Niners Nation
The 49ers are in a good spot to put their best foot forward coming out of the bye week for the second straight season
The San Francisco 49ers' first-half results were mediocre. If a team had a losing record, the Niners won. However, it was a different story against teams with a winning record.
If all goes right, the cheat code known as Christian McCaffrey is expected to make his season debut Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. When you strip over 2,000 yards from scrimmage and 21 touchdowns from any offense, regression is inevitable. He made a video game-like offense possible in 2023.
Even without McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk’s September was his preseason, and it didn’t take long for Deebo Samuel and George Kittle to miss time due to injury. Sprinkle in a hip injury to Jauan Jennings and an AC sprain from McCaffrey’s backup Jordan Mason, and it’s a minor miracle the offense hovered between top 5 and 10 in efficiency through nine games.
For everything the 49ers endured through the first nine games, they remained in every game. Their four losses were by a combined 20 points. All four of those were self-inflicted. The Niners either held a double-digit lead or had the lead in each of those games.
Defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen went from never blitzing to only blitzing before settling somewhere in the middle. To give you an idea of how seldom the 49ers blitzed the first two weeks, they’re still sending extra rushers at the third-lowest rate.
Sorensen has pressed the right buttons on the back end as he relied on a stingy secondary to get off the field. The coaching staff deserves a ton of credit for boasting one of the best pass defenses in the NFL while breaking in two rookies in the secondary. If last year is any indication, the first-year coordinator will only improve during the second half of the season.
The 49ers begin the second half offensively by swapping out Aiyuk for McCaffrey. They head into Week 10 with a significant rest advantage over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The net rest edge is even bigger than eight days.
The Kansas City Chiefs lead the league in plays per game at 67. Tampa Bay was on the road against that Chiefs offense, which had 83 plays and ran the ball 35 times. Now, the Bucs face a Niners team after they had a chance to hit the reset button.
A tired defense against a team getting its best player back, along with Jennings and a healthier version of Deebo, is a recipe for disaster for a defense that’s allowed at least 27 points during the last five games.
Teams off a bye week tend to start slow. Historically, West Coast teams crossing through multiple time zones for an early start on the East Coast take some time to wake up.
The only other time the Niners left...
