SANTA CLARA, Calif. – As if there weren’t already enough humiliating elements to San Francisco’s lopsided loss to its biggest rival on Thanksgiving night, owner Jed York weighed in on an effort he said “wasn’t acceptable.”
Cassie Baalke, daughter of general manager Trent Baalke, called for offensive coordinator Greg Roman’s ouster before quickly deleting her Twitter post and later closing the account altogether.
Trent Baalke issued a statement Friday saying he and Cassie had apologized to Roman.
“My daughter and I both regret that her feelings got the best of her after last night’s game and that she chose social media as an avenue to express her feelings. We have apologized to Greg for this unfortunate matter,” Baalke said. “While disappointed, as a father I will use this as a teachable moment to help my daughter grow.”
Just when the 49ers had some nice momentum as they approached the season’s final month, it all went away in a matter of four hours in a 19-3 loss to the Seahawks on Thursday night at Levi’s Stadium.
San Francisco’s playoff hopes dwindled in the process.
“Any time you lose, it’s a low point,” wide receiver Anquan Boldin said. “But we’ll bounce back.”
The offense was awful. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick had one of his worst games as a pro. Richard Sherman and the Seattle Seahawks celebrated all over the home field that hardly offered much advantage when fans left in early.
“We celebrate every play. Even when they get a catch and it’s a great hit, we celebrate that. They didn’t even understand that,” Sherman said. “They were getting frustrated that we were celebrating those plays, but that happens when you’re a team and you’re together.”
What’s next for these downtrodden Niners? Coach Jim Harbaugh spoke about a “reboot.”
The speculation is running rampant again that he might get the boot following season four of his $25 million, five-year contract he signed in January 2011.
Any day-after thoughts would have to wait. Harbaugh isn’t scheduled to address the media again until Monday, with players likely on Tuesday as is the team’s regular schedule.
That’s a long few days for team executives, coaches, players and fans to figure out what went so wrong.
York posted on Twitter in the waning moments: “Thank you (hashtag)49ersfaithful for coming out strong tonight. This performance wasn’t acceptable. I apologize for that.”
The post from Cassie Baalke’s Twitter account read: “Greg Roman can take a hike..the 49ers don’t want you no more.” After her words, were a pair of icons of hands clapping.
York’s post had about 5,200 retweets by early Friday afternoon, with replies from fans calling for Roman’s job.
“I try and stay out of that. Whatever is going on upstairs or in the next room, I leave it up to them,” tight end Vernon Davis said. “I just stay in my corner and do what I am supposed to do and control the things I can control.”
Harbaugh is not immune to the constant chatter about his future, though he has been steadfast in staying the course of winning each week — a “one-game season” mantra recently started by Boldin — though this could get ugly in a hurry if the 49ers can’t clean things up.
In their next game Dec. 7, they will make the short trip to Oakland to face a Raiders team that heads into Sunday’s game at St. Louis with a 1-10 record.
While the timing of York’s public Twitter apology was strange, nobody in the losing locker room could really argue with him. Harbaugh wouldn’t specifically address the remarks.
“We didn’t get it done. The Seahawks played much better team football than we did,” he said. “We know what we have to do now — to come back and win them all.”
That’s a daunting task. After the game in Oakland, San Francisco must get on a plane the next week and go to Seattle for what will be another wild matchup Dec. 14 between two teams that have come to truly dislike each other.
San Francisco returns home to host San Diego and then division-leading Arizona to end the regular season Dec. 28.
It’s hard to see this 49ers team reaching the playoffs the way things are spiraling. This group began the season thinking Super Bowl championship or bust following three straight trips to the NFC title game and a runner-up Super Bowl ending after the 2012 season.
After Sherman’s two-interception night, the star cornerback took a couple of parting shots. He noticed the thousands of fans leaving early from this debacle.
“Yeah, I waved them goodbye,” he said.
San Francisco’s players will get back to work early next week.
“We’ll take a couple days off and regroup,” cornerback Perrish Cox said. “We’ve just got to stay together. Not point any fingers or anything like that.”
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AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL
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