Although he recognized that weariness was a role, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said that this was the main problem.
After Week 15, the 49ers are firmly in control of the NFC’s top seed. Next Monday night, they will host the Baltimore Ravens, and they are the favorites to win. With three games remaining, everything is falling into place for the Niners.
However, a tackling issue that surfaced during the 49ers’ three-game losing skid has surfaced again in these last three games.
According to PFF, the 49ers defense missed 16 tackles against the Arizona Cardinals. Nine players failed to make a tackle. Furthermore, this extended beyond the Cardinals game. In the two games prior, the defense was missing 14 and 12 tackles, respectively. Either bad run defense, huge plays, points being scored by the opposition offense, or all of the above, have been directly caused by these outcomes.
The ineffective run defense was exacerbated by your starting defensive tackles being absent. The fact that Kalia Davis sprained her high ankle during the game further added to the strain on the defensive tackle position’s low depth chart. However, Kyle Shanahan offered the following explanation of why he believed the tackles were missed:
“I’m positive that it hurt. I believe that every element played a part. First, letting those guys go. Secondly, the quantity of plays they had, particularly in the first half. Kalia’s loss during the game was a major factor in the guys’ weariness at the conclusion. especially those final few drives, especially when they continued to play on a few third downs.
The missed tackles seemed to me to be the major issue. They brushed against a few. Then, mostly, we were simply rushing to the ball on several plays and monitoring our tracking angles. We opened up the cutback and over chased a few items, which offered them some significant opportunities. In general, especially with the running quarterback, you expect a lot of schematic mistakes and other things when you give up those yards. I believe that didn’t harm us as much as you may have, but we still need to attempt to regain our depth and clear up all those tackles.
Two tackles were missed by Randy Gregory. During his 29 snaps, T.Y. McGill missed three tackles. Dee Winters did not make a tackle in 12 snaps of play. Players that often play little or not at all are among the top of the list who were the primary offenders.
In response to Shanahan’s last remark, it would be beneficial to have the original depth chart. However, that doesn’t justify Tashaun Gipson’s two or Fred Warner’s three missed tackles. Dre Greenlaw and the starting cornerbacks each failed to make a tackle.
This is not the same as the 49ers defense appearing to be out of steam during a three-game losing streak. Sunday, as Shanahan stated, was more about bad angles and making foolish decisions, like taking your feet off the ground to attempt a tackle.
The 49ers can simply address the majority of these concerns, which is excellent news. However, facing Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens the following week won’t make things any simpler.