WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED SO FAR THROUGH 8 WEEKS………

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED SO FAR THROUGH 8 WEEKS………WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD TO

As stated in my previous article, I predicted Week 8 against the Chicago Bears would be Trey Lance’s first start.  A win against a bad team could make the 49ers decide to start him the rest of the season.  The 49ers won, but with Jimmy Garoppolo as QB the entire game.  After hearing Kyle Shanahan speak for a couple of days after this game, Trey Lance won’t be starting any time this season if Kyle has a say.

Now that Week 8 has come and gone the 49ers are in 3^rd place in the NFC West with a 3-4 record.  Let’s an examine what has gone well and what hasn’t this season.

GOOD

• Deebo Samuel is #2 in the NFL for receiving yards by a WR behind Cooper Kupp.  Deebo is the undisputed #1 receiver on the team.
• There was a Brandon Aiyuk sighting against the Chicago Bears. This is important because another receiver needs to step up and get targets besides Deebo Samuel.
• Late round draft picks are key contributors: Elijah Mitchell, Talanoa Hufanga and Deommodore Lenoir
• Though the 49ers expected to have a better record, they are still playing hard every game. This means a lot because when things don’t go as expected a lot of teams quit playing with passion and are out there to get a check and finish the season.
• The secondary has been terrible but the defense as a whole hasn’t collapsed.  DeMeco Ryan is holding this defense together.
• Charlie Woerner has gotten better at both blocking and receiving and has definitely surpassed Ross Dwelley who has a lot of trouble blocking.
• The 49ers are 3-1 on the road and I can argue should’ve beaten Arizona to be 4-0 on the road.  Winning on the road in the NFL is not easy.

BAD

• George Kittle is hurt again. Kittle is a very important part of the 49ers offense both blocking and receiving. When he doesn’t play it’s noticeable.
• RB injuries: Mostert is gone, Wilson is hurt, Mitchell and Hasty have both been banged up. For the past few years it’s been hard to get reliable bodies at this position.
• Early round draft picks aren’t panning out. Aaron Banks was drafted to start and he hasn’t played a snap all season.  The guy he was supposed to beat out Daniel Brunskill is the 45^th best guard overall in the NFL according to PFF and the 51^st best pass blocking guard.  Bottom line he’s not good and he’s still starting. The 49ers had RB health issues but Trey Sermon was a healthy inactive player for 2 games.  CB Ambry Thomas has been a healthy inactive player almost all season.  Something has to change in the way the 49ers scout and draft early round picks
• Conservative play-calling/too many running plays against stacked boxes. This was part of the reason the 49ers have been in 3^rd and long a lot this season and subsequently can’t convert them.  Shanahan has put this team in a hole so many times by running almost every 1^st down into a stacked box.  2^nd down might pick up a few yards but you end up at 3^rd and long then punting.  Because of this a lot of people were calling for Trey Lance to start due to Shanahan’s not playing to win play-calling.  The 49ers were losing and it didn’t make sense to keep losing with Garoppolo when you can do that with a rookie while he gets valuable game reps.  The only game Shanahan seemed to open up the playbook with consistent pass plays that weren’t thrown laterally was in the 2^nd half against the Bears.
• Javon Kinlaw is out for the season. DeForest Buckner’s replacement isn’t playing and the run defense has suffered the last 2 games with both the Colts and Bears having 100-yard rushers.
• Jalen Hurd still hasn’t played a down, he was drafted in 2019
• As much as teams throw the ball these days it’s amazing this is Jimmie Ward’s 8^th season and he only has 2 career interceptions. His last INT was during the Obama administration.  It’s time to get a playmaker at the FS position.
• Mike McGlinchey is the #29 rated tackle in the NFL according to PFF. #31 pass blocking and #39 run blocking. Where he was drafted this is a disappointment.  The 49ers should not sign McGlinchey to a long-term extension but rather pick-up the 5^th year option or trade him.
• The 49ers haven’t played this undisciplined and unorganized in a few years. Untimely penalties, can’t sustain drives, offense looks lifeless for the most part of games and the 49ers haven’t played 1 good complete 4-quarter game this season.
• The 49ers pass rush is Nick Bosa (#5) and no one else. Samson Ebukam hasn’t panned out he’s the #90 DE in the NFL according to PFF.

If the 49ers would’ve lost to the Chicago Bears the season would’ve been unofficially over.  The Bears are a bad team and have a terrible QB Justin Fields whose best asset is running.  The 49ers made him look like a good QB in the first 2 ½ quarters which is concerning.  Below is an excerpt from my article on peerless1sports.com a couple of days before the Bears game regarding which NFL teams should be looking for a new starting QB.

https://peerless1sports.com/2021-qbneeds-102621/

Chicago Bears – there’s no middle ground, either you like Justin Fields or you don’t….I never did.  If the 49ers lose to Fields who was drafted 8 spots after Trey Lance, sacked a league-high 22 times, has thrown 6 INT’s, only 2 TD’s, only completing 57.3 percent of his passes and as of the date of this writing has the lowest passer rating, 61.8 of any current NFL starter heading into Week 8….then San Francisco fans should officially get ready for next season

Thankfully the 49ers didn’t lose this game so what do fans have to look forward to this season ?

• Will injured players come back and make the 49ers a more formidable team or will they get injured again during the season.
• After the Bears win how will the 49ers do in their next 2 games against the Arizona Cardinals and LA Rams with newly acquired Von Miller.
• Will Charlie Woerner continue to get better and form a really good 1-2 punch with George Kittle.
• Will Shanahan ditch the conservative gameplans going forward and stop calling so many run plays against stacked boxes and do more of what he did against the Chicago Bears in the 2^nd half, Jimmy G throwing the ball vertically downfield.
• Help for the secondary won’t happen this season but will they get at least slightly better during the season. Also will Deommodore Lenoir get more playing time at CB.
• Will Josh Norman get benched, QB’s have a 118.1 passer rating against him and he’s #90 of all CB in pass coverage according to PFF.
• If Trey Lance gets in the game will his participation consist of passing the ball downfield instead of primarily running the ball.

If the 49ers are able to build off the Chicago Bears win with wins against the Cardinals and Rams, this could start a legitimate playoff run.

Follow me on Twitter @peerless1sports.  My 49er content is exclusively for 49erscap.com.

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Hucklebuck Jones

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