Super Bowl Meltdown

How do you not show up for the Super Bowl?

I know, the Niners made it a game, but they really only played 1 good quarter all game.

This Niner team was incredibly frustrating to watch play all year.  They are super confident and talented, but play sloppy and make stupid mistakes.  On days and at moments, they look like world beaters.  At other times, complete chumps.  The Super Bowl was a microcosm of this dichotomy.

The mistakes:

1.  Penalties.  Too many in critical situations.  First play of the game, negating a 20 yard catch.  A couple on 3rd Down to give Baltimore 1st downs.

2.  The Kick Return.  The guy was only touched by one Niner on the play.  They covered all the other kicks well.  It seemed like a mental letdown - but how do you have a mental letdown coming out of halftime?  Bruce Miller got held on the play, but still, there are 11 guys.

3.  The interception.  Sloppy.  The fumble was annoying, but that can happen.  Plus, the Ray Rice fumble basically evened it out.

4.  The play calling.  Overly complicated, in general.  Really bad from 1st and 5 with the game on the line.  What were with the roll out plays?  Why would you do that with Kaepernick?  You do roll out plays when your QB is in danger of being sacked.  How many times did Baltimore sack Kaepernick all day?  Once?  If you spread the field and they blitz, chances are Kaepernick could run right up the middle.  Also, we never ran those plays all year with Kaep and he doesn't know how to throw it.  Just horrible play calling.  Not to mention the Ravens were missing Ngata at this point.  Run at the replacement guy for crissake!

5.  Time outs.  Not getting plays in has been an issue since Kaepernick took over.  They used two time outs needlessly before actually needing them to get the ball back with time.

6.  Pass defense.  Some catches and plays were unavoidable, but generally speaking, they made it too easy for Joe Flacco to look awesome.  This is our number one priority for next year to upgrade.

7.  Aldon Smith.  It would be nice for this guy to make a play given that he was in consideration for defensive player of the year at one point.  He made zero sacks in his last 5 games.

Watching the game, it seemed like the Niners were the better team.  You'd guess the Niners would win 8 out of 10 match ups.  But it doesn't matter.  The Niners were sloppy and cocky and arrogant.  And we lost because of it.  Really shameful - not because we lost - but the way we lost.  We got outclassed by an inferior team.  We got out prepared by the coaching staffs -- that is twice the Ravens have gotten the better of Harbaugh.  The Ravens and the Rams are the two coaching match ups we always lose.  I suppose that can happen, but it's disappointing to happen in the Super Bowl.

Also, I know this is annoying, but I definitely think the officials missed several calls against the Ravens.  3 big holding calls went totally uncalled.  On the kick return, I think Miller got held.  On the last offensive play, Crabtree was held.  Maybe the ball was uncatchable, but the guy grabbed him.  On the punt, I think Miller was held again as he was trying to sack the punter and this allowed time to come off the clock.

But ultimately, these games never really come down to the refs (except the GoldenTateGate), and the Niner defense couldn't muster another stuff when we needed one (at 31-29) and the Niner offense couldn't put the ball in the end zone from the 5, even with all the the other BS.

This game will always be remembered where the Niners got beat by an inferior team.  Oh well, good think it's only football.