Niners Nation
Yeah, this is not going to be a good Monday. The San Francisco 49ers suffered their first NFC West divisional loss on Sunday to the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams are good, and the 49ers—specifically their defense—are snakebit with injuries. The loss puts the Rams into a tie with the Seahawks. The two will play in Week 11 in an important game that could have dire consequences.
As for the 49ers? There are some overreactions on the team, but the key takeaway is that they are injured, especially on defense. That means the offense has to go lights out, and even then, that might not help them in the scheme of things. The offense scored 26 points, but it was not lights out. They had their chances, but the Rams are just better, and without the defensive pieces the 49ers had in their first game against them, it’s understandable this is the result.
I’m sure everyone wants to go back and say Sean McVay is a better coach than Kyle Shanahan or something. Uh, no. The Rams got one of the best handicaps in the league this week with the 49ers’ defense as hobbled as it is. In fact, they were clawing their way back into it despite their injuries.
As for the Rams? Well…
I mean, what did you expect? The 49ers don’t have Fred Warner, Mykel Williams, and Nick Bosa. The Rams have one of the best offenses in the league. An offense that had little trouble torching the 49ers when they did have those players in their last matchup.
If you think about this level-headedly, this result should not surprise you at all. If the 49ers managed to win this, it’d be an embarrassment for the Rams, and they may as well announce Kyle Shanahan as coach of the year right then and there. Yes, the 49ers’ offense is improved, but the defense is much, much worse. The Rams had little trouble getting it to 21-0, and the 49ers had chances not to let things get out of hand. Jauan Jennings fumbling the ball is one of those things you can’t do when your talent is far less than the other team on the field. Tackling fundamentals, 12 men on the field, things like that, also won’t help.
If you missed the television broadcast, it was mostly about them praising Matthew Stafford’s career and his 400th touchdown pass. I’m not going to rehash the whole game, because I don’t think we need reminders. But I am going to say: the 49ers are fine. They lack depth, as I pointed out during the preseason. If you look at these situations, I’d say it could have been worse. I mean, it could have been the Cardinals…
THAT is a team that has issues. If you thought the 49ers going into a 21-0 deficit in the first half was bad, you just needed to see the Cardinals to feel...
