San Francisco 49ers

49ers Took the Wrong Turn in the Road in Week 3 versus Seahawks

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The San Francisco 49ers are eerily paralleling last year’s Niners after suffering an embarrassing 37-18 road loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3. And the 49ers entire season could be a mirror image of what happened in 2015.

The San Francisco 49ers could try to figure out a way to resurrect the late Bill Walsh and have him head coach this 2016 group back to its winning ways.

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And it probably wouldn’t make much of a difference.

San Francisco is coming off a 37-18 defeat at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3. That score makes the game sound closer than it actually was. Trailing 24-3 by halftime, this game was over almost as quickly as it started.

Heck, it was over on the third play from scrimmage. Thank you, Seahawks running back Christine Michael.

OK, so why is this relevant? We all know the Niners aren’t terribly good. They’re going through a rebuilding phase.

Well, the only problem is the lack of progress. Last week, we touched on how San Francisco faces a ‘fork in the road’ in Week 3 — a chance to prove the Niners aren’t the 5-11, boring team under Jim Tomsula a year ago.

And yet the road San Francisco traveled sure made things look more Tomsula-ish than what current head coach Chip Kelly could possibly offer.

Kelly isn’t to blame here, folks. Not yet at least. The problem is he inherited a team largely devoid of talent. And not even the best head coaches will win with players who simply can’t make plays.

See Walsh’s 49ers back in 1979.

The Road Traveled Instead

It’s scary how the 2016 49ers have emulated the efforts of last year’s group.

Without completely copying Bay Area Sports Guy’s Steve Berman verbatim, let’s paraphrase what he (and we, last week) said about the Niners over the first three weeks of the season.

Simply pick whichever year you want to apply the following to — 2015 or 2016. They’re interchangeable.

The only real differences are the head coach (Tomsula/Kelly) and the opponents (Vikings/Rams, Steelers/Panthers and Cardinals/Seahawks).

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Should the 49ers continue this trend, the visiting Dallas Cowboys shouldn’t have to worry much about San Francisco’s offense at Levi’s Stadium in Week 4. A year ago, the Niners mustered a mere three points in a 17-3 loss to the Green Bay Packers.