The San Francisco 49ers are one win away from a playoff berth, which could come as early as this Monday against the Indianapolis Colts, placing them back in the postseason after a one-year hiatus.
It’s
been a much different year for the 49ers, who have dealt with major injuries on both sides of the ball, including season-ending ones for Nick Bosa and Fred Warner. Still, they’re sitting at 10-4 with a chance to get the NFC’s No. 1 seed, should they win their final three games of the season.
When you look at the 49ers defense, though, there are quite a few concerns. San Francisco has just not been good against the run, while their pass rush has struggled to come together without Bosa.
San Francisco has allowed 5.4 yards per carry in its last three games, while giving up 136 yards per contest during that stretch.
“Yeah, it hasn’t been good enough,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said about the run defense. “We know we need to do better, especially with the challenge coming up this week with such a great running team. I mean, I can sit here and make excuses for stats and things like that, but it hasn’t been good enough. So, we work on it schematically, we work on it individually with players and stuff like that, and we’re hoping we can have a better showing this weekend.”
The problem? The 49ers face one of the best rushing attacks in the NFL this season. Behind star Jonathan Taylor, the Colts have the sixth-best rushing attack in yards per game (128.5) and in yards per carry (4.6). Taylor is currently first in the NFL in carries (272), yards (1,443), rushing touchdowns (16), and seventh in yards per attempt (5.3). And the Colts have been good in the trenches as well.
“One, they have a great O-Line,” Shanahan said about the Colts run game. “They have, to me, as good of a group of receivers as far as they have all the elements of they all have size to block, they have speed and they all have very good hands. Their tight end’s very good. So, they’re very good around them.
“And then you just look at the back, you’ve got a 4.3 back who has the weight to run people over, who can break tackles. He has been doing it for a long time. So anytime you have a natural running back who gets to the right holes and has great vision, but also has elite talent with a great supporting cast around him and a very good scheme, Shane’s [Steichen] always done a really good job in the run game and pass game, so they’ve got all of it going.”
The 49ers offense has spelled the team enough over the last few weeks that they haven’t really had to worry about the run defense. But, when it comes to the playoffs, the 49ers will be facing a ton of top rushing teams. They’ve got one this week and another next weekend when they face the Chicago Bears.
Those will be some good tests for the unit, which needs to prove it isn’t a liability for the 49ers.
