SANTA CLARA — The 49ers paraded former Hall of Fame owner Eddie DeBartolo around Levi’s Stadium on Sunday against New England.
Clinging onto the past is about the only thing this organization knows how to do anymore.
DeBartolo, the man who hired Bill Walsh, the man who transformed the San Francisco 49ers into one of the greatest spectacles in NFL history, got to see firsthand how poorly this franchise is run from top to bottom.
In the pouring rain, San Francisco lost its ninth straight game, the team’s longest losing streak since 1978. The stands were filled with 70 percent Patriots fans, possibly more. Maybe it’s time for the marketing department to retire the The Faithful slogan. 49ers fans are disappearing.
The butchering of the day started from the beginning, when the team decided to rope off an interview with DeBartolo right in front of the Patriots’s bench — of all places. Just as DeBartolo started speaking, he was drowned out by New England fans chanting “Brady! Brady!” Not many cared that it was Eddie D Day, well, because not many in attendance were a 49ers fans.
“It was a little disrespectful,” Ahmad Brooks said of all the 49ers fans who sold their tickets to Patriots fans.
Hey, at least the 49ers have been semi-watchable the last two weeks. Sadly, this is the team’s new measurement for success on Sunday.
The worst part about covering the 49ers is having rehash the same Trent Baalke story in every column.
You’ve probably never heard of the 49ers’s leading wide receiver from Sunday. His name is Chris Harper and all it took was 2 catches for 35 yards for him to stand alone atop the box score. The defense, headlined by four Baalke first-round draft picks, allowed its eighth 100-yard rusher in nine games and repeatedly committed penalties on third-down to extend Patriot drives.
This here might be ultimate sign of the amateur hour happening in Santa Clara: After every loss, Baalke awkwardly rides the elevator down to the locker room with reporters. Why isn’t the GM taking one of the three dozen other elevators to avoid the tension? Nothing is said in the elevator rides, because frankly, what is there left to say?
Politely, Chip Kelly is no longer scared to crush the personnel he’s been asked to coach with.
“When it turns into throw every-down, we’re not built for that right now,” Kelly said after the 30-17 loss. “We don’t have a go-to wide receiver that’s going to elicit double-coverage.”
Kelly became the first-ever 49ers coach to lose nine straight games on Sunday — both coaches were fired in 1978 by DeBartolo. Four of the last six games are on the road and the only one that appears winnable is the New York Jets on Dec. 11. Their misery won’t end until January, and there are legitimate reasons to believe 2017 will also be a four-win season.
Kelly’s most peculiar quote on Sunday came when he was asked whether 2016 was a “lost season” for the 49ers. He gave a shoutout to line backer Nick Bellore, who by most standards, is the team’s most struggling defensive player.
“I mean I think I’ve seen our players develop individually,” Kelly said. “From an injury standpoint when you lose the linebackers we lost, to have to have Nick Bellore out there getting the reps that Nick’s getting, but I see Nick improving. Nick played (better) today than he did four weeks ago. Those are the positives that you’re building on.”
The clown show continues at football’s most important position.
Whoever’s decision it was to keep Colin Kaepernick, was again, this organization clinging to all the wrong parts of its past. To realistically enter a football season with just Kap and Blaine Gabbert under center was the 49ers waving the white surrender flag before the season even began. You can’t fake not having a quarterback in today’s NFL. It’s a death sentence, and most of us who have been around the NFL understood that months ago.
There was never going to be a Kaepernick revival under Chip Kelly, not with the worst wide receiving corps in the league and a defense that was completely overrated on paper in the offseason. It was a ruse all along.
“If we knew how, we’d fix it right now,” Kaepernick said of the offenses struggles. Kap hurled eight straight incompletions in the second half.
The most incredible part about the demise of the 49ers is that the man now in charge of running the show shares the same blood as DeBartolo.
CEO Jed York is the crux of everything that is wrong with the 49ers. He built a stadium in the middle of Silicon Valley appeasing the lucrative corporate crowd, which in turn, will have no problem selling tickets to Patriots fans. York empowered Baalke, who took a blowtorch to the 53-man roster. York’s had three different head coaches in three years, which forces himself to either commit to Kelly longterm, or risk labeling Santa Clara an even more toxic place than it already is. The 49ers are on life support and York is the one who let the strangling happen.
At halftime, DeBartolo took midfield to address a crowd that was maybe 10 percent full. He was surrounded by Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, former executives and family. Depressingly, the only thing recognizable from DeBartolo’s 49ers are the red and gold uniforms. He kept his message positive and exited with an umbrella in hand.
When will the rain stop in Santa Clara?
Sunday’s used to be the best part of the week. Now, you can’t find a bigger waste of time and money in the Bay Area.
It’s a shame Debartolo had to see this tragedy up close and personal.