A dark depressing cloud has parked itself above Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. It won’t be leaving for quite awhile.
The 49ers entered 2016 with some of the lowest expectations in franchise history, and apparently those expectations weren’t low enough.
A 1-5 start to the season is the exact reason so many of us begged GM Trent Baalke to draft a young quarterback in April’s NFL Draft.
It’s one thing to struggle with a young quarterback learning the ropes of the league. Searching for a new solution at QB makes losing more tolerable. It’s another thing to walk into a season with Blaine Gabbert and Colin Kaepernick and expect any type of growth on offense. How could someone in charge of running a football team not have envisioned this scenario?
But here we are in Week 7: sifting through the wreckage trying to pick up any belongings this team can carry into 2017 and beyond.
Because that said young quarterback is not in the building, the 49ers’ poker chips for the remaining games are stacked entirely on the defensive side of the football.
The problem? Jim O’Neil’s defense resembles a piece of swiss cheese.
NaVorro Bowman’s torn Achilles was literally the worst injury that could’ve happened to this team in 2016. His absence away from the field has significantly impacted the rest of the defense, so much so, that many of the young players won’t be able to develop. The team is on pace to give up the most rushing yards since the 1985 Houston Oilers. Stats are skewed when you start special teamers at linebacker, Trent.
The 49ers have to walk away from this excruciating season with one positive on defense. They have to be certain DeForest Buckner is a football player they can build around.
Sunday against the Bills needs to be the launching point for Buckner to become this team’s premier pass rushing playmaker. The rookie posted his first two career NFL sacks, recovered a fumble and totaled nine tackles in 73 snaps. It came in an absolute slaughtering from Buffalo, but it was the type of eye-popping game top 10 picks are supposed to have.
Why does Buckner matter more than his teammate Arik Armstead? There are reasons. Buckner’s a better pass rusher, he sheds blocks of offensive linemen with more regularity and he carries himself in more of a professional manner.
Maybe Armstead’s bitter attitude in the locker room towards the media has to do with his second straight losing season, or his nagging shoulder injury. But his younger counterpart is looking much more like the accountable team leader expected from a first-round pick.
“We have to stick together as a defense,” Buckner told reporters earlier in the week. “We’ve got the guys in the room to do it, we just need to stick together.”
In a state of disarray, the 49ers need to check off as many boxes as they can during this rebuilding process. Some disagree with me, but I think they’ve got the right head coach in Chip Kelly. They have the right running back in Carlos Hyde. I’ll throw them a bone with Joe Staley, even though he’s 32. Rashard Robinson is a promising rookie cornerback.
A head coach + a running back + a left tackle + a promising rookie cornerback = not nearly enough. The 49ers need to walk into the NFL Draft and free agency next season knowing they have a young, stud pass rusher.
That’s why Kelly and whoever is the GM next season should be doing everything in their power to accentuate Buckner’s skills. His standout performance against the Bills cannot be an anomaly. If you are going to play pathetic defense, you might as well scheme up Buckner to make as many plays as possible.
The 49ers need to desperately add more people to that checklist, starting with their first round pick from 2016. Buckner has to leave for Hawaii in January of 2017 a much better football player than Armstead was a year prior. He’s without question the most important player for the rest of this lost season.