Schrock's Week 10 takeaways: Brees, Rodgers show what 49ers lack
As the 49ers grapple with their future at quarterback, the last two weeks have shown them the importance of having the right long-term answer.
Try as they might, the 49ers are underwater and there's no reason to believe they'll come up for air until the 2021 season kicks off.
Battered, bruised and broken, the 49ers rolled into New Orleans and took a 10-0 lead against the Saints. That didn't last. New Orleans reeled off 27 straight points even with Drew Brees getting knocked out with a rib injury to climb to 7-2 and send the 49ers hurtling toward an offseason filled with questions.
After 10 weeks, the NFC has no clear pecking order. The Saints looked impressive in dismantling the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a week ago, but looked beatable against Nick Mullens and the 49ers.
The Seattle Seahawks have lost three of their last four and now sit in third place in the NFC West. When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are locked in, they are hard to beat. When they are off, they can really stink up the place. We've discussed the Green Bay Packers' fraudulent nature, but they currently sit atop the conference at 7-2.
In the AFC, it's the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers with a wide gap separating those two from the rest of the conference.
A pack of challengers including the Raiders, Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans, Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins is chasing the two AFC front-runners. Still, all have glaring weaknesses that will be exposed come playoff time.
Here's what we learned after a Week 10 that gave us a lot of what we expected and some of what we didn't.
The NFC East has been the Eagles' division to lose all season, especially after Dak Prescott went down with a season-ending injury. It still is, even after Philadelphia's head-scratching 27-17 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday.
But to what end? For the right to get pantsed by Tom Brady and the Bucs in Round 1? What's the point in trying desperately to finish at 6-9-1 to fool yourself into believing that you're making progress?
The Eagles have been one of the most injured teams in the NFL over the past two seasons. Fact. But that doesn't excuse the sub-par play.
The Eagles pay Carson Wentz like an MVP-caliber quarterback. He has not played like one since he tore his ACL at the end of the 2017 season. He has shown flashes of brilliance, but the copious amounts of turnovers, troubling accuracy issues and lifeless performance after lifeless performance have overshadowed any silver linings.
Since the 2017 season, Wentz and head coach Doug Pederson are 17-18-1 together. That is, by definition, average. Pederson is as much to blame for the Eagles' struggles as Wentz is. Pederson gets free drinks for life in Philly because he wasn't Chip Kelly and he beat Bill Belichick and the Patriots in the Super Bowl with Nick Foles at quarterback.
Or was it Frank Reich who did that? No matter.
The point remains that this version of the Eagles, the one led by Wentz and Pederson, has nowhere to go but to an 8-8 record and first-round playoff exit.
Their current struggle to win what might be the worst division in football in the last 15 years should be proof enough that what they are doing isn't working.
So, again, what's the point of fighting to get 6-9-1? To see how close you are to whatever elite team will show up and wipe the floor with you in early January?
I can tell you how close you aren't. Everyone can see it. The Eagles are light years away from being considered a contending team. No division title will change that.
It's time they take stock of what they have, coach and quarterback included, and chart a course to return to respectability. No matter how long that might take.
For the first seven weeks of the NFL season, Tua Tagovailoa sat on the bench while fellow rookies Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert blew up the NFL. Tagovailoa was supposed to be the No. 1 overall pick but ended up falling to No. 5 overall thanks to a hip dislocation and Burrow's historic senior season.
Tagovailoa sat and watched as Herbert dazzled with big throw after big throw and Burrow dropped jaws with his toughness and poise.
The Alabama star had to be frustrated. It is only human. These are the guys he is going to be compared to for the rest of his career. He is one part of what looks like the best QB class since 2004 and perhaps 1983.
Sunday was a different story for Tagovailoa.
Tagovailoa made the third start of his career Sunday opposite Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers. What he saw had to make him smile because it's clear, at least at the moment, that his contemporaries should be envious of him.
What Tagovailoa saw Sunday was Herbert, an ultra-talented quarterback struggling to keep his team afloat. Week after week, the Chargers, undisciplined and lifeless, find new ways to lose.
On Sunday, the Dolphins opened the game by forcing a three-and-out and promptly blocked a punt, returning it to the 1-yard line. All day long there was Herbert, eight games into his career, trying to put a talented but directionless team on his back. The Chargers make mistake after mistake. They feed Kalen Ballage like he's Terrell Davis and then wonder why the offense stalls out. A defense billed as one of the NFL's best in the preseason, struggled to stop Salvon Ahmed, who couldn't make the 49ers' practice squad.
For Tagovailoa, it's the exact opposite. As Herbert tries to compensate for a below replacement-level head coach, vexing play calling, putrid special teams and a defense that cannot get off the field, Tagovailoa is in the ideal situation.
He has a bright, young head coach in Brian Flores and plays for a franchise with a clear direction and plan to build around him. The Dolphins' defense is stout and Miami runs its offense to Tagovailoa's strengths, realizing he is part of the solution and not something for them to scheme around just because he is a young quarterback. The Dolphins aren't afraid to let Tua be Tua.
In Cincinnati, Burrow has a different set of issues. He arrived to an empty cupboard. He's got decent weapons in Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd and A.J. Green but the offsensive line is awful and the defense isn't going to scare anyone. Much like Herbert, a lot is placed on Burrow's shoulders in order for the Bengals to succeed. Both have little room for error.
Tagovailoa, on the other hand, is set up for success in a way his counterparts, at least for the time being, are not.
As we start to survey the NFC landscape with seven weeks to go, it feels like one team is going overlooked. A team led by a dynamic, young quarterback, an innovative head coach and the best wide receiver in the game.
We're heading toward Week 11 and the Arizona Cardinals, yes, those Cardinals, are in first place in the toughest division in football.
It feels like they are ahead of schedule. The defense isn't perfect and the offensive line could be better. But the Cardinals have plus value at three of the most important positions on the field: Quarterback, wide receiver and head coach. Sometimes that's all that matters.
I'm not here to tell you the Cardinals are perfect or that they won't be knocked off in the wild-card round. But I am here to tell you that there's no reason they can't catch fire and represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.
Think of the teams in that crowded NFC pack I listed above. The Saints are relying on Drew Brees to stay healthy. He was knocked out of Sunday's win over the 49ers due to what he called a cumulative effect. That's not good for a 41-year-old quarterback.
The Seahawks' defense is historically awful and the Cardinals already showed they could beat them once. They get a chance to do it again Thursday night.
What about the Bucs? Yeah, when they are right, they are almost impossible to beat. Sometimes, they show up, commit 15 penalties, drop a bunch of passes and look like utter garbage.
What about the Rams? They have an elite defense, but I haven't seen anything to make me think Jared Goff is going to outduel Murray with all the chips on the line.
Which brings us to the Packers. Aaron Rodgers covers up a ton of blemishes and he would probably have his way with the Cardinals' defense. But think back to a month ago when the Bucs pasted the Packers. That's the same team that was lifeless in a four-point win over the one-win Jaguars on Sunday.
They are the very definition of flawed and beatable.
The Cardinals have played in tight games all season long. That should only help them down the stretch. When it's winning time, they have three guys in Murray, Hopkins and Larry Fitzgerald who come up big time and time again.
Once again, I'm not here to proclaim them NFC champions. But don't be surprised if they are the last team standing in a conference without a dominant leader.
It was a month ago that the Raiders stunned the NFL world by beating Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. It was a monumental victory for Jon Gruden, quarterback Derek Carr and the rebuilding Raiders.
It showed progress.
Progress comes typically in increments. It builds over time, sometimes at an agonizing pace.
That win over the Chiefs was followed by a blowout loss to the Bucs. A message that perhaps the Raiders weren't ready to take two steps up the NFL ladder and that one would have to suffice in 2020. But that game was played after the entire Raiders offensive line missed practice, and they were still in it until late in the third quarter.
Three straight wins have followed. The Raiders won a bare knuckle fight in an Ohio windstorm against the Cleveland Browns, survived a bout with new Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert and steamrolled the Denver Broncos on Sunday to move to 6-3. Paul Guenther has simplified the defense and it appears to be paying off. The Raiders forced five turnovers against Denver, a thought that seemed impossible a month ago.
Now holding the No. 5 seed in the AFC, the Raiders will prepare to welcome the Chiefs to Allegiant Stadium on "Sunday Night Football" in Week 11. It's a true measuring stick game.
Any team can be gotten once. Teams fall asleep and get caught by surprise all the time. It's especially easy for the defending Super Bowl champions, a team that appears to have no NFL equal, to sleepwalk through an early-season game against a team that hadn't won in Kansas City since Barack Obama was elected for the second time.
The Chiefs won't be asleep this time. That Raiders loss is the only blemish on their schedule and the only game in which Patrick Mahomes has looked moral.
It took everything the Raiders had to earn that 40-32 win at Arrowhead Stadium. It buoyed them to this 6-3 start. But one win doesn't make you a contender.
Now comes the Raiders' moment.
You want to prove you're for real? Do it again. This time with the whole world watching.
There will be no harm in a loss, but this game should show the Raiders the accurate measure of their progress in Year 3 under Gruden.
It's been a lost season for the 49ers, one that will end with Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch playing the NFL's version of "choose your own adventure" that will determine the franchise's course.
As the 49ers continue to grapple with their future at quarterback, the past two weeks have shown them the importance of finding and securing not just a quarterback who can win you games but finding the guy.
In Week 9, they faced Aaron Rodgers, who is in his 13th season as starting quarterback for the Packers. Green Bay entered each of those 13 seasons, or at least most of them, as one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl for one reason: Rodgers.
The Packers employed Mike McCarthy from 2006-2018, and Rodgers made him look like a genius. Rodgers' unquestioned brilliance covered up for lack of innovation on offense and a defense with its fair share of issues.
As long as he was healthy, none of that mattered. Yes, he's only won one Super Bowl. But he made the playoffs in 10 of those 13 seasons and had injury issues in two of the seasons in which they failed to qualify for the postseason.
Rodgers has made many, if not all their issues, moot for more than a decade.
On Sunday, the 49ers faced Drew Brees and the Saints. At 41 years old, Brees no longer is the gunslinger he used to be, but the Saints' Super Bowl hopes still are tied to him being healthy and able to conduct the offense.
The Saints have one of the best head coaches in football, a good defense and two elite playmakers on offense -- sound familiar? And yet, once Brees went out with a rib injury Sunday, they went from the team that bludgeoned the Bucs a week ago to one that struggled with a 49ers team on life support.
Jameis Winston is a solid NFL quarterback. He can win some games and put up numbers. Taysom Hill can excite from time to time, but there's a reason the Saints haven't given him the car keys. Even with Sean Payton and one of the NFL's best rosters, the Saints go from contender to borderline playoff participant without Brees.
That's the world the 49ers currently find themselves in. They like Jimmy Garoppolo a lot. When he starts, they win. He has moments of brilliance. He has outdueled Brees and won shootouts with Jared Goff.
But, in the end, he is what he is: Just solid.
Ten of the last 13 Super Bowl champions had elite franchise quarterbacks running the show. Only the Philadelphia Eagles (Nick Foles), Denver Broncos (2015 Peyton Manning) and Baltimore Ravens (Joe Flacco) won without a bonafide star at quarterback. Flacco was flawless that postseason. Foles put up massive numbers in the Super Bowl. Only Manning, who was on his last leg, was asked not to shoulder the load.
It's much easier to have a quarterback hide your team's flaws than to have your team cover for your hole at quarterback.
That's the dilemma facing the 49ers. Do they gamble by supplementing a good roster with average quarterback play? Or do they read the room and the direction of the NFL and go find the guy who can carry them for the next 10 years?
The 49ers have a great foundation and have built a roster that has the pieces to win now. But few teams consistently win with average quarterback play, and Kyle Shanahan can only scheme up so many wins.
That's the task facing the 49ers as they turn their attention to 2021.
To be a staple among the NFL's elite, you might have an elite, franchise quarterback, one who can cover up your imperfections and makes you impossible to beat when you have none around him.
