San Francisco 49ers vs. Detroit Lions: Game Day Open Thread

The San Francisco 49ers are in the Motor City for a date with Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson, and the Detroit Lions.

More from Blaine Gabbert

The San Francisco 49ers and the Detroit Lions started their seasons in similar fashion – Detroit starting 1-7 and San Francisco starting 2-6 over the first half of the season. Since then though, the teams have gone in radically different directions.

While the 49ers have gone 2-4 in the next six, the Lions have gone 4-2. Detroit seems to have figured it out and has been playing some good ball. While not in contention this year, they’ve started laying a solid foundation to build upon for next season. But then, these are the Lions, so that solid play with an eye toward 2016 should be taken with a grain of salt.

San Francisco on the other hand, look like a franchise in total disarray. And even worse, they don’t seem to have a plan in place to get them out of the dark abyss they’re currently in.

By the numbers, it’s difficult to not see the 49ers as the league’s worst team. Their offense is thirty-second in the league overall, putting up 291 yards and 14 points per game. They have the league’s twenty-seventh ranked defense, allowing 390 yards and 24 points per game.

There are holes and unsettled situations all over the 49ers’ roster. Perhaps the biggest unsettled situation right now, is the quarterback position. Deposed starter Colin Kaepernick – whom many don’t expect to see in a 49ers uniform next season – and Blaine Gabbert have put up strikingly similar numbers over the course of the season.

"Kaepernick (2-6 as a starter) has thrown for 1,615 yards on 144-244 passing with six touchdowns against five interceptions.Gabbert (2-4 as a starter) has thrown for 1,452 yards on 128-205 passing with seven touchdowns against six interceptions."

The lack of an offensive line has certainly hindered both quarterbacks. They can’t perform if they don’t have the time to throw the ball. And having absorbed 13 sacks over the last two weeks – both losses, not surprisingly – it’s apparent the quarterbacks haven’t had the time they need to operate.

More from Golden Gate Sports

The laundry list of deficiencies the 49ers will have to address this offseason is lengthy – on both sides of the ball. If San Francisco hopes to return to contention at some point in the near future, they are going to have to figure out a game plan.

Unfortunately for the fans though, the York/Baalke regime doesn’t seem capable of doing anything of the sort. Oh sure, when Jim Harbaugh was running the team, times were good. But it’s readily apparent now just how much of San Francisco’s all too brief run of success had to do with him and how little it had to do with Jed York and Trent Baalke.

Suffice it to say, a York/Baalke led franchise – and a team led by their hand picked puppet Jim Tomsula – doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence. Change needs to come to San Francisco and perhaps it needs to start at the top.

At the very least, it may need to start with a head coach.

42. Final. 27. 50. 13

So what do you all think? How is today’s game going to turn out? Will the 49ers be able to rise up and take down Detroit? Or have they packed it all in already and are going to get blown out?

Have an opinion or thought on the future of the organization? Have an idea of the direction this team should go? Does Tomsula need to go? Is Gabbert the right choice under center in 2016?

Next: San Francisco 49ers: Woes of a Dreadful Season

What’s it going to take to right the 49ers’ ship?

This is your place to share all of your thoughts and opinions. This is your place to talk about the game and all things 49ers. So step on up and speak out.

Home/Blaine Gabbert