Mr. Scot

Hubbard thrived last year as a straight ahead type runner though. Hell, he's arguably the best looking back we've got this year. Sure could use a healthy Shenault too, though.

Young is somebody who ought to be ideal for a WCO, honestly. But that only works if you can block for him, and if you have West Coast type receivers. We're lacking in both those areas.

He's got the kind of speed that would make him a great option to catch short passes and take them for long runs. That's a staple of WCO attacks, but I don't know that we have anyone who suits that role. At the very least, I'd expect him to be an Az Zahir-Hakim type player here.

And here's what I don't get... You've got guys like Jim Caldwell, a successful head coach in his own right, in the mix. Plus someone like Duce Staley who's worked not only with Reich but with Ben Johnson and others. And of course, Reich, who pioneered things like mesh concepts and triangle reads. How, in the midst of all that, does no one see the mismatch between personnel and approach? This especially when it was stated from the beginning that the idea was to tailor the schemes to the players?

Frank helped, at least with concepts and things like that. That's per Brown's own words. But yeah, It's not working.

There's a huge mismatch between the offensive personnel we have and the type of attack we're trying to run.

But scoring the most points in the division. Mind you, Reich is far from blameless, but I think the issues he's responsible for are different, arguably higher level. (personnel and depth chart decisions primarily)

The story with Mingo was that he made such an incredible impression on the coaching staff here that they felt like they just had to have him. He doesn't really suit a WCO though. Downs absolutely would.

He did. Brown wrote the playbook using concepts he borrowed from Reich, McVay and his own experience. From what I've seen, the play designs haven't been anything special. I don't really get a sense of him calling plays to set up other plays or anything like that either. It's possible he's doing that but I'm not seeing it.

We were scoring more points.

Personnel usage (or misusage) is, in my mind, the number one issue we have right now.

Ickey isn't a West Coast tackle. He's a great power running tackle, but a WCO tackle needs to be more agile and less heavy-footed. If we keep this approach, I could definitely see moving him to guard and either getting a different left tackle or just trying Christensen out there again.

I'm not sure it's that simple. And to be honest, I'm really starting to question whether Thomas Brown was actually ready for an OC job.

Thielen was envisioned as an outside receiver, the switch to him playing in the slot didn't come until the season started. We know they made an offer to D'onta Foreman first. Staley even said when he got here that he really wanted to work with him. After Foreman turned it down though, I think Sanders was likely suggested by Reich and Staley since both of them had worked with him before and he'd be familiar with elements of the system. My guess is they thought he'd heal quicker. That, of course, is pretty impossible to predict but it doesn't stop people from trying.

Normally can't get much from street free agents this time of year, but power / bruiser type back is one position where you actually might be able to find a decent option on the scrap heap because they're out of vogue in the current league.

One, I don't think Sanders has been healthy all season. But beyond that, the same offensive line that isn't protecting Bryce Young is blocking for him too.

That's an offseason thing. I'm talking strictly about something to try this season. The rest is a down the road thing, and hopefully only done with the help of a consultant.

Hurst's skill set isn't the issue. He's got two: the first being that he's likely lost a step but the second being that Adam Thielen is playing the role he'd typically be playing...and doing it better. Marshall is a lost cause. Doesn't matter what we do with him. Sanders I have said before I don't think is healthy.

Hubbard can fit a power back role. Hell, It might even be better for Sanders if he's healthy (which I still question)

Similar approach, yeah. Don't necessarily think it requires a coaching change to do either.

Not talking about the offseason. Talking about something that could at least conceivably be done in season with the personnel we have. And offseason retool is a much larger project.

Not sure who you mean by "productive staffs".

And a big reason for that is that they're not being used in a way that fits their skill set. That's on Reich, and maybe Brown as well if we're being honest.

... would be a massive project, but with ten days available it could at least be worth a shot. What would I suggest? Shifting to a run heavy scheme to utilize the personnel we have on the OL in a manner that suits their skill set and hopefully minimizes the damage done to Bryce Young. There should already be at least some plays in the playbook geared to this (short yardage plays if nothing else) that could be emphasized more or even tweaked to fit different down and distance situations. Hell, there's certainly time to write new plays even. At the very least though, the game plans we've been using are not working and those have got to change. Would it accomplish anything? Don't know, but it's better than playing out the proverbial definition of insanity.

I'd say the notion of Harbaugh coming in, telling Tepper to sit down and righting the ship is a pipe dream. The more likely scenario would be a lot of screaming matches between the two of them causing a similarly dysfunctional environment to the one that hastened his departure from San Francisco.