Lowell Cohn: 49ers deliver another sorry performance in loss to Packers

SANTA CLARA - Most surprising after the Packers beat the 49ers 17-3, was the lack of tweeting by Jed York, putative owner of the team that used to play in San Francisco.

York is a known tweeter. A prolific tweeter. After the 49ers lost to the Seahawks 19-3 last Thanksgiving, York showed the world his high professional standards by tweeting an apology to 49ers fans. He apologized for his team's poor showing. It was the act of a man with character.

So how come no apology following Sunday's monstrosity? The 49ers scored only three points — just what they scored against Seattle last season. Those three points shrieked for an apology. Not to mention the seven points Jed's team scored the previous week against Arizona. You don't need to be a math whiz to figure that averages five points a game.

To my way of thinking — and I want to be absolutely fair about this — Jed has more to apologize for now than last year. After the Thanksgiving loss, the 49ers still had a winning record — 7-5. After Sunday's loss to Green Bay, the 49ers record is 1-3. Three of those losses in a row. Trending down.

Where was the apology?

In addition — and I want to be absolutely fair about this — Jed owes an apology for firing Jim Harbaugh, a known winner, and hiring in his place this other guy. Name of Jim Tomsula. If Tomsula has a clue, I'm Albert Einstein and I came up with the Theory of General Relativity.

Tomsula came out after the game with his usual forlorn demeanor, the poor suffering soul. 'Getting this team in a position to win,' he said, 'that's what I need to get done. That's where I'm falling short.' Poor soul. Shed a tear.

I see Tomsula I want to order a cut of meat. I see him behind the counter of a butcher shop wearing a white apron stained in red blood. He smiles when he sees me and says he has a deal on pork butt. He rubs his bloody hands on his apron and prepares the butt. He handles a game plan like a butcher handles meat. No finesse. Slam. Bang.

'Offensively, obviously, we've got to get some things ironed out,' he said. 'OK?' Which just about said it all. He didn't say he could iron things out, or offensive coordinator Geep Chryst could iron things out.

No ironing is possible. The 49ers offense is a disaster. The past two games the offense lost the game, gave the team no chance to win. Colin Kaepernick completed 13 passes against the Packers. For the love of God, get a new quarterback, Jed. And get yourself a new coach and a new general manager. And while you're at it, get yourself a new you — an owner who knows the ropes.

I'd like to share postgame snippets which may be illuminating.

ALEX BOONE

Someone asked Boone the offensive identity of the team. On the good side, Boone did not vomit. 'I think we're still trying to find that right now,' he enthused. 'It's a (crappy) place to be, especially four games in. Whatever it is, we better figure it out by tomorrow. It's up in the air right now. A good man-to-man session will get this figured out.'

Which means the 49ers have descended to the dreaded team-meeting level.

DECLINE & UNDECLINE

In the postgame locker room, reporters approached Anquan Boldin. 'I have nothing to say,' he said. Reporters approached Ahmad Brooks. 'I have nothing to say,' he said.

Torrey Smith got out fast and didn't say anything. I guess he had nothing to say. Consider those three prominent decliners. Two are receivers and, just maybe, they didn't want to criticize — excoriate? — Kaepernick.

Carlos Hyde also declined, walked out of the locker room, then came back and spoke. He must have felt guilty. Call him an undecliner. So, the Niners had three decliners and one undecliner. The decliners were eloquent in their silence.

GROUNDERS

Kaepernick threw two grounders. I'm not talking about how he threw behind receivers or over their heads. I'm sticking to the grounders. It's not every day you see a quarterback wind up — a quarterback coached by Kurt Warner, no less — and throw a one-hopper or a two-hopper to a wide-open receiver.

Kaepernick had an explanation. 'I'm not going to throw the ball into traffic and risk this offense and this team in putting them in a bad situation.' He meant he threw the ball away to be safe — Kaepernick who threw four interceptions the week before and may be shell-shocked. It's just that the first grounder was his very first throw of the game. It went to Boldin and he could have caught a ball that didn't bounce. Well, if Brandon Belt loaned him his mitt, Boldin could have done a scoop job.

The second grounder was a bouncer to Reggie Bush in the fourth quarter from the Packers 15-yard line and pretty much ruined that drive. No points.

CAPITULATION

Early in the third quarter, the 49ers trailed 7-3 and still had a chance to win. On third-and-11 from their own 34 they handed off the ball to Reggie Bush and he ran up the middle. Well, he didn't run up the middle. He got smacked down by the big guys. No gain. Punt to Packers. Packers get ball. Packers score TD.

What team runs when it needs 11 yards? No team. That right there was the moment of concession. OK?

Here is Tomsula's explanation. 'That was a schematic thing on third-and-11, backed up right there. So, what we were trying to do, they were bringing a lot of zeroes (all-out blitzes). We were obviously having a hard time getting that blocked up. So trying to split the zeroes with an explosive guy.'

Huh?

Throw the damn ball, Jim.

LAST WORD

NaVorro Bowman, a respected team leader, came to the postgame news conference. 'We'll get it right,' he said seriously. 'It's a great team.'

Delusions sure die hard.

For more on the world of sports in general and the Bay Area in particular, go to the Cohn Zohn at cohn.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.