49ers' Ahkello Witherspoon to Start Divisional Playoff Game vs. Vikings

Despite having another shaky outing in week 17, the San Francisco 49ers have not given up hope on cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon. He is set to start the divisional playoff game vs. the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday.

Despite having another shaky outing in week 17, the San Francisco 49ers have not given up hope on cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon.

Witherspoon is set to start the divisional playoff game vs. the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday. He was benched on the final drive of the game against the Seattle Seahawks with NFC west on the line. Emmanuel Moseley came on as relief and appeared to be a bit of an improvement.

Ever since his return from an ankle injury that sidelined him for over a month, Witherspoon has struggled to perform like the elite corner he was in the first few games of the season.

Now he just looks like a liability in coverage. However, do not tell defensive coordinator Robert Saleh that who still believes Witherspoon is an exceptional corner. 

"Ahkello actually, when you go back and look at that tape, played a pretty good football game," he said. "There were a couple of situations where he got caught in a bad situation. Either way, his ability to put those to bed and compete his tail off will always define whether or not he can finish and play games at his best. But, to say he played a poor game against Seattle, I'll be honest with all of you, it would be inaccurate.”

Saleh does indeed raise a good point that it is easy and typical to just blame Witherspoon just because he is the closest to the ball at the time of a bad play.

Nevertheless, he still appears to playing without confidence and I do not believe the 49ers are making the ideal decision to go with Witherspoon again. He has had plenty of chacnes to get his feet under him, but the guy continues to get ousted in coverage over and over again. 

Does that mean that the last four games of poor plays where "it looks" like Witherspoon wasn't actually his fault? Not everything is truly his fault, because we can't take everything at face value without understanding the assignments.

Still, I refuse to believe that Witherspoon has just been in an unfortunate situation at everyone of his mistakes. At the very least, if he does end up showing early signs of stage freight, then the 49ers can just pull him for Moseley. Doing so should officially end his reign as the starter, which should have happened after he almost cost the 49ers the NFC west.