San Francisco 49ers: Checking In At The Halfway Point Of The Season

The San Francisco 49ers, now at the halfway point of the season, have won a whopping zero games. They sit at the bottom of the league, tied with the Cleveland Browns, at 0-8.

The San Francisco 49ers, suffice it to say, never wanted to find themselves tied with the Browns for the worst record in the league.

However, if you follow the 49ers, you knew this year wasn’t going to be riddled with a bunch of W’s. It was a major rebuilding year, both for the front office and on the field.

Kyle Shanahan, in his first season as head coach, inherited a broken team. With weak points throughout the roster, and clearly missing a franchise quarterback, the 2017 season didn’t have the makings of a record-making year.

Well, at-least not in a positive way.

That being said, fans wanted to see progress. And that happened — for a few games.

Five of the eight games the 49ers have played this season were decided by three points or fewer. It’s a sign that the Niners are able to compete with teams – they just can’t win games.

And those other three games this season? Blowouts.

That is where the frustration painfully creeps in. There seemed to be some positive gains through the first half of the year, but those positive gains sometimes dissipated from game to game.

It seemed that either the defense was firing or the offense was — or neither. But never both at the same time in any game this season.

More from Golden Gate Sports

Take the Seattle game in week two for instance. The defense was lights out, holding the Seahawks to 12 points. However, the offense mustered just nine points and two third-down conversions.

Then, fast forward to the next week against the Rams. The offense got going with 421 total yards and put 39 points on the board. The defense? It stalled out and surrendered 41 points in the loss.

It’s definitely not the progress that fans and the organization wanted to see. And it is starting to become a repetitive scenario. Like a movie that you’ve seen too many times. After watching the same thing over and over, the narrative gets old — open receivers are missed, gaping holes in the offensive line, a non-existent pass rush.

The past two outings against the Cowboys and the Eagles have been a severe step in the wrong direction. 9-23 on third down conversions, five turnovers, a combined 528 total yards. For a bit of added context, Dallas had 501 total yards in their spanking of the Niners alone.

Perhaps, some of that is due to the ridiculous amount of injuries the 49ers roster has sustained. The offensive and defensive lines have suffered tremendously.

Defensive end Arik Armstead is done for the year, DE Aaron Lynch is week to week and rookie Solomon Thomas left in the second half of the Eagles game with an apparent MCL sprain.

The offensive line is just as sad and depleted. Right tackle Trent Brown is down with a concussion and his backup, Garry Gilliam, followed with a knee injury.

The biggest blow though, was to Joe Staley in the loss to the Eagles. Staley left the game after a brutal hit to the head from Fletcher Cox. It was a hit many feel should have been a penalty and may still lead to a suspension.

And the laundry list of injuries continues at almost every position. Injuries happen, and the amount this year is absurd, but it can’t be the excuse for the performance in the first half of the season.

Guess what? Teams play with injuries, they win games even when starters go down. The problem is the Niners have no depth to speak of, so injuries of any kind are devastating rather than a mere setback.

Next: San Francisco 49ers v. Philadelphia Eagles: Q&A with Inside the Iggles

The 49ers find themselves thirtieth in total defense and nineteenth in total offense. Maybe they are playing for the first draft pick in next year’s draft — a hard race to win considering the numerous teams at the bottom with less-than-stellar records. And maybe they have more rebuilding than previously thought.

Win or lose though, let’s cross our fingers for signs of progress that the team can take into future seasons.