Niners Nation
The San Francisco 49ers started Sunday sluggish and spotted the Houston Texans 16 points before getting on the board, but by then, it was too little too late.
The 49ers would cut the lead to eight, but the slow start proved too much to overcome, as Houston extended it to 11 and San Francisco couldn’t get on the board again, leading to Houston’s 26-15 win.
It was the first game of the season that felt like the 49ers were truly lacking because of injuries, especially on both sides of the trenches.
With a loss, there’s always more to learn than from a win, so what did we learn from the Week 8 loss?
The 49ers need to address the pass rush before Week 9
There was a good idea that the 49ers’ pass rush would have some struggles on Sunday without Nick Bosa or Bryce Huff. There may have been some production, given how poor the Texans’ offensive line has been this season.
Then the game happened, and the 49ers’ pass rush was shut down, sacking CJ Stroud zero times, the first time the Texans haven’t allowed a sack in a game this season. Even worse, the last time Stroud wasn’t sacked was Week 18 last season against the Titans, but with the Texans already in the playoffs, Stroud played only 11 snaps. To find the previous time Stroud wasn’t sacked, where he played the entire game, you would have to go back to Week 5 of the 2023 season, Stroud’s rookie year.
Not only did the 49ers not sack Stroud, but they barely touched him. Stroud dropped back 42 times in Houston’s win on Sunday, and San Francisco only generated ten pressures, hurried him on eight of those pressures, and only hit Stroud twice. To make matters worse, only five of those ten pressures were created by 49ers defensive linemen:
That’s simply not good enough. And while Huff should return within the next few weeks, his presence alone will not be enough with how much the pass rush has struggled since Bosa’s injury.
This isn’t to say get a Maxx Crosby or a Trey Hendrickson – mainly because neither will be traded – but there are plenty of quality pass rushers that are available that can help the 49ers as soon as Sunday in New York. Arden Key, Bradley Chubb, and Jermaine Johnson, among others, are available.
While the 49ers’ defense is heavily injured, it can’t survive without some semblance of a pass rush, as shown by the performance of the otherwise pedestrian Texans offense on Sunday.
The offensive line cannot handle good defensive lines
The offensive line put together its best performance of the season in Week 7 against the Falcons, opening holes for Christian McCaffrey to run for a season-high while only allowing Mac Jones to...
