Yo 49ers....What Happened?

You ask any bay area native who their favorite NFL team is and you will most likely here the Oakland Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers. Two franchised riddled with a deep history and some of the most loyal fans across the country. Being that my father was born and raised in the great city of San Francisco, I was born with scarlet and gold coursing through my veins. The last time a Super Bowl trophy was won in San Francisco was in 1994, a year before I was born. It was such a good time to be born into the 49er family. But through my 20 years on this earth I have had many ups and downs with this team. It pains me that I have never seen my team hoist a Lombardi trophy, especially after being so close in recent years. But i have learned that in regards to sports, and most facets of life, the past is the past and the only thing we can do is look to improve our future. Now trust me when I say this ladies and gents, Ive been looking forward and I’m not too confident in what i see in the distance. Last year we possibly had the worst offseason in NFL history. Never in my life have I seen a franchise go through such discombobulation. Along with losing our head coach, Jim Harbaugh, we also lost our star pro bowl linebacker. I would say his name but it pains me too much to even type it out and I’m sure you already know who I’m talking about. I know that this already sounds bad right? Trust me it gets worse! Our promising young linebacker Chris Boreland decides to retire early for health reasons… Really dude, you’ve played your whole life and now your worried about your health. C’mon son!! Guess he couldn’t handle the big lights. Then Frank Gore, our pro-bowl running back decides to take his talents to Indianapolis. Indianapolis!!!!! This pained me the most because this was the first running back i actually payed attention to when i first started watching football. The man had 8 1000 rushing yard seasons out of 10. A true work horse who fought for every yard….. GONE.  But wait, theres more.. (Billy Mays voice) Along with losing our starting guard Iupati we also lost Michael Crabtree who signed to the Oakland Raiders and had a fairly decent season. And the finishing touch was seeing our veteran defensive-end, Justin Smith, retire. Sigh. These loses left us crippled for the next season as we went on to finish with a 5-11 record. Tampa Bay, Detroit, and the Oakland Raiders, just to name a few,  all had better seasons. As a man who has fought and argued for my team against many Raiders fans, it pains me to say that I believe that the Oakland Raiders are currently a better team. It seems the 49ers have completely lost our defense and the Raiders have done the polar opposite. With our new “star” head coach, Chip Kelly, I hope that we can figure something out fast and get back to the kind of football that the Faithful 49 and I are used to watching. Its time for us to rebuild and bring some of that tenacity we left at Candlestick to Santa Clara. Only time will tell if we can figure out our missing pieces to the puzzle. 

​- Xzavier Boone