The San Francisco 49ers are playing about as well as most of us expected them to this season (not well at all), but the team’s 2-5 record has not stripped head coach Jim Tomsula of his enthusiasm.
Following his team’s 17-3 loss to the Green Bay Packers in Week 4, Tomsula says he held a “heated” meeting and allowed the players to air out their frustrations. In his weekly radio appearance on KNBR Tuesday, Tomsula compared the gathering to a fiery Italian family get together.
“The biggest thing I said to them was, ‘Guys, it’s like an Italian dining room table,'” Tomsula explained, as transcribed by Matt Barrows of The Sacramento Bee. “‘Everybody’s sitting around the table and sometimes it gets heated, dishes get broken, people leave. (But) everybody’s got to come back to the table to eat. And when it’s all said and done, we’re hugging and kissing and we’re eating good food again.'”
One 49ers player reportedly called out Colin Kaepernick during the meeting while another came to his defense. When the coaches were done talking, they left the room and allowed the players to say what was on their mind.
“That does happen in this business,” Tomsula said. “When you become 2-5, that starts to become headlines. But it was a very productive meeting. It was a meeting where it was truthful and dealt with facts and reality.”
Kaepernick has not played well, and Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reported over the weekend that the 27-year-old is “on an island” without the support of teammates and his confidence is “completely shot.” Kaepernick played well in the next two games after the meeting — a loss to the New York Giants and a win over the Baltimore Ravens — but he put up another clunker against the Seattle Seahawks at home Thursday night.
The Niners have an aging defense and an incompetent quarterback, and there have been reports that the team could be considering moving on from him. Based on what we heard about San Francisco’s offensive playbook, you have to wonder if Kaepernick could use a change of scenery. Personally, I do not think he’s a very good NFL quarterback — no matter where he plays.
