Well if someone had told me that 3 games into the season, we'd be on the same record as Tennessee, I'd have taken it gladly. I didn't have much optimism leading up to the preseason, but it would seem things have gone from bad to worse.
Firstly, back in January I didn't know what to make of the Gruden sacking. To go from 8-3 to finishing 9-7 and miss playoffs is totally unacceptable, and on this basis I figured there was maybe some good reason for him to go. It was complicated because at the end of October, I seriously thought we had a good shot at the Superbowl and the breakdown could have easily been blamed on Monte Kiffin's ridiculously timed decision to make public his future plans. But Gruden had the responsibility in guiding the team to the playoffs, and on this aspect he failed. Was I surprised to see him sacked? Yes. And I did actually believe he deserved at least another chance. But on discovering that he had been sacked I figured we'd get someone just as good who could maybe put some more fire into our team.
What I did not expect was Raheem Morris. If you read the dudes cv, it's like putting a shelf stacker at wallmart on the board of directors just because you saw him down at Kmart. If only he had have gone to the Denver Broncos.
I don't want to write the guy off before he's completed a season but 3 straight losses are not exactly giving him a headstart and with the exception of the running game in week one, the teams performances couldn't have been much worse. I've heard people arguing that Tony Dungy started 0-5 back in his first season in '96, but I think they're forgetting he'd been defensive co-ordinator of both the Steelers and the Vikings, not to mention he'd had 14 years of NFL coaching experience behind him. Morris is 33 years old... If he'd been the head coach
Honestly, I like to think optimistically, and I'd like to think that Morris could turn out to be ok, but right now I see nothing to support this claim. My favourite coach in the NFL right now? Mike Singleterry. By a million miles. Ok, given the choice, maybe I'd take Bellicheck... But what singleterry brings to San Fransisco is optimism, hope, and hard work. And when I found out we'd hired Morris, I'd dreamed that he'd be something along these lines - not someone who gives ridiculous orders, continously plays a D that doesn't hold up, and then comes out and calls out half the team by name. Mangini is losing the support of his locker room and Morris will go the same way if he continues to reel off in the fashion he did last week.
Sure, we're crap right now. And we've got many many problems of which I will discuss in my next blog, but Morris is part of this team, and when we fail, he should stand up and take the rap with the rest of the team. And if he's not prepared to do that, then come out, show some determination and act like he cares.
On a final note, I'd like to reference the Mike singleterry rant which came around week 9/10 in their loss to seattle last seaaon. He openly admitted that his team lacked control and passion and let's be fair, they were utter crap - but he still came out fighting, seizing control of his team, leading them in the right direction. Would Morris have taken Vernon Davis out of the game? He'd have probably kept him on and then spend the post-match pconference moaning about how rubbish he was.
Am I hopeful? Not very.
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