The San Francisco 49ers are in the driver’s seat after a 41-22 beating of the Arizona Cardinals this past weekend, standing at 7-4 as the No. 7 seed in the playoffs.
Up next is the Carolina Panthers on
Monday Night Football, with the Cleveland Browns, a bye week, and the Tennessee Titans to follow. Those are three very winnable games, which would put San Francisco at the coveted 10-win mark with three games to go in the regular season.
The 49ers are getting key pieces back at the right time, as quarterback Brock Purdy and wide receiver Ricky Pearsall returned against the Cardinals. But, they did also have a few concerns after the win, as kicker Eddy Piniero and linebacker Tatum Bethune both suffered injuries, amongst other players, and are expected to miss some time.
Since their 3-0 start to the season, the 49ers have alternated wins and losses in the eight weeks since, going 4-4 during that stretch with consecutive victories. They have a chance to snap that streak this weekend against the Panthers.
But, to do so, they’ll need some more production in one key area: pass rush.
It’s no secret that the 49ers have had issues rushing the quarterback since losing Nick Bosa to a torn ACL early in the season. Last weekend, the team struggled to get to the quarterback, as Jacoby Brissett was sacked zero times on 57 dropbacks.
Part of that was getting the ball out quickly, but San Francisco did allow the Cardinals to get into their territory on seven of the team’s 11 drives. That led to a game with 82 defensive plays, which evidently led to some wearing out at the end of the game.
The Cardinals clearly couldn’t capitalize on those opportunities, thanks to three turnovers and a missed field goal, but that won’t always be the case in the future, especially against playoff-caliber teams.
A big part of the equation is the balance between keeping things simple defensively, versus throwing a ton of different looks at opposing quarterbacks. Head coach Kyle Shanahan acknowledged the defense struggled with that balance in the losses to the Houston Texans and Los Angeles Rams.
Against Arizona, it didn’t come to hurt them because of the hole Arizona put themselves in early. But, the defense will need to find ways to create more pressure because they also get beaten in the secondary. When both of those issues arise concurrently, it’s a problem.
The good news is that San Francisco now faces three of the five worst-scoring offenses in the NFL over their next three games, starting with the Panthers. It’ll be a good test to continue developing their young talent, while throwing more at them to continue finding the proper balance.
A big part of that also comes with stopping the run effectively, which the 49ers did this weekend. But, the pass defense has also been a concern in losses, and San Francisco needs to see how to affect the quarterback more to improve those metrics.
