reporters & co. set up the SF game

What’s behind the 49ers’ second-half problems?
The 49ers haven’t scored after halftime of their past two games, prolonging franchise-record 12-game losing strea

http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/12/16/can-49ers-end-halftime-hibernation-win-more-than-one-for-the-chipper/

No halftime speech, coaching adjustment or quarterback heroism has saved the 49ers from their second-half swoons.

Win one for the Chipper? Yep, they won their first game under coach Chip Kelly, but since have lost a franchise-record 12 straight.

Getting shut out after halftime, as they have in their past two defeats, is a rare feat in franchise history, and this season’s team is destined to scorch infamous team records.
“Their problem is they’re very competitive in the first half, then all of a sudden, it’s like, ‘OK, what do we need to do to extend the lead offensively?’ said Herm Edwards, a former NFL coach and current ESPN analyst.

Next up is a Sunday visit to the Atlanta Falcons, who the 49ers actually beat 17-16 last season despite — get this — going scoreless in the second half. Oddsmakers peg the 49ers (1-12) as 13 1/2-point underdogs to the league’s top-scoring Falcons (8-5).

Scoring first hasn’t been a problem for the 49ers, but they’ve gone 1-9 when doing so, and finishing strong has been the true bane of their 2016 existence. Victory hopes routinely vanish in the third quarter, where the 49ers are getting outscored 85-23 (psst: and where the Falcons own a 119-42 advantage).

“There’s certainly something unique in the energy and early-game explosiveness this team has had,” former tight end Brent Jones said. “You just look for the ability to sustain that. Maybe it comes with experience. Maybe it comes with a few key additions along the way.”

“If there was one thing we could do that we could change it, we would,” quarterback Colin Kaepernick said. “There’s a lot of things that play into that.”

A lot of things, and a lot of questions:

Is Kelly and his staff failing to adjust their game plan? How often has this happened in 49ers history? Is this another red flag how the roster lacks playmakers? How much fault does Kaepernick bear as a leader? Shouldn’t the 49ers defense and special teams help more?

COACHING IMPACT

Kelly, the 49ers’ third coach in three season, has pointed to penalties, turnovers, sacks and injuries for second-half collapses, stating: “We’ve got to keep ourselves out of negative situations.”

Last Sunday, he held himself accountable, agreeing his play calls got too conservative, but only out of necessity because of injuries to several starters. They punted away each of their five, quick series after halftime, and their overtime series ending on a fourth-down stop.

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Both Kelly and offensive coordinator Curtis Modkins noted that Sunday’s second half went askew on the first snap, when Kaepernick on-target pass got dropped by tight end Blake Bell, who was filling in for an injured Vance McDonald.

Even if coaches scheme the right play, “it doesn’t matter if we don’t execute the plays,” Modkins said. “We came out and we felt like we had some good ideas.”

Bill Walsh, the 49ers’ late icon, once lectured how coaches can do a better job with halftime adjustments by actually making them a few days prior to the game. Former offensive lineman Randy Cross concurred, noting that Walsh’s famed scripted plays accounted for second-half issues, “anticipating X, Y and Z,” Cross said.

Cross still remembers Walsh’s halftime talk as the 1980 49ers wallowed in a 35-7 deficit. What emerged was a second half for the ages: Joe Montana’s first of many epic comebacks and a 38-35 victory over New Orleans.

“He had two nuggets for us,” Cross said of Walsh. “One, he reinforced to those of who hadn’t been paying attention what complete fools we were making of ourselves. Second was to not worry about anything other than scoring a touchdown, then worry about the next touchdown, and then the next one.”

Those 49ers scored four touchdowns en route to an overtime field goal. This season’s 49ers have not scored a second-half touchdown in 5 of 12 defeats.

“Form our point of view, it’s not poor coaching,” said Fox Sports’ Chris Myers, who’s announced four 49ers games. “They hang in there, then wear down, fall apart and get blown out.

“People aren’t beating up the coaching staff,” Myers added. “When Ronde (Barber, his broadcast partner) and I sit and spend time off camera, it’s refreshing how honest and candid Chip and his coordinators are. They’re not giving up and throwing in the towel. They’re trying their best with what they have.”

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Until now, the 49ers never had blown a 14-point lead three times in a season. They’ve done it three times this season — on their home field — against Dallas, Tampa Bay and the New York Jets.

How rare is it to go scoreless after halftime in back-to-back games? Quite rare, even though it also happened last season, in Kaepernick’s final start and Blaine Gabbert’s first.

But since Walsh’s arrival in 1979, the 49ers typically get blanked after halftime only once or twice a season. It happened just seven times in Steve Young’s 138 starts, and never in consecutive games. Joe Montana had it happen 14 times in 158 starts, most notably with back-to-back losses in 1986 and in three consecutive postseason games against the New York Giants in 1984-86.

The 1999 season, which went off the rails once Young got hurt in Week 3, saw five games with no second-half points, including four straight in November. (That team got outscored 130-42 in the third quarter.)

VOID OF PLAYMAKERS

Carlos Hyde’s running ability, as expected, keys the 49ers’ offense. But that’s not enough to keep possessions alive, especially once the 49ers start trailing.

“There’s really not a whole lot Chip can do, because he’s got what he’s got,” Edwards said. “When you get into the mode where you’re not dictating the terms and have to drop back and throw it, well, who scares you?

“When they break the huddle, oh boy.”

Although the 49ers have the league’s fourth-best rushing attack, they rank 32nd with 177.1 passing yards per game, as neither Kaepernick nor Gabbert have found success with a perennially revamped crop of receivers. Torrey Smith, a high-priced acquisition in 2015, has only three touchdowns on 20 catches, and won’t play at Atlanta because of post-concussion symptoms.

“Certainly, we’re probably in a rebuilding mode and some of the depth has been decimated by injuries,” Jones said. “Then you have younger players, or some with not as much experience, and football is tough, week in and week out, with the physical demands.”

Young or old, the 49ers combination couldn’t hold up against the Jets, whose safety Calvin Pryor aid of their comeback: We dominated the line of scrimmage and that predicated how things went.”

Myers and his Fox cohorts have witnessed plenty of domination against the 49ers, and although he did not call the latest loss, he and Barber did work the 49ers’ Week 2 defeat at Carolina, and then three consecutive 49ers losses to Tampa Bay, New Orleans and Carolina. Said Myers: “As Ronde and I have looked, and he’s played in league, he sees them as real thin on playmakers, and it starts at quarterback, a guy who can’t complete ball down field.”

KAEPERNICK’S IMPACT

Kaepernick is the first 49ers quarterback to lose eight successive starts in a season, and he’s lost 21 of his last 24 starts.

His running ability, more so than the meager passing game, still provides sparks. But in all-important second halves, Kaepernick is completing just 42.3 percent of his passes (58 of 137) for 637 yards with three touchdowns, one interception and several drops.

“Offensively, there’s very inconsistent play at quarterback because of his accuracy,” Edwards said. “People say it’s a passing league. It’s not. It’s an accuracy league.

“If you’re not accurate, you can’t play quarterback in this league,” Edwards added. “Defenses aren’t dumb. They figure out (Kaepernick’s) sweet spot and where he can throw the ball.”

Defenses have been intent on pressuring Kaepernick and keeping him in the pocket. Receivers, meanwhile, have been mostly afterthoughts. Kaepernick says it comes down to “our execution.”

“The bottom line, it is on the players, and specifically the quarterback, and his ability to process and adjust,” Cross said. “But the staff is there. They can’t throw it for him, but they can get him ready to come out (after halftime).”

TEAM-WIDE ISSUES

The 49ers defense not only is on pace to allow more points and yards in franchise history, it has done few favors for Kelly’s offense in terms of forcing turnovers. Jimmie Ward intercepted the Jets’ first pass last Sunday, for the first interception by a 49ers cornerback this season. And then … ?

“There are no dynamic players on defense to change the game for you, to give you a couple more possessions,” Edwards said.

The 49ers are 1 of 8 teams yet to receive a touchdown return from their defense or special teams. In their playoff seasons of 2011-13, the 49ers had three, four and then five such touchdowns on returns, respectively.

A dearth of game-changing plays coincides with the 49ers’ leadership void.

“Talent’s one thing, but leadership is another thing,” Young said recently on KNBR 680-AM. “You have to have a core group of guys, and they don’t. It becomes a revolving door … until the right combination gets into the locker room (and) the chemistry gets going.”

“Knute Rockne’s famous because he makes a speech (at halftime of Notre Dame’s 1928 game against Army) and everyone goes and plays one for the Gipper,” Young continued. “I mean, you need an incentive to play great football. And if you don’t have it, then you don’t have the talent.”

This season, the 49ers definitely are not playing great football. Not in the second half, at least, and not for a lack of reasons.