49ers Outlast Chargers in 22-16 Win Despite Ugly Offensive Performance
In this story:
Well that wasn't pretty.
But pretty doesn't matter so long as the win clears. The 49ers outlast the Chargers in their 22-16 win despite their ugly offensive performance.
It looks like the Bye week wasn't enough to keep the 49ers clicking on offense from their brilliant Week 8 performance. Rather it looked like more of the same before Christian McCaffrey arrived. This game should not have gone down to the wire. Everything was poised for the 49ers to drop a boatload of points on a Chargers defense that isn't threatening. Yet, 22 points is all they mustered.
Let's start out with the positive. The defense of the 49ers is still elite. Outside of their game against the Chiefs, the defense has been lights out. Even when they got dog walked on the opening series of the game, they didn't let that discourage them. They bounced back from that series to only allow nine points. Any team will immediately sign up for their defense to give up three field goals.
Now, they did catch some lucky breaks. A drop and a couple of inaccurate passes from Justin Herbert was the difference on at least one of those settled field goals. But ultimately, the defense was strong for the majority of the game.
What wasn't strong from the 49ers was their offense. They just cannot find any consistency. Nothing seems to click with them. All this offense does is drive the field slowly into the redzone methodically and settles for field goals. The 49ers are nine games into their season, acquired Christian McCaffrey, and they still cannot get their offense clicking.
More and more, the 49ers look like they only thrive offensively when facing the Rams. It is like they only can do well and get up for that game because they are a familiar opponent. They may have won this game and surely everyone will feel satisfied by it, but the 49ers still have issues offensively. Relying upon the defense to be elite each and every game is going to come back to sting them. In a game where the 49ers got all of their key players back coming out of a Bye, they played poorly considering the average defense they were facing.
All of these offensive woes lie at the feet of Kyle Shanahan.
Slow starts, poor red zone efficiency, and lacking adaptability are all attributed to him. At some point, the offense playing poorly cannot be excused with poor execution and what the defense is doing. There is no way defenses can erase Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, AND George Kittle consistently on every play. That is a lame duck excuse that needs to be removed. Shanahan is not getting the most out of his offense and it is because of how he utilizes it.
Maybe this game was a case of being too relaxed out of a Bye week. Maybe the players who returned off of injury are rusty. But the 49ers have displayed in every game this season the same issues offensively no matter who is in. Whether it was Trey Lance in, Trent Williams out, and George Kittle out, the offense has the same struggles. Shanahan has to figure it out before it is too late.
The 49ers are sitting nicely right now after that win, especially with Seattle losing. Still, complacency with the offense must not kick in. They have to reflect on this game and realize the offense for most of this game was lacking. This cannot be the standard they are content with where the offense plays weak and the defense does all the heavy lifting.
Perhaps it'll change next week in Mexico City against the Cardinals.
