The 49ers had lost their offensive pulse without their ‘system’ QB, and a blowout loss to Green Bay was the Niners’ final nail in the 2024 season (Video)

For desperately optimistic San Francisco 49ers fans, there will be a path to the playoffs through this brutal maze.

They will point out: An extremely tight race for the NFC West crownIt may remain in balance until the last week of the season. They’ll be dealing with injuries hoping three of their top four players (quarterback Brock Purdy, linebacker Nick Bosa and offensive lineman Trent Williams) can come out of the tunnel next week and turn things around against the Buffalo Bills (9-2). And they will surely avoid considering how eerily similar this campaign is to the 2020 season, when San Francisco was beset by health and identity issues following a Super Bowl loss the previous season, inspiring a hugely disappointing 6-10 record. an eventual roster renewal.

On that second point, it’s hard to ignore the symmetry of the lost 2020 season. These 49ers were 5-6 entering December, looking like a shadow of themselves, and they were hosting the Bills in a game that felt like the last best chance to save the season. San Francisco lost 34-24 in a game that was never as close as the score indicated. Ultimately, it became clear that the season was over and the 49ers had a lot of work ahead of them.

A week from now, the same can and likely will be said about the 2024 49ers, who look nothing like the team coming off last season’s Super Bowl loss. You can choose any 10 minute increment inside Sunday’s disastrous 38-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers — the 49ers’ worst defeat under Shanahan since 2018 — and finds worrying characteristics throughout. A team that can’t identify the run or find anything explosive when throwing the football. A defensive front that got smacked in the ear by Packers running back Josh Jacobs on the game’s first snap looked like it would never recover. General lack of focus nine penalties, many of which occur at critical moments. And it’s an underwhelming presentation of football that suggests the 49ers can’t bounce back, just like the last edition they lost in the Super Bowl last season.

“The whole game was disappointing,” Shanahan said afterward. “To name the biggest (disappointment), the first half, just the run defense was really disappointing. … The way they controlled the clock in the first half was one of the worst situations I’ve ever been a part of.”

Shanahan repeated the word “embarrassing” multiple times in his postgame press conference and applied that label to the entire team; This seemed the appropriate response to a defeat that was half lesson and half warning.

Lesson: The 49ers are as lethal as any other team that can’t survive without a marquee starting quarterback, elite rusher and tone-setting offensive tackle. When they get injured, they are especially vulnerable against top NFC teams like the Packers.

And warning: Let this be the standard that ends all talk of Shanahan being able to make this work. any quarterback, especially if it’s a one-game situation. It’s a misconception that’s been proven before, but it’s also easily and repeatedly forgotten when someone dares to insert Purdy’s name into a conversation about the league’s best QBs. Yes, this season has had its ups and downs. But rarely has the offense been this flat and seemingly intent on shooting itself in the foot.

If anything, the loss to the Packers is a momentary reminder of what life can be like when you don’t have a reliable quarterback to run Shanahan’s offense. Of course, it wasn’t just Purdy’s absence that was the only problem, the lack of any solutions throughout the game definitely had something to do with the quarterback position. It seems that the system looks best when the quarterback is at the controls, generally adapting to and mastering the system. This is something to ponder this offseason, where there will inevitably be conversations between the cost of Purdy’s contract extension and his actual value to the team.

Of course, this is a topic to be discussed later. For now, our focus is on what this defeat means for the 49ers. with Los Angeles Rams’ loss to Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday nightThe NFC West remains in the hands of the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals; Both sit at 6-5, simultaneously jockeying for who will win the division and who will try to break into the NFC’s final wild-card slot. At 5-6, the 49ers aren’t exactly out of steam when it comes to the postseason, but even if the math is still there, the spirit of what gets there is problematic.

Purdy was already having consistency issues before his latest shoulder strain kept him out of the game against the Packers. There’s no telling how big of a problem this will be when (or if) he returns. Although his shoulder was a big enough concern to keep him on the sidelines in a must-win game for the 49ers against Green Bay. The same goes for Bosa’s hip and Williams’ ankle. Both may be close to returning, but neither is guaranteed to play at the highest level for a team that needs them to play at a high level right now. And if that wasn’t enough, two other key players, linebacker Jordan Elliott and offensive guard Aaron Banks, sat out Sunday due to concussion concerns.

Now with the loss to the Packers, the confluence of those health issues is heading into the best cross-country road game: Sunday night’s prime-time game against a streaking Bills team. A well-rested team will come off a bye week and chase the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seed after convincingly defeating the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 11. Next game is the bye week, and the Bills’ postseason seeding bets effectively guarantee that they look ready to swing.

If we were being honest about what the 49ers were facing schedule-wise, the time to win was against the Packers. Their failure to win on Sunday turns this game against the Bills and the games after that into a mock playoff game. That’s basically where the 49ers are. They are in a single-elimination postseason tournament starting this week. And after the Bills, it’s Chicago Bears (still trying to figure out their own problems, but getting better)The Rams (who beat the 49ers in September), the Miami Dolphins (a handful with Tua Tagovailoa under center), the Detroit Lions (Super Bowl favorites, winning nine in a row and looking to avenge an NFC title game loss), and finally the no-longer-being-pushed-around A road game against the Arizona Cardinals.

If we want to reduce San Francisco’s problems, we don’t need to get into injuries, focus and game inconsistency. At this point we can look at that uphill curve, which is more like climbing Mount Everest, and that tells us everything we need to know.

The 49ers’ 2024 season is complete. We haven’t watched it play out yet.