Nick WagonerESPN Staff Writer Oct 29, 2023, 10:46pm ET5 minutes read
Brock Purdy has two passes blocked in a row
49ers quarterback Brock Purdy struggled in the second half as he was intercepted on two straight passes against the Bengals.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Around this time last year, the San Francisco 49ers found themselves in a tough spot heading into their bye week.
They had just beaten the Kansas City Chiefs handily at Levi’s Stadium and were 3-4 this season. But the biggest solution to this team’s problems was already in the building. The Niners acquired running back Christian McCaffrey in a blockbuster trade a few days earlier with the idea that he could spark a second-half run. He did, and the Niners rattled off ten straight wins and finished the season en route to an appearance in the NFC Championship Game.
A little over a year later, the Niners head into their bye and Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline with a much better record but with the same urgency following Sunday’s 31-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. After a 5-0 start, the loss to the Bengals was San Francisco’s third in a row, dropping them into first place in the NFC West division at 5-3.
Although the Niners will likely be actively looking for outside help, coach Kyle Shanahan made it clear Sunday afternoon that another McCaffrey won’t be walking through that door. That means improvement must largely come from within, a process that begins with a lot of self-reflection in the game week before the Niners play the Jacksonville Jaguars on Nov. 12.
“No, none of this changes the trade deadline,” Shanahan said. “The way we played today or the way we played the last three weeks. … I believe we have the answers in our building. I think we have good players. I think we have good coaches. It’s up to me to make them do better.
“I thought we started off pretty well, but there are some things that we haven’t been able to hide over the last few weeks here and that’s why we have to keep pushing them in every way because some people really lose streaks and they don’t have any Answer them and you live only in hope.
Sunday’s loss was the Niners’ first three-game losing streak since the 2021 season and follows a stretch in which they won 15 straight regular-season games (which is a franchise record) and their first five opponents had defeated this season by an average of 19.8 points per game.
Early in the season, Shanahan had repeatedly pointed out the mistakes his team was making, but was able to get away with it because they jumped out to a big lead. Penalties and red zone issues were problematic, but the Niners offset many of them by making big plays on offense (21 plays over 20 yards were the sixth most in the NFL) and giving up few on defense (10 plays over 20 yards were allowed). were the fewest in the NFL). They were also dominant in the turnover fight, posting a plus-7 on two giveaways, which was a league-low.
The last three weeks have seen a dramatic shift in the opposite direction for most of these categories. The Niners averaged 7 points per game, passed for an average of 62 yards per game, and gave up 15 plays of more than 20 yards (the second-most in the NFL during that span). Additionally, the Niners have turned the ball over seven times (tied for fourth-most) and are minus-3 in turnover margin during that span (also tied for fourth-worst).
After not throwing an interception in the first five weeks, Niners quarterback Brock Purdy has thrown five in the last three games, including four in opponent territory, one of which was inside Cincinnati’s 10 on Sunday. The compounding errors have also limited the Niners’ ability to run the ball often or effectively.
“I just know that it’s hard to win football games when you’re losing the turnover battle that we had two weeks in a row,” tight end George Kittle said. “And of course we just have to play better and put ourselves in situations where we can run the football better and not have to throw the ball as often.”
While many of these issues were alarming, the defensive issues were the most surprising. The Niners have regularly fielded one of the best defenses in the league in recent years and despite the move to new coordinator Steve Wilks from DeMeco Ryans (who became the head coach of the Houston Texans), the Niners seemed to struggle to score again this season .
That was the case for the first five weeks, but not recently. As the schedule and the quarterbacks they face have become tougher, the Niners have given up nearly 70 more passing yards per game through the air and opposing quarterbacks have had a QBR nearly 16 points higher over the last three weeks.
Those issues, coupled with a pass rush that had a hard time getting home and a controversial blitz call before halftime of last week’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings, have put Wilks under the microscope. But Shanahan said Sunday that there was a lot of blame to go around.
“It doesn’t depend on one coach or one side of the ball,” Shanahan said. “Here, too, we haven’t scored more than 20 points for three weeks. So I think our defense needs to get better. I think our offense needs to get better. I think our team needs to get better. When I say about our team, I mean every single player there and I think every single coach.
Now the 49ers face a long layoff that should allow left tackle Trent Williams’ sprained right ankle and Deebo Samuel’s injured shoulder to heal. That should help, but it will take a lot more to get through as the Niners enter a stretch that will see them play Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, Seattle, Philadelphia and Seattle again in the five weeks after the break.
“We have to sit here and wait about 14 days to deal with this feeling, which no one wants, but I think we have to,” Shanahan said. “I think our guys must be a little upset. I think we need to come back with a little better focus because it wasn’t enough and we didn’t do it.”