Eric Williams
NFL reporter
One of the NFL’s most dominant groups in 2023, the San Francisco 49ers have let three fourth-quarter leads slip away this season, all in losses to NFC West opponents.
The 49ers are 2-4 in one-score video games, 5-5 general and face one in every of their hardest schedules to complete the season. Can Kyle Shanahan proper the ship in time for his staff to succeed in the postseason?
The 49ers can depend on expertise. During the 2022 season, they have been 3-4 earlier than reeling off 10 straight wins and reaching the NFC Championship Game. The 12 months earlier than, they’d circled a 6-6 season by profitable 4 of their final 5 video games and once more reaching the NFC title recreation, dropping a heartbreaker to the Los Angeles Rams.
“You need to be sure to have tough-minded individuals who can actually give attention to what their job is and nothing extra,” Shanahan mentioned. “And it will get tougher if you encounter adversity and you aren’t getting all of the W’s you need. But regardless of how a lot tougher it will get, you all the time have to grasp that it is concerning the ball and it’s a must to hold it is concerning the ball and nothing else.”
San Francisco is mired in a dogfight within the NFC West, tied with the Seahawks and Rams at 5-5, and one recreation behind the stunning 6-4 Cardinals. For the primary time since 2002, all 4 NFC West groups have a document of .500 or higher via Week 11. The Cardinals have the best schedule down the stretch, taking part in just one staff that at the moment has a document of victories.
The defending NFC West champions are technically in final place within the NFC West attributable to their 1-3 document throughout the division. And they face the fourth-toughest remaining schedule of their last seven video games.
San Francisco’s powerful street to the postseason begins this Sunday at Lambeau Field towards the Green Bay Packers. There is already snow on the bottom in Green Bay, however dry circumstances are anticipated Sunday with temperatures within the low 40s.
In a rematch of final season’s divisional spherical recreation, the journey to Green Bay provides the 49ers an opportunity to recapture their blueprint. That means Shanahan orchestrates a dominant offense behind Christian McCaffrey’s exhausting working, producing extra manufacturing within the pink zone, having the protection shut out video games within the fourth quarter and getting extra constant play from particular groups.
Quarterback Brock Purdy, who performed many of the season with out McCaffrey, is sixth within the league in passing yards however twelfth in touchdowns. In his first two video games again, McCaffrey has 213 scrimmage yards however hasn’t reached the tip zone after main the league with 21 whole touchdowns final season.
“I really feel like I could possibly be quite a bit higher,” McCaffrey mentioned. “Just a little time misplaced attributable to harm is all the time powerful, nevertheless it’s no excuse. But I do know I can enhance quite a bit. I can really feel it. It’s coming. I simply want to start out shifting.”
San Francisco would profit from bringing again a number of extra stars. Tight finish George Kittle, the staff’s major pink zone risk this season with seven scores contained in the 20-yard line, did not play final week due to a hamstring harm. But Kittle mentioned he’ll return Sunday.
The staff’s finest participant on protection, edge rusher Nick Bosa, is coping with hip and indirect accidents, making his availability a query mark. Left deal with Trent Williams was hobbled by an ankle harm. Both missed coaching this week. The 49ers hope to quickly get again linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who tore his left Achilles tendon within the Super Bowl.
With whoever is able to go, it is Shanahan’s job to recreate the swagger and explosiveness that made San Francisco a juggernaut and one of many league’s most dominant groups in 2023. The 49ers gained 12 video games final season and averaged 19 factors per recreation.
San Francisco achieved this by proudly owning the road of scrimmage. The 49ers have been no. 3 within the league in dashing (140.5 per recreation). They completed second in quarterback pressures (274). They held groups to 90 dashing yards per recreation, No. 3 within the NFL. And they completed third in scoring protection, permitting simply 17.5 factors per contest.
Deebo Samuel must re-emerge as a flexible playmaker, particularly with No. 1 receiver Brandon Aiyuk out for the 12 months with a knee harm. Samuel has simply two 100-yard receiving video games this season and two whole touchdowns.
Is the 49ers’ Super Bowl window closed?
It’s not a misplaced season for the 49ers but. Shanahan has seven video games to determine it out.
“A pair performs right here and there, and I believe we’re it completely otherwise,” he mentioned. “That’s why we acquired ourselves into bother and that is why we made issues quite a bit tougher for ourselves right here on this second half.
“But I nonetheless suppose it’ll come right down to the identical issues. I wager the subsequent seven video games it’ll come right down to the fourth quarter and both we are able to do it or we do not. We’ve acquired to discover a method to do it. Done.”
Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for greater than a decade, overlaying the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN e Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.
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