The 49ers did not want to rip that band-aid off. But it's off now. Their playoff hopes are, for all intents and purposes, extinguished. They are a bad football team. That's the reality.
This is not a shock. It's the realistic conclusion. It's what happens:
... when you are a top-heavy roster with multiple aging stars, and few of them had a real training camp together
... when you failed to replenish talent, whiffing your way through most of the 2021-2023 drafts
... when those draft whiffs leave you devoid of talent for a wretched special teams unit
... when your offense revolves around an older running back with a lengthy injury history, and that running back misses most of the season
... when your star receiver starts off slow because of protracted contract talks, suffers a season-ending injury when he started to peak, and your replacements are: (1) an athletically-limited, but physical slot receiver who has to take over at X, (2) a zone receiver who has a limited route tree and can't separate from man coverage, and (3) a rookie who was shot, has little rapport with his quarterback, and is ignored, missed, or used as a decoy frequently (when he should probably be playing over that zone receiver)
... when you force feed that zone receiver, who's more running back than receiver, and he doesn't have the same lateral dynamism or tackle-breaking reliability to make up for defenses being prepared for his shtick
... when your offensive line is built around a 36-year-old Hall-of-Fame player who is missing increased time due to ankle injuries, and who can't singlehandedly fix the fact that the middle of your offensive line cannot create push in the run game and is poor in the pass game
... when that offensive line consistently fails to call the right protections to pick up blitzes
... when that offensive line allows pressures at times even when it has the right protection call
... when your offense is built around "hot" answers instead of protections, so defenses force you to throw quickly on third downs, and usually short of the sticks on third-and-mediums or third-and-longs
... when your aging running back returned, but did not fix that flaw in your offense and then got hurt again
... when the nature of your offense means that your quarterback has too much on his plate to set the protections himself, and doesn't have enough time before the snap to adjust even if he wanted to
... when smart defenses know this, rip off the Chiefs' gameplan and throw press man coverage at you on these key downs
... when those smart defenses also throw overload blitzes, or simulated overload pressures (more to one side than the offensive line can handle) and get you to throw quick and short, daring you to beat them, especially without your usual answer of an option route to Christian McCaffrey, or an advantageous matchup for an out route to Jennings
... when your quarterback, who relies on anticipation, fails to trust that protection, because it does not hold up
... when your quarterback, who relies on anticipation, fails to trust that his receivers will get open, because they (George Kittle excluded and with mixed results to Ricky Pearsall, who doesn't seem to have a full grasp of the offense, and is a secondary read) struggle to separate
... when your quarterback, who relies on anticipation, playmakes in some key spots, then tries to playmake too much in others, because even when he does trust what he sees, has a protection prevent him from getting to the right throw, or when a protection holds up, there is no target for him to throw to
... when your quarterback, who relies on anticipation, doesn't have the arm talent to consistently make tough, deep throws into tight windows, especially in poor weather conditions
... when your defense collapsed multiple times this season in key situations
... when your front office failed to address the obvious lack of run-stopping capability in the middle of your defensive line and swung a meaningless trade at the deadline for a defensive tackle who is not a run stopper
... when your "wide-nine" scheme might be fundamentally flawed when you lack players who are able man their gaps at above-average levels, and you continue to employ it anyway
... when your answer to Dre Greenlaw was Eric Kendricks, who reneged on his agreement and joined the Cowboys
... when your answer to Kendricks' rejection was De'Vondre Campbell, who played terrible in the first half of the season, and then refused to play after being benched for Greenlaw and Dee Winters Thursday
... when you hit on one safety in Malik Mustapha, but your other safety, Ji'Ayir Brown, regressed
... when your two safeties in Brown and Talanoa Hufanga fail to cover a tight end on a season-ending play against the Rams
... when your head coach has a proclivity towards stubbornness, conservatism, especially at the end of first halves, and perhaps too much faith in players with limited skillsets, meaning adjustments get made slower than they should
Does that cover it?
I am quite confident that does not actually cover everything that has naturally led to the downfall. It doesn't mention that 12 men on the field debacle, the kicker rotunda, or plenty more.
But that's the reality. It was not one thing for the 49ers. There was a plethora of suck. They were not as talented or as brilliant as they thought and they were certainly not healthy enough or in-tune on either end to make up for their glaring deficiencies elsewhere.
The preseason had red flags, and anyone paying real attention to how this season developed heeded those warnings. The final three games are a real chance for evaluation and, hopefully, experimentation. The 49ers should let loose. They're seniors in the final three weeks of school.
Try something new. See what works. See who belongs. See who doesn't. Remind yourself that football is fun, that it is entertainment, and not an arduous task to be set upon with such seriousness as filing your taxes. Make the last three weeks useful, but if nothing else, make them entertaining and reclaim some of the joy that should be present in playing a game.