San Francisco, CA
5Q: Could Lions Embarass 49ers on Monday Night Football?
The Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers met 11 months ago at Levi’s Stadium with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. San Francisco used a furious second half comeback to steal the NFC Championship game, leaving the Lions walking off the field in defeat.
On Monday, the Lions will return to Levi’s Stadium looking to avenge that defeat. While the 49ers are eliminated from playoff contention, Detroit is pursuing the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. If the Minnesota Vikings lose to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, a win over the 49ers would give the Lions home-field advantage and a first-round bye.
Grant Cohn is a San Francisco 49ers beat writer for 49ers OnSI. He recently answered five questions to preview Monday’s game between the Lions and 49ers at Levi’s Stadium.
1.) What have been the biggest factors contributing to the 49ers’ struggles this season?
Grant Cohn: The 49ers will say that injuries ruined their season, but that’s not the full story. The Lions have lots of injuries too, and they’re 13-2. The 49ers were bad early in the season before the injuries piled up. And that’s because they had more drama than any other team during the offseason — they had three holdouts — and those distractions carried over to the regular season (see Deebo Samuel punching the long-snapper on the sideline and De’Vondre Campbell quitting mid-game). In addition, the absence of Christian McCaffrey exposed Brock Purdy. Without McCaffrey to carry the offense, Purdy simply couldn’t win close games in the fourth quarter.
2.) Is Kyle Shanahan the right coach to lead the 49ers in the future?
Cohn: No. He’s awful in close games. His offense isn’t good anymore — it’s averaging fewer than 18 points per game since the bye week. And his quarterback is regressing. The 49ers need a fresh start and a new voice to lead the team. After eight years, it seems that Shanahan’s voice and message don’t resonate like they used to. You have to wonder if the older players blame him for their two Super Bowl collapses. If the Bears or another team were to call the 49ers and propose a trade for Shanahan, the 49ers should accept it and move on. Because if they keep him, they’ll struggle next season, too.
3.) San Francisco faces a big decision moving forward with Brock Purdy being extension-eligible this offseason. Do you believe Brock Purdy is deserving of a lengthy, top-of-the-market extension? Why or why not?
Cohn: No. Early in his career, he played in lots of blowouts because he had Christian McCaffrey, the Offensive Player of the Year. Without him, the 49ers have been in lots of close games this season, and Purdy has won only one of them. He routinely throws the interception in the fourth quarter that loses the game. He did it two weeks ago in a do-or-die matchup against the Rams in which the 49ers scored just six points and lost, and he did it again last week against the Dolphins. The 49ers should make Purdy play out the final year of his contract. He still has much to prove.
4.) What are 1-2 key matchups that could decide Monday’s game?
Cohn: Dee Winters vs. Jahmyr Gibbs. The 49ers have good cornerbacks, but they’ve struggled to cover quick running backs out of the backfield ever since Dre Greenlaw tore his Achilles in the Super Bowl. Dee Winters simply isn’t as good as him. Last week, the 49ers gave up six catches for 70 yards to Dolphins running back Devon Achane. Look for Gibbs to have a huge game catching the ball and running it. The 49ers have given up four 100-yard rushers in their past five games.
5.) Who wins and why?
Cohn: The Lions have something to play for. The 49ers don’t. The Lions are good. The 49ers are not. This game won’t be close.
San Francisco, CA
Sea lion pup found in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset malnourished but ‘feisty’
A California sea lion pup found last week on a San Francisco street corner is malnourished but “active and quite feisty,” The Marine Mammal Center said Monday.
The sea lion, believed to be about 10 months old, had apparently wandered into city’s Outer Sunset neighborhood and was discovered early Thursday morning, authorities said.
The pup was spotted near 48th and Irving Streets, one block from Ocean Beach and Sunset Dunes park. A trained responder from the Marine Mammal Center was joined by San Francisco park rangers and police officers to safely corral the pup, now named ‘Irving’, into a carrier crate.
Dubbed ‘Irving’ by his rescuers, Irving weighed in at 40 pounds and is considered malnourished, the Marine Mammal Center said.
“The sea lion is active and quite feisty which is a positive initial sign in terms of general behavior,” the center said in a news release on Monday.
During an exam by veterinarians, a series of blood samples were also taken to determine whether there’s any underlying ailment.
Irving is being tube fed a fish smoothie blend two times per day to boost hydration and weight; offers of whole herring will also begin shortly.
The quick actions by police, recreation and parks staff and Ocean Avenue Animal Hospital gave the young sea lion a second chance at life, said Lauren Campbell, animal husbandry manager at The Marine Mammal Center.
“As a roughly 10-month-old pup in his first year of learning how to forage on his own, this animal has a long road to recovery due to his severe malnutrition,” Campbell said. “We are hopeful that in the coming weeks with continued specialized care that this pup starts to make positive strides toward recovery and release.”
Irving will be held in the Center’s Intensive Quarantine Unit until clearing medical protocols, before likely being transferred this week to a traditional rehabilitation pool pen. A long-term prognosis and potential release timeline are not currently known.
San Francisco, CA
Giants Head Home to San Francisco After Shutout Loss
After Sunday’s 3-0 loss to the Washington Nationals, the San Francisco Giants headed back to the West Coast. They’re going back to the Bay Area, too.
The Giants have a date with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series at Oracle Park starting Tuesday night.
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So, San Francisco probably wanted to get out of Washington, D.C., with a win. That didn’t happen at Nationals Park on Sunday afternoon.
Nationals reliever Andrew Alvarez, the third pitcher used by the team on Sunday, picked up the victory with 4 1/3 innings of work. Giants starter Robbie Ray absorbed the loss, falling to 2-3 this season.
Ray worked six innings, giving up seven hits, three runs (all earned), walking one, and striking out seven Nationals. If the Giants’ offense had found a way to tack on some runs, then Ray’s outing wouldn’t have looked so bad.
The Giants’ bats, though, had eight hits. The big number for Giants manager Tony Vitello to look at in the box score after this one was, well, pretty big. San Francisco left 10 runners on base on Sunday, going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. This indicates that San Francisco had plenty of opportunities to score some runs.
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They just didn’t get the job done.
Let’s go to the bottom of the fifth with the Giants and Nationals in a scoreless tie. With nobody out, the Nationals’ Keibert Ruiz connected for his third double this season. Nasim Nuñez scored to put Washington up 1-0.
With one out, Curtis Mead sent a Ray pitch over the left-field wall, a two-run blast that gave the Nationals a 3-0 lead.
San Francisco had a scoring threat in the top of the eighth inning. With runners at first and second base and nobody out, Casey Schmitt grounded into a double play. Matt Chapman, who was on second base, went to third. But the Giants were unable to bring him home.
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Rafael Devers and Drew Gilbert went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Giants, producing half of the Giants’ hits.
The Giants fall to 9-13 this season, sitting in fourth place in the National League West Division. The Nationals’ record goes to 10-12, good enough for third place in the National League East Division.
All eyes now turn toward Oracle on Tuesday night. It’ll be a chance for two longtime rivals to renew their rivalry.
Baseball fans know that the Giants-Dodgers matchups usually are must-see TV.
That’s probably going to be the case once again as Giants fans watch their team battle the Dodgers. Those lucky to have tickets to the three-game series at Oracle Park will show up in Giants colors, hoping to see Los Angeles head back to Southern California with either a series loss or a Giants’ sweep.
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Buckle up, Giants fans. It’s about to get rowdy at Oracle Park.
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San Francisco, CA
Why do gray whales keep dying in San Francisco’s waters?
The 4,140-sq-km bay is the largest estuary on the west coast of the US. Before 2018, this species of whales wasn’t known to stop seasonally or consistently in the bay, bypassing it on their migration route down to Baja California and back up the Arctic, said Josephine Slaathaug, who led a recent study on gray whale mortality in the bay.
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