No Spin Zone: 49ers 2010 Season In Review

(By The Danimal) As we all know, this 49ers season was an absolute disaster. All of the hype over this talented, if completely unproven squad built our expectations up so unreasonably high that the twenty story crash to reality was absolutely soul crushing.

Lost in all of the talk about how the Niner’s offense would finally get it together and steam roll their historically weak division with the likes of proven studs Vernon Davis and Frank Gore was the failure to realize that the three other vital aspects of offensive football were question marks at best. 

The Hype

Sporting two new first round draft picks, everyone assumed that the offensive line would come into the year absolutely demolishing opposing defenses and providing ample protection for Alex Smith to throw.

The Reality

We overlooked one thing: an effective offense line takes time to develop. It takes years of playing together for a unit to come together and truly become a force. This cohesion was simply impossible to exist in the short time this young group was together. Over the course of the season the line began to achieve an effective coordination and showed flashes of promise, especially before Joe Staley went down. Although not the consistent dominating force that many of us foolishly anticipated, the o-line performed far and away the best out of the three unknown areas of the offense. As long as Mike Iupati continues to maul people with his run blocking and Anthony Davis continues to mature and develop this should be a solid group.

2- The weakness of our wide outs

The Hype

We looked to our wide outs and saw the uber talented Michael Crabtree, who after a lengthy holdout showed a promising chemistry with Alex Smith during the 2009-10 season and we believed that an entire offseason of him getting quality reps would lead to a monster year the likes of which Niners fans have not seen since the days of one Terrell Owens. Partner him with emerging playmaker Josh Morgan and proven pass catcher/athletic freak Vernon Davis and you are looking at a young, extremely athletic and exciting group of players that can take some pressure off of Frank Gore so he can control the clock and keep the offense moving.

The Reality

As undeniably talented as this group is, they displayed a complete lack of consistency. Any sort of chemistry that appeared during the end of the 2009 season was completely dashed as we watched confused receivers seemingly run aimlessly while Alex and Troy Smith blindly hucked ducks into the air praying for a miracle to happen (This method actually lead to the play that won the London game when Troy connected with Delanie Walker on perhaps the ugliest looking pass I have ever seen a professional player throw). Although Vernon had a decent season it was far from his breakout performance in 2009 and although Michael Crabtree expanded upon his touchdown numbers, he remains a completely unpolished project right now.

3- Alex Smith is a bust

The Hype

Lastly, there was Alex Smith. A man whose career at that point could be described modestly as disappointing. Having to come into a situation with an extremely weak offensive line, complete lack of receivers, being forced to start way too early, the constant carousel of offensive coordinators and a series of shoulder injuries whether or not he really had a decent chance of shining is debatable but the fact is he did not. This is a guy whose QB rating over his first three seasons was an absolutely atrocious 57.6. To put that in perspective, in 1994 Steve Young had a passer rating of 112.8 over THE ENTIRE SEASON, almost doubling what Alex Smith did (this was the level of player that 49ers fans were used to seeing and Alex Smith was supposed to emulate this caliber of player). Now, 49ers fans were encouraged by the end of his 09-10 season where for the first time in his career he threw for more touchdowns than interceptions and posted a QB rating of 81.5. “Wow”, we though, “Alex Smith has finally turned the corner, he may not become the franchise guy we expected him to be but at least he will not be considered a colossal bust, with Jimmy Raye returning as offensive coordinator for the first time Smith will have some continuity and we can finally avoid grimacing in pessimistic anticipation every time he drops back to throw.” 

The Reality

Alex Smith never was and never will be an effective starter for the 49ers. He just simply was not the right pick back in 2005. Best of luck to him trying to salvage his career somewhere else but I am glad that his tenure as a 49er (in all likelihood) has finally ended.

These promising aspects of the team with the ultra motivator Mike Singleterry at the helm could in no way lead to absolute failure in basically every part of our beloved franchise that looks as though it has finally turned the corner and make a playoff run for the first time since 2002 right? Wrong.

Here are the three areas on offense that we were unsure of heading into the 2010 season. For the 49ers to have a successful campaign at least two of the following three areas needed to meet their expectations. 

1- The Weakness of the Offensive line