Niners can’t pass the eye test — or the football

You’ve heard the term in advertising: Eye test. Never mind the numbers or opinion of others. Do you like what you see? If you don’t, what else do you need to know?

The 49ers these days can’t pass the eye test. (That at times they can’t pass the football either is part of the problem.)

The Niners don’t look good. Which is being kind.

If you stayed with the Niners on Sunday as they failed to stay with the Arizona Cardinals, you can understand why head coach Kyle Shanahan said he was disappointed. He also said a lot more after the 31-17 loss at Levi’s Stadium.

He told us the Niners didn’t tackle well. Couldn’t stop the run. Didn’t stop the screen pass.

But that was very clear in the eye test.

San Francisco was outplayed from start to finish, giving away the ball on two fumbles and an interception; giving away big chunks of yardage on first downs.

What’s happened to a team many thought would be a contender for the Super Bowl but now is 3-5 and hasn’t won a home game since last season is a legitimate question.

Without easy answers. Maybe without answers of any kind.

Something is very wrong, and it isn’t necessarily quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo or Shanahan or the defense or the offensive line, but undeniably all are involved. In other words, bringing in Trey Lance isn’t going to make things better quickly.

The factors that combined to get the Niners to the Super Bowl only a couple of years ago, the ones that enable a team to succeed, controlling the ball, preventing the opponent from doing the same, have vanished like the thoughts of another championship.

Eye test: The Cardinal team on the field Sunday lacked Kyler Murray, the quarterback who runs like a halfback, wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and all-pro defensive end J.J. Watt.

Obviously, that didn’t matter, because the Niner team on the field lacked willpower.

Every team has downers. Nobody wins them all, and on Sunday the Rams, arguably the best team in the NFL and the Niners’ next opponent, were defeated at home by the Tennessee Titans.

Yet, the 49ers were sad reminders of what used to be, a franchise that over the years may have struggled but at least had a chance to win.

The Niners, down 17-0 all so quickly, never had a chance in this one, and if Shanahan didn’t say that directly he very much implied it.

Kyle is perceptive enough to understand that if he can see what was going on, so could those at the stadium or watching on TV.

Coaches or baseball managers brought in by organizations where winning isn’t so much expected as demanded inevitably say it’s the city’s team and they’re merely caretakers.

It’s obvious in this disappointing season of 2021, to borrow from Kyle Shanahan, that nobody is taking care of a football team with a proud past.

“We couldn’t stop the run,” said Shanahan. “All those free yards. We couldn’t keep them from less than five yards on first down. Couldn’t stop the screen passes. We’ve got to make those plays..

“And on offense we dropped the ball. We fumbled, then we fumbled again.”

Tight end George Kittle, out the past few weeks, returned and after a reception was one of the fumblers. Brandon Aiyuk was the other.

The interception, of course, came from Garoppolo, trailing late when everybody — including the Cardinals — knew the Niners had to pass.

There’s an axiom in sports that it takes a long while to become a champion, but you regress to failure all too quickly.

The 49ers lead the league in turnover differential, their negative total growing by three against the Cardinals.

“I think this year with turnovers,” conceded pass rusher Nick Bosa, ”we’re not getting them, and we’re giving them up too much. That’s a big sign of a losing team. And that’s what we are right now.”

As we could see all too well.