So near and yet no nearer...

The Seattle Seahawks played a good game, especially their offensive line and defensive... well... almost everything. But in the end, I think it was poor second-half decision-making by Colin (and not the 12th man) that made the difference in this one. As good as he was in the first half, he was just about that bad in the second. And although a classy Colin readily accepted his part in this loss, there was plenty of blame to go around: 

• Boldin’s two drive-killing drops; 
• Poor third-down play; 
• An almost complete lack of a conventional running game; 
• An occasional inability to contain Wilson or to cover who he eventually threw to; 
• Stopping Lynch in the second half as well as they did in the first half; 
• etc. 

These issues notwithstanding, and arguably absent those three turnovers, Niners win. Colin’s going to be great; he’s just still learning how to get there. 

As for blown calls, maybe they made some difference. The no-call on Bowman’s obvious fumble recovery comes to mind, but SF recovered another fumble on the next play. The bad personal foul call on Whitner’s first-quarter hit to a receiver’s shoulder (and not his head) probably kept a drive alive that should have otherwise died. But regardless of the part the refs might have played, the Niners didn’t have all their parts working when they needed them, SF has never been a great come-from-behind team, and last time I checked, none of the refs was on either team’s roster.

Going forward, I do hope Iupati and Bowman are able to come back, for their own sakes. Maybe the Seahawk’s cornerback Sherman, who I’ve enjoyed watching heretofore, can get back to behaving like Richard and not like Dick, regardless of how large a small-d-dick he perceived Michael Crabtree to be in the moment. Someone just has to be the bigger person, and nothing is cheesier than someone telling you how great he or she is. Mohammed Ali was able to pull it off: Sherman isn’t. Although I can’t blame him for going off talking to Erin Andrews (her voice is enough to send me screaming from a room), he need only look to his QB for how to stay classy, win or lose.