Niners Nation
We also learned that the 49ers are who we thought they were
Things were supposed to be different after the bye week. That’s what we were told, at least.
The San Francisco 49ers, traditionally a second-half-of-the-season team, expected the turnaround to start after the week off. After losing three straight games to enter the bye week last season, the 49ers traveled to Florida and whomped the Jacksonville Jaguars by 31 points, leading to a 7-2 back half of the season.
Like last year, the 49ers traveled to Florida off the bye, but this time, their win was much less impressive. They squeaked a 23-20 Week 10 victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Technically, the biggest lesson learned from Sunday isn’t something we learned at all. It’s something the 49ers have been trying to tell us all year:
The 49ers are who we think they are
After a rocky 4-4 start to the season, the thoughts were that the bye week and Christian McCaffrey’s return would return the 49ers to the form we’ve grown accustomed to.
In Tampa Bay on Sunday–following the bye and with McCaffrey in the lineup–the 49ers looked the same as they did before the bye week. And at this point of the season, through nine games, we are nearing the point of no return. The 49ers are running out of games to return to their standard form, and maybe, at some point, we need to consider that this is just what the 2024 49ers are.
The 49ers jumped out to an early ten-point lead with Jake Moody’s first field goal. It marked the seventh game this season in which San Francisco has held a lead of ten or more points, with the 49ers now 5-2 in those games. However, only three of those games–the Jets, the Patriots, and the Seahawks—did the 49ers hold on to win by double-digits. The other four–Los Angeles, Arizona, Dallas, and Sunday against Tampa Bay–San Francisco either lost or allowed the opponent a chance to take the lead with the final drive.
Through nine games last season, the 49ers had margins of victory of 23, 18, 19, 32, and 31. Through nine games in 2024, the 49ers only have three wins by double-digits, with the largest being the 17-point win against the now 3-7 Patriots in Week 4.
Sunday was more of the same. The 49ers jumped out to an early lead against an inferior team before allowing the Buccaneers to keep themselves in the game. The red zone issues were still there on Sunday, with the 49ers scoring one touchdown on three trips. Special teams turned the ball over and cost San Francisco at least nine points in a continuing poor season from the unit. Even Kyle Shanahan continued his trend of questionable decisions, especially in fourth-and-short situations.
After a bye week of promises that the ship would be righted, the 49ers played the same game they had played in the eight games before. At some point, if the San Francisco 49ers...
