Geep Chryst Needs to Take a Breath
After benching Colin Kaepernick this week, Jim Tomsula came out in his press conference and said he “wanted Colin to step back and breathe and look at things through a different lens.” (h/t Grant Cohn-Santa Rosa Press Democrat) Seeing defenders from the sidelines rather than barrelling through the starting right guard will certainly be an interesting change of scenery for Kap but there are others on this staff that may need to take a breath first.
Geep Chryst has been absolutely terrible as an offensive coordinator this year. In his weekly press conference, Chryst essentially came out and said that because his players can’t get the job done, the offense is a mess. He then eluded to the fact that Trent Baalke hasn’t had amazing drafts recently and therefore the 49ers are void of any real talent. This offensive line is not the same as it was in years past but the regression that we’ve seen has been astonishing.
Geep has controlled the 49ers redzone offense as quarterbacks coach under the Harbaugh regime. He was promoted in the offseason, likely through some “good words” and “vouches” by people with power. @SoCaliSteph tweeted this morning that a well-informed source told her that Kap “stood up for Chryst” and was likely an integral part in him becoming offensive coordinator. What a good friend Kap is. And Chryst has failed to repay the favor.
For the last four seasons fans have been driven crazy by the lack of execution in the redzone. Moving the ball between the 20s? No problem. But put the 49ers offense at 1st-and-10 on the 16 and more often than not Joe Nedney, David Akers, and Phil Dawson were gonna be padding the stat sheet. The 49ers lost a Superbowl on a poorly executed fade route to Michael Crabtree. They have stalled drive after drive in important situations. This is the man that became offensive coordinator. Chryst couldn’t design and manage plays when he was working with a shorter field. In the redzone, teams have their bread-and-butter plays, the ones that you know will get you six.
There are variations and motions and window-dressing that can be put in but ultimately there is a handful of incredibly well-executed plays that teams count on. Chryst, for multiple years, was unable to effectively manage this piece of the 49ers offense. So instead of searching for an impressive and qualified offensive assistant to really help Tomsula in his first year as coach, the 49ers promoted a man who has routinely failed as they watched.
49ers management can’t be happy with Chryst, who essentially called out Trent Baalke for not doing a good enough job of getting quality players in the building. Jed York chose Baalke over Harbaugh and will probably defend him until he absolutely must let him go. Chryst has called out Baalke and now York, the big-chested punk with monetary power and snake-like charisma, will flex his muscles and then force someone else to do his dirty work.
If the 49ers lay a stinker against Atlanta, especially on offense, do not be surprised if we start to hear the chatter towards changes on the offensive staff. Once Chryst called out Baalke, York will have to do something. Until now, the team could place all of the blame on Kap’s inability to develop or be a more amicable guy in the locker room. Chryst has, perhaps inadvertently, placed himself squarely against Baalke in the 49ers food chain and the last man to do that was named Jim Harbaugh.
Chryst has shown little imagination in creating plays that effectively settle his quarterback and move the offense. Halfway through the season, there are no surprises about what these players can and can’t do. The bench has impressive players sitting on it while Vernon Davis ran routes at half-speed and Jordan Devey blocked like he was scared. Bill Belichick couldn’t see anything in Jordan Devey and suddenly Geep Chryst is going to maximize his potential as a starting right guard? Okay, Geep. If Chryst refused to change the starting line then he needed to recognize their strengths and exploit that. The left side is solid but from center to the right tackle is full of weak arms that struggle in all situations. Quickly timed routes, with zone-read elements built in every couple of plays, could maximize the skills of Carlos Hyde and Kap, while alleviating the stress on the helpless right side. The 49ers were so persistent and stubborn in their goals of making Colin a pocket quarterback that now, even when they said they wanted him to use his legs and run, they don’t know what that looks like.
Remember that offseason press conference? Where we heard about how the 49ers would run the ball? And Kap would get to use his skills to his advantage rather than feeling constricted? Sure seems like an awful lot of lip service now. I’m sure Kap feels the same. A team that has failed to support him and a coordinator that weekly puts him in a position to fail. Kap tried to do Geep a favor and he is still waiting on Geep to do the same for him.
