Inside the Huddle podcast: NFL Week 12 preview as San Francisco 49ers look to keep season alive

Repeated Super Bowl heartbreak is behind the San Francisco 49ers’ disappointing start to the NFL season, believes Sky Sports analyst Phoebe Schecter.

The 49ers sit 5-5 in a wide-open NFC West having been hindered by marquee injuries in their ongoing bid to maximise a Championship window following February’s defeat to the back-to-back defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in Las Vegas.

Kyle Shanahan’s side have come as close as anybody to lifting the Lombardi Trophy in recent years, suffering Super Bowl defeat in 2019 before falling in successive NFC Championship Games and then finishing second-best to the Chiefs again last season.

Christian McCaffrey missed the first half of the campaign through injury, Brandon Aiyuk is out for the year, George Kittle and Deebo Samuel have both missed time and on Sunday Nick Bosa was dealt an injury setback in defeat to the Seattle Seahawks.

San Francisco now head into Sunday’s matchup with the Green Bay Packers knowing the margin for error is slim from now until the end of the year.

“I think they are tired and that fatigue is with being deflated,” said Schecter on the latest episode of Inside the Huddle. “You get so close so many times, your season is extended, playing so much more football and you can be like the Chiefs where you’re playing longer but you’re winning and it’s fine, that kind of rejuvenates you when you have a Super Bowl trophy to hold.

“But when you come up empty-handed time after time and feel like you’re believing in the process and doing everything the coaches are asking you to do, and showing up every day and none of it is working you start to question things.

“McCaffrey has been one of the biggest ones they would not have anticipated. He’s part of their success or lack of success. Brock Purdy is not playing like the quarterback we saw playing the last couple of years.”

The Packers meanwhile remain in the playoff hunt thanks to a dramatic win against the Chicago Bears in Week 11 by way of Cairo Santos’ blocked field goal.

While Green Bay’s offense lies among the most explosive in the league, quarterback Jordan Love has faced heightened scrutiny having thrown 11 interceptions in eight games.

“The mistakes Jordan Love is making now are the ones you think ‘that could end our season in January’,” said Neil Reynolds.

Love has thrown at least one interception in every game he has played this season, while completing just 160 of 257 passes for 2,081 yards and 16 touchdowns after dazzling in his first full year as the starter in 2023.

“He was phenomenal in the playoffs, improved all season long and went from strength to strength,” said Schecter. “This season has been chop and change for him.

“He wouldn’t have expected as much of a fall back. He’s always been an aggressive style quarterback, that’s in his nature and he’ll take those shots, and with those shots, you sometimes get a 50/50 ball.

“But the way and the rate he is turning the ball over is putting his team in such a negative position. If he continues to do this I don’t know how they continue to overcome it for the rest of the season.”

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Watch the Detroit Lions face the Indianapolis Colts from 6pm Sunday live on Sky Sports NFL, followed by the San Francisco 49ers against the Green Bay Packers on the road to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans