back to pass.

To quote you Tim, I was pretty much in the "get the ball out of Garoppolo's hands" and "run-it-down-their-throats" mindset for this game and this only magnified after the first INT, and increased exponentially after they went up 10. That being said, I wasn't the one down there on the sideline and I know from experience that its a lot easier to sit in the stands, or on the couch second guessing a coaches' decisions/playcalling than it is to actually be the coach, so I try not to think to harshly on Shanahan and Co.

Bottom line is they were 4-12 last year and it sucked being a 49ers fan. So I really appreciate the chance to root for my team in the Superbowl. It was a great season and I'm glad to have experienced it. This time last year I never would have imagined being in this position, finishing out as NFC Champs. I'll take it. My poor baby brother is a Browns fan for crissakes, so I've got no damn right to complain about anything.
 
I think it was a clear indication of what he thinks of his quarterback., and if it was I agree with him. I don't ever expect anyone to be comfortable saying "it's a critical moment in a huge game, and we're putting everything on the shoulders of...Jimmy Garapollo."
Actually living in Chicago, I can understand that. Nagy has no faith in Trub. But as sucky as was, he did shine sometimes in the 2 min offense when he had nothing to lose. Especially when the defense would fall back into prevent mode.
 
The 49ers definitely had a great year, and they gave the Chiefs all they could handle...more than anyone else did, for sure. I think what the complaining 49ers fans fail to grasp is that when the Chiefs line up to stop the run, they can. Every team they played all season came in with a plan to run the ball and keep it away from the KC offense. The complaint about not running the ball is rooted in the assumption that it would have worked. There's really no reason to believe that.

The really misleading thing about the Chiefs though is the normal reasoning that time of possession is what wears down a defense. This leads to another 49er fan complaint that I've seen a lot, about how the defense just "went flat." It's not like they were on the field all that much, with the Chiefs racking up massive time of possession. What's missing is a real appreciation for the Chiefs team speed. If you ask a defensive back to run with Hill and Watkins play after play that guy is burning gas fast. A linebacker chasing Travis Kelce on the out and up is burning gas fast. Maintaining lanes to contain makes longer paths to the quarterback, and then chasing Mahomes burns gas fast. Like so many defenses before them, the SF defense didn't "just go flat," they ran out of gas.

Actually living in Chicago, I can understand that. Nagy has no faith in Trub. But as sucky as was, he did shine sometimes in the 2 min offense when he had nothing to lose. Especially when the defense would fall back into prevent mode.

Thing is that Nagy has no excuse for his lack of faith. Trubisky is young. Nagy is a quarterback's coach. If he hasn't built Trubisky into a relaible quarterback, that's on him, because Trubisky might not have been Patrick Mahomes, but he was good enough raw material. Garapollo is what he is, and that's what he was when Shanahan first got hold of him. He's at his ceiling. That's on Lynch.
 
I think the biggest diff between Trub and Mahomes is taht Mahomes had the more experience so he could pick the nuances of reading defenses easier.
Trub is still learning and you can tell.
 
He’s been in the league for three years. How much longer should we give him the benefit of the doubt ? And none of this changes the fact that they traded up to get him (and payed a fortune for it) when they could have just stayed put and drafted Mahomes or Watson. Extremely bad decision.
 
Oh, trust me, the 99% of the fans in Chicago agree with you. The benefit of the doubt is gone. That draft will be Pace's legacy.
Which is why they'll probably not give up on him because if they do, Pace will never get another cushy job in the NFL again, His only hope is that Trub becomes at least serviceable eventually .
 
They’ve got no first round picks this year anyway, might play him another year. If I understand correctly, the fifth year option is a lot more expensive, so if he hasn’t gotten better by this upcoming season, that would be the time to cut him or at least trade him to see if you can salvage anything.

Idk what crop of QBs the 2021 draft will have, though. If the bears suck it will make it easier for them to get a good one without trading up. I expect the Packers and Vikings to be about as good as they were, and the Lions to significantly improve, and in that case,
having a bad season is pretty realistic.
 
I think the biggest diff between Trub and Mahomes is taht Mahomes had the more experience so he could pick the nuances of reading defenses easier.
Trub is still learning and you can tell.

They brought in Nagy to make the learning faster, and something has apparently gone wrong. Whether the flaw is in Trubisky or Nagy I have no way of knowing. I will say that with his arm talent calling Trubisky a bust and letting some other team see what they can salvage is a really risky move for Nagy. To bring this full circle, I'd say that right now, today, Trubisky has a higher ceiling than Garappolo. Lower floor, and he's closer to it, but still a higher ceiling. Garapollo is as good as he is ever going to be.
 
It is hilarious listening to all the talking head here discuss all the different alternatives that the Bears will do next year, despite the fact that they just ain't going to happen. We're committed, unless they fire Pace.
 
I understand the frustration of those who wanted the 49ers to run the ball in the 4th quarter. Still, they were trying to take advantage of what the defense was giving them. The Chiefs had effectively stuffed the basic running game in the second half. Mostert was stuffed for a yard gain to start a drive, so they go for play action on second down. The Chiefs played it as a pass and had it right.

Perhaps the key is in this stat. For the game, the second leading rusher was Deebo Samuel, with 53 yards on three carries. The Chiefs stuffed the base offense and only the tricks were working.

J
 
It is hilarious listening to all the talking head here discuss all the different alternatives that the Bears will do next year, despite the fact that they just ain't going to happen. We're committed, unless they fire Pace.

Pace or no Pace, he's still left them committed. Basically every 'great idea' I've seen come from a Bears fan would involve something like ten times the draft capital and cap space that they have. That's true everywhere, of course. The number of people who seem to think "just trade hot dogs and seat cushions for all the best players and sign them to contracts for however much they want, and oh, draft all three of the best prospects in every draft" is a viable strategy never ceases to amaze me.
 
Yep, those we could probably afford, I don't want any part of.
 
Thing is that Nagy has no excuse for his lack of faith. Trubisky is young. Nagy is a quarterback's coach. If he hasn't built Trubisky into a relaible quarterback, that's on him, because Trubisky might not have been Patrick Mahomes, but he was good enough raw material.

Every metric we have so far suggests we don't have a solid grasp of what "good enough raw material" for a QB looks like. Even the most predictive measures or combinations of measures aren't very reliable. It could be that Nagy is ineffective as a coach. It could be that Trubisky is bad enough that no coach could make him good. Could be some combination.

There are some minimum requirements of quarterbacking. Like being able to throw the ball at all, and put it on target consistently. Some QBs already put it on target coming out of college. Most that don't already put it on target with consistency never do in the NFL. But there are exceptions to that rule of thumb, such as this year's MVP who jumped enormously in accuracy and pass efficiency.

There are also guys who just don't have the cognitive ability to handle all the complex reads the game requires in the 1-3 seconds they get before passing. It's not easy to tell the difference between "person can't physically do this" and "person has not been taught how to do this effectively" though, so coaches often still see a guy who can throw it really far and run well and think they can "fix" them. Sometimes that works...usually it does not work.
 
Every metric we have so far suggests we don't have a solid grasp of what "good enough raw material" for a QB looks like. Even the most predictive measures or combinations of measures aren't very reliable. It could be that Nagy is ineffective as a coach. It could be that Trubisky is bad enough that no coach could make him good. Could be some combination.

There are some minimum requirements of quarterbacking. Like being able to throw the ball at all, and put it on target consistently. Some QBs already put it on target coming out of college. Most that don't already put it on target with consistency never do in the NFL. But there are exceptions to that rule of thumb, such as this year's MVP who jumped enormously in accuracy and pass efficiency.

There are also guys who just don't have the cognitive ability to handle all the complex reads the game requires in the 1-3 seconds they get before passing. It's not easy to tell the difference between "person can't physically do this" and "person has not been taught how to do this effectively" though, so coaches often still see a guy who can throw it really far and run well and think they can "fix" them. Sometimes that works...usually it does not work.

I think Lamar Jackson might have been accurate in college, but I don't follow college so I don't really know. I read somewhere that he said his year one inaccuracy surprised him and was due to him having a lot more trouble adjusting to an NFL ball than he expected. So he spent the off season carrying an NFL ball around with him everywhere just to get accustomed to how it fit in his hand, and voila, he's accurate and the MVP. I had never heard that there was a difference between a college football and an NFL football, but I looked it up and there really is.
 
Top Bottom