by Daisy Barringer
In the past 20 years, I’ve only missed one 49ers game and it’s because I was in the middle of nowhere, New Mexico, and though amazing to see, none of the 1000-year-old multistory adobe complexes had sports bars inside of them. Truthfully, barring unforeseen catastrophic circumstances and despite the fact that it doesn’t appear Jed York is going anywhere anytime soon, I can’t imagine missing a game any time during the next 20 years either. But, for the first time in my tenure as a Niners fan, I’ve started to think about it. A lot. What if I didn’t flinch every time someone told me her wedding’s going to be in the fall? What if I didn’t have to miss powder days on the mountain? What if I were actually in control of my schedule and not the NFL?
Needless to say, I wasn’t excited to watch yesterday’s games against the Bears. I assumed it would be a lot of mediocre football and then we’d lose. I was half right. We ended up winning 26-20 in overtime, a situation we wouldn’t have even been in if Chicago hadn’t missed a routine 36-yard field goal at the end of regulation. Was the 71-yard touchdown pass to Torrey Smith exciting? Sure. Was I mostly just glad he game was over? Is it really bad if I say yes?
After the game, I tweeted “Omg Blaine Gabbert is going to be our QB next year isn’t he.” Because as impressive as Blaine Gabbert has been after replacing a benched Kaepernick, I’m still not sold. After all, you know who else was impressive right after he replaced a benched Alex Smith? Exactly.
Still, I seem to be alone in my opinion that Gabbert isn’t the answer (as I was back then as well when I didn’t jump on the Kaepernick bandwagon). People urged me to “embrace the gun slinger” to “get my Gabbert jersey ready” and asked why I couldn’t just enjoy this since “Blaine is baller.”
Let me be clear: I hope I’m wrong and that Blaine Gabbert gets a better offensive line and leads this team directly to the 2017 Super Bowl. I would like NOTHING more than that. But I’ve been too abused by this team in recent months to just hand over my faith on a red and golden platter. Did Blaine Gabbert look good yesterday? Sure. Besides that bomb to Torrey Smith, he ran for 75 yards and scored a TD on a 44-yard scramble down the middle of the field when everyone thought he was going to slide. But, uh, he also had a ton of passes broken up and there were looooooong periods of time where the Niners couldn’t even get a first down. Like, I’m happy for the dude that his NFL career has a second wind and that he’s proving he’s a tough competitor, but I’m just not sure I’m happy it’s happening with the 49ers.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter what I think because the way I see it: Blaine Gabbert is the future of the 49ers. At least for next season. (There have been rumors about Johnny Manziel coming to the Niners in the offseason; I would be floored if that happened.) I wish I could be excited about it believe me, it would be a lot more fun unfortunately, it’s just hard to get excited about anything having to do with this team these days. (Except that Jimmie Ward pick six to end our first quarter TD drought; that was awesome.)
It’s hard to stomach that on top of Gabbert earning a spot as the starting quarterback next year, this road victory may also somehow cemented Jim Tomsula’s job as head coach, but I have to be realistic and admit that Jed York and Trent Baalke have their heads stuck so far up their own asses that they might actually use this to convince themselves that the 49ers are just “reloading” and not “rebuilding.” That they did make the right decisions, first in getting rid of Harbaugh and then in not choosing to promote Vic Fangio whose Bears defense gave up four touchdowns to an offense ranked 32nd in the league. As a reasonably intelligent and rational person, I can’t see HOW they could actually convince themselves of such things, but I’m also not a pigheaded control freak.
If anything, the short-term high of the victory over the Bears may actually result in long-term damage for the team. Yes, it’s always fun to watch the 49ers win. But in the case of yesterday’s game, I think it would have been just as much fun to watch them lose.
Next Week: Another 10 a.m. game as the 49ers travel to Cleveland to play the (2-10) Browns. This could easily be our second road victory of they year and another win that further cements jobs next season for Gabbert and Tomsula. I dunno, you guys. The Niners might just finish the season 7-9. Kill me.
