Week Eleven

In even quicker succession:

49ers 34, Jacksonville 3

49ers 27, Tampa Bay 14

The bye week clearly was a tonic, or we can all say it was.  These last two weeks have shown complete dominance by the 49ers, over one very good team and over one average team with a good defense. In both games Brock Purdy has been lights-out. The one scary pass he threw, early in the game against the Jaguars, was caught by Brandon Aiyuk for a touchdown instead of intercepted by any of the three defenders encircling him.  With that out of the way, Purdy since has been a model of efficiency, with the occasional "wow" factor, such as the 76-yard bomb to Aiyuk yesterday that carried 60 yards in the air and still led the fast receiver as he caught it in stride.  Purdy posted a perfect passer rating in yesterday's game. And though the Bucs' aggressive defense sacked him four times, he also carried the ball for a 13-yard run to a first down late in the fourth quarter that effectively ended the game.

The 49er defense turned one of the league's finest young quarterbacks, Trevor Lawrence, into a pumpkin last week, with five sacks and two interceptions. Tampa's Baker Mayfield fared a little better yesterday, though he was sacked four times and threw a critical fourth-quarter interception into the end zone. That's all credit to Mayfield, who had no running game to depend on. He spread the ball around to nine different receivers and was able to sustain drives. But again and again the Bucs failed to score as the defense came through when needed.

Bad news: Talanoa Hufanga may have torn his ACL, which means he'd be out for the season. Ji'Ayir Brown, who stepped into the breach after the injury, led the team with three passes broken up, and it was he who picked off Mayfield in the end zone to thwart Tampa's last threat. He'll need to do more of this if he's to be the starter going forward.

Good news: Everyone else looks to be healthy and in peak condition. And, the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Seattle Seahawks yesterday, rallying for 10 late points. This leaves the 49ers alone in first place in the NFC West, with the upcoming Thanksgiving night game at Seattle looming large.  

Trouble Ahead, Trouble Behind

In quick succession:

Cleveland 19, 49ers 17

Minnesota 22, 49ers 17

Cincinnati 31, 49ers 17

 

Well, it's a long way from undefeated and sittin' on top of the world, isn't it? Over the past three weeks, the 49er defense has been shredded on the ground, Brock Purdy has thrown more interceptions than touchdown passes, Deebo Samuel and Trent Williams have been absent from the field, and "What's wrong with the 49ers?" has become a healthy discussion topic on the sports shows and networks. Old suspicions about Kyle Shanahan's ability to make in-game adjustments and to trust his quarterback in "crunch time" have resurfaced. Purdy's ability-- not his execution, his ability-- to lead the team from behind late in the game has been questioned, and open concerns about his "ceiling" having been prematurely reached are now prime currency among the worriers. Seattle is in first place in the division and over the past month they've looked like they belong there. Still ahead are two games against that outfit, plus road games in Philadelphia and Jacksonville, and a home game against Baltimore, who may be the best team in the AFC.  You can look at the nine remaining games and reasonably posit a 9-8 finish and no guarantee of even making the playoffs.  

All in all, it appears the bye week arrived just in time. True to form, John Lynch went right out and got the best player available through trade, Chase Young from Washington. Despite the presence of Nick Bosa and Justin Hargrave, the 49er pass rush has been more heard-about than heard-from this year, and no one seems to know why. Young brings great and proven ability to the defensive line, and this team is, at least ostensibly, built around that dominating line-- when it dominates, that is.  It's not just a lack of pass pressure, it's been the alarming tendency of opponents to run right through it and on into the secondary at critical times. Cincinnati converted so many third downs last Sunday we actually had to look at the stat sheet to see if they hadn't made them all. 

Statistically, the 49ers still look pretty good; near the league lead in most positive categories, not too far negative in any. Sweeping through the first five games of the season will do that, of course; and it's also worth a reminder that no matter how excruciating it was to watch this team agonizing through the last three losses, they still had every opportunity to win the Minnesota game and really should have won the Cleveland game, undone only by rookie kicker Jake Moody's misfire. If a team is, as Bill Parcells, used to say, about as good as its record, the 49ers are still a winning team. 

It's a sense of balance that's missing; this team is built to win by doing everything well in general without relying on anything exceptional in particular. To hear Shanahan and Lynch describe it, no more than a few adjustments here and there, some impact players returning to the field, and a big old dose of common sense are all that's needed. This league is wildly unpredictable from week to week and there are a lot of weeks to cover, and continuity has a tendency to be a sometime thing. The 49ers win when it isn't.