Barber: 49ers loss a comedy of errors

SANTA CLARA

When Jim Harbaugh was deposed by team CEO Jed York in 2015, the 49ers’ story felt like a tragedy. The proud but difficult coach a victim of palace intrigue, the empire in ruins as a result.

Last year, with Chip Kelly having replaced Jim Tomsula, the tableau became more akin to a Swedish existential drama. The season dragged on, sad and hopeless, as the characters searched for meaning but found only moldy wheat; the 49ers’ 2016 highlight video should have been shot in moody black and white.

Saturday, the home crowd got its first look at Kyle Shanahan’s 2017 Niners, and let us all rejoice. The team has become a comedy, which should be a big improvement in entertainment value.

Here’s where we must pause for a list of disclaimers following the 33-14 loss. It’s only the preseason. The 49ers are still wading through the installation of new offensive and defensive systems. Some aspects of their performance, like pass rush, were pretty solid, and guys like C.J. Beathard and Victor Bolden did good things in the second half.

OK, enough of the public service announcements. We now return you to your regularly scheduled edition of the Bay Area’s Funniest Home Videos.

Saturday at Levi’s Stadium, the 49ers had nothing on the toddler hitting his dad in the nuts with a Wiffle bat, or the goose chasing the dog in circles, or the stunt-gone-wrong that ends with a grown man riding a tricycle into a lake.

The 49ers had six penalties for 53 yards in the first half of Shanahan’s (unofficial) home debut, but the penalty flags didn’t even register. It was the turnovers that made this a laugher. It wasn’t the number of giveaways that made this game memorable. It was their comedic quality.

Take the first one. It came on a routine Broncos punt that appeared to have a routine outcome. A Denver player downed the ball, but was whistled for touching it after going out of bounds, then running back onto the field. But hold on. After conferring with the other officials, referee Pete Morelli awarded the ball to the Broncos, saying it had touched San Francisco’s Jaquiski Tartt. The video was inconclusive, and the visitors kept the ball.

The 49ers’ second turnover was way better. Brian Hoyer, the new starting quarterback, dropped back to pass late in the first quarter, and it was as if a young John Cleese or Roberto Benigni was in the pocket.

“I was getting ready to rip it to (Jeremy) Kerley, like he had a double-move route and I thought he was gonna win, and I went to throw it,” Hoyer said. “And I was gonna throw it hard. I think my arm even went forward, and I was looking around like, ‘Where’s the ball?’”

It had popped straight into the air as if coated with microwave-popcorn butter. It was a fumble, and Denver’s Shelby Harris recovered. I’ve witnessed NFL turnovers before. I haven’t seen many that were accompanied by “Yakety Sax,” the theme song from the “Benny Hill Show.”

“It’s the worst feeling,” Hoyer said. “You go to throw the ball, and you’re looking and all of a sudden you look around and you have no idea where it is. It literally is the worst feeling I’ve had as a quarterback.”

The 49ers weren’t done. A couple minutes into the second quarter, Hoyer fired a pass to wide receiver Marquise Goodwin over the middle. The throw was a little behind the receiver, but not much. It looked like Goodwin made the catch. Next thing you knew, Broncos cornerback Chris Lewis-Harris was trotting off the field with the ball. He had simply stolen it from Goodwin while both twisted in the air, like Harpo Marx reeling in a dollar bill on a fishing line.

“Just didn’t catch it clean, and the DB made a good play,” Shanahan said.

Come on, Kyle. That’s like watching the food fight scene in “Animal House” and describing it as “just some mashed potatoes and fruit pies that got away from us.”

The Niners had one more giveaway in the half, but it was a yawner. With 3:34 left before halftime, backup runner Tim Hightower was fighting for yardage when Denver’s Dymonte Thomas stripped the ball, then recovered it. You know how comedies sometimes get serious at the end and try to hit you with a message (like “protect the ball”) instead of keeping up the jokes? That’s how Hightower’s fumble felt.

The 49ers added some madcap antics in the second half, too.

At one point in the third quarter, rookie quarterback Beathard fell right on his butt as he backed away from the center, but still managed to hand off to Kapri Bibbs. And in the fourth quarter, the Broncos disrupted a routine handoff from Matt Barkley to Joe Williams, and the Niners had turnover No. 5. But these were the warm-down acts after the headliner at the comedy club, gags committed by guys who might not even make the roster.

It’s the first-half bloopers that count, and they were enough to fill an entire reel of outtakes.

Now that we have stopped laughing long enough to dab our eyes and catch our breath, what does it all mean?

From a practical sense, not a lot. NFL seasons are never made or broken in August. Shanahan is one of the game’s most highly regarded offensive minds, and it stands to reason that his ship will get tighter as summer turns to fall, and fall to winter. This was just one weird night, in a game that mattered little.

But we can be more hopeful than that. It’s practically a given that the 49ers, coming off a dreadful 2-14 season, will not contend in 2016. They have too many holes at too many positions. Assuming they are mediocre or worse, we might as well root for a much-needed injection of humor.

Shanahan’s game plans are complex, many of his players inexperienced. Hoyer will never be mistaken for Aaron Rodgers. So maybe we will get a few doses of comic relief this year. Let’s hope so. I’d rather cry tears of laughter than tears of football sadness.