I gave myself 48 hours after the 49ers season-ending debacle to compose myself, in large part because I didn’t want the narrative of what has generally been an incredible season to be marred by my rage and anger at what was, frankly, a pathetic effort in Seattle. Injuries and attrition caught up to the team for sure, but they never really looked ready to play in Seattle on Saturday night. Having spent last week lauding the team for embracing their ability to go out fighting on their shield, this week I find myself excoriating them for not even drawing it. Oh well. Let’s get to the nuts and bolts of it.

My Hottest Take: It hurts, but we’ll be better for this next year

I’ve found it hard to come to terms with this loss, for a variety of reasons. One, the 49ers have never won the Super Bowl in my time as a fan. Add another year to that score. Two, the manner of the loss was horrible. Some would tell me it’d be worse to lose a close game, but I don’t know about that; turning a game off with a quarter and a half left feels like the worst outcome. Three, it was the Seahawks, who honestly look like the favourites to bring the Lombardi home. That all congeals into a pretty nasty ball of misery, and that’s why I couldn’t find much truck, in the immediate hours post-defeat at least, with those who said "well, we’ve had a good season" like a guy who’s lost in the last round of Jeopardy. (I don’t entirely know if that’s a thing, I’m British)

On reflection, though, while I still don’t agree with the "aw shucks, golly gee" attitude to losing (and think the coaches have some questions to answer about our preparation), I do see some light ahead. This season was a fun ride, with ups, downs, thrills, spills, and tremendous experience for our youngsters. The NFC West was written off by some "hilarious" content creators as "the meme division" preseason, and it’s produced three playoff teams and half of the final four. That one of those is the 49ers is not especially surprising to me, but it sure should be to the likes of Tim Kawakami and Grant Cohn who doom-mongered their way through the offseason. It was a great achievement.

That losing hurts shows how much this team made us believe, and even I wouldn’t have thought that possible in September. I’d long since reconciled myself to "this will be a great building year for 2026," even before Bosa’s ACL went pop or Fred Warner’s ankle shattered. Having took us on this ride, though, that’s exactly what this year can be. The likes of Upton Stout, Alfred Collins, CJ West, Marques Sigle and others will have benefitted greatly from their unexpected increase in playing time this year, and the former two in particular look like potential stars.

No one can say what will become of us next season–I’m sure after 2023’s Super Bowl loss we thought a "revenge tour" was possible–but the signs are good. Let’s hope the 49ers can build on some continuity going into next season.

What You Need To Know: Robert Saleh leaving doesn’t have to be a disaster

One place the team is likely to struggle for continuity is on the coaching staff, with multiple assistants drawing interest elsewhere, including Klay Kubiak and, of course, Robert Saleh. At the time of writing, there are ten unfilled head coaching spots in the league, including potential top jobs like Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and (as of this morning) the Buffalo Bills.

It’s hard to imagine that Robert Saleh isn’t ticketed for at least one of those vacancies. Myself, I think he’s a shoo-in for the Baltimore job; a stable ownership, a tremendous front office, and quarterback in place represents all the things he didn’t have in his first head coaching go-round in New York, and his fiery, defense-first attitude seems tailor-made for the Ravfirst attitude seems tailor-made for the Ravens.

Update Tuesday AM: Robert Saleh has agreed to become the new head coach of the Tennessee Titans, per Adam Schefter at ESPN.

So, disaster, right? Well, not so fast. Saleh has left once before, and his replacement, DeMeco Ryans, did pretty well, and arguably better. Where things went wrong was going outside the organisation for Ryans’ replacement (Steve Wilks, who was a horrible fit both personality and schematically), and then having to recruit from a brain-drained assistant pool from within for 2024 (Nick Sorensen, who, frankly, was like having Beavis and Butthead at defensive coordinator), rather than the loss of Saleh.

Looking at this offseason, there are some interesting potential candidates both internally (KJ Wright, Daniel Bullocks, and Gus Bradley) and externally (Jim Schwartz, Raheem Morris, Sean McDermott, et al) for the job. Frankly, I think everyone knows I’m a bit of a Saleh-sceptic, and while it’d be nice if he stayed, I don’t think a new voice, and maybe a slightly more aggressive attitude to playcalling, necessarily means disaster. I reserve the right to change this, though, particularly if they hire Bradley, which feels like it’d have me weeping all offseason.

Before You Go: What’s coming up this offseason

Speaking of which, we’re now officially into the offseason, and on the clock for the 27th pick in the draft. You might think, or even hope, that that might mean you see a little less of my ranting. Not so. In fact, you might see more of me as a result. Expect me to be breaking down offseason needs, potential draft picks, and any offseason drama until I’m almost blue in the face. We’ll start next week with a look at needs for next season, and possibly some 2025 season awards. I’ll see you then!