Niners Nation
San Francisco was inconsistent in a number of areas in the first half. What needs to change?
The San Francisco 49ers are getting prepared to start the second half of the season, as they come out of the bye week with a Week 10 matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, looking to improve past .500.
It has been an up-and-down first half for San Francisco, who have flashed dominance in a few of their wins, while struggling to maintain leads in their losses, leading to a 4-4 record through the first half of the season.
Where do the 49ers need to improve coming out of the bye week?
One of the more highlighted issues for San Francisco in the first half of the season was the red zone struggles, as the 49ers had been one of the worst teams when it came inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
San Francisco converted just 48.6 percent of their red zone drives into touchdowns over their first eight games, good for 28th in the NFL. That was boosted by a 75 percent effort against the Dallas Cowboys, as they scored three touchdowns in four trips to the red zone.
But, they need to be much more efficient in the red zone, which will help them score 30 points on a much more consistent basis, like they did back in 2023 when they led the league with a 68 percent red zone touchdown rate.
The 49ers have still averaged 26.3 points, as they’ve gotten at least 30 points in all four of their wins, but the consistency needs to improve.
Luckily, star running back Christian McCaffrey, who was the catalyst of San Francisco’s red zone offense last year, is scheduled to return soon, as his 21-day practice window was opened on Monday, potentially putting him in place to play against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this weekend.
When it came to the 49ers struggles defensively, tackling was near the top of the list in the first half of the season.
San Francisco had at least 10 missed tackles from Weeks 4 to 6, while missing nine tackles in Weeks 1 and 7, with Nick Bosa (uncharacteristically) missing 10, Deommodore Lenoir missing nine, and De’Vondre Campbell missing eight thus far.
The 49ers have 69 missed tackles as a team thus far, but there was a much better effort against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 8, where the team missed just four tackles total in the 30-24 win.
Getting Dre Greenlaw back at some point should help with that effort, as should the development of key players like safety Malik Mustapha (seven missed tackles), which should ultimately boost the defense in the second half.
But, having 12 players with at least a 10 percent missed tackle rate isn't a great sign, no matter the sample size.
Defensively, San Francisco has struggled on third downs at times this season, currently ranking 25th and allowing a 44.1 percent third down...
