When All Else Fails, Blame The Refs

Like many 49er’s Fans, I was (insert angry adjective for “disappointed”) at the team’s “come from out-front” loss to The Kansas City Chiefs in the recent Big Game. The 4th quarter min-meltdown against a potent Chiefs offense was hard to watch, but it was ALSO hard to watch some of the bad calls during the game. SF Gate online published an article by Eric Ting laying out the same argument, which I found weirdly comforting…from Ting’s article:

 “With the game tied 10-10 late in the second quarter, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo completed a deep pass to tight end George Kittle that appeared to set the 49er’s up for a field goal attempt at the end of the half. Unfortunately for the 49er’s, offensive pass interference was called on the play. The call was questioned by many, since it appeared that Chiefs safety Daniel Sorensen was the one who initiated contact on the play, and it was only a small shove on Kittle’s part. The 49er’s were forced to take a knee and end the half instead, costing them three points that could have been big later in the game.”

Oh, and there’s that pesky “no-call” on The Chiefs for being off-sides halfway through the 4th:

“San Francisco was leading 20-10 with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter, and faced a third down and 14 from their own 34-yard line. Garoppolo scrambled and came up short of the line to gain, but the 49ers should have had another chance at converting. Replay clearly showed that a Kansas City defender jumped off-sides prior to the start of the play, but no flag was thrown. This would have given the 49ers another shot at a much-more-manageable third-and-nine.”

Time to move on, I know…there’s always next year…love our 49er’s…blah, blah, blah…

John Young