Five Things Learned From 49ers 28-21 Loss to Seahawks

Things were looking good for the 49ers early against the Seahawks.

And then the offense failed to pile it on when presented with multiple opportunities to do so. Missing so many chances just begged for the 49ers to lose that game, and now they are 2-2.

Here are five things learned from the 49ers 28-21 loss to the Seahawks.

Kyle Shanahan has mismanaged the quarterback room

Kyle Shanahan has never had a quarterback he can develop. Trey Lance is his first, and so far he is showing a lack of strategy. There seems to be no concrete plan in how he is bringing Lance along. All that it looks like is that he is simply a backup quarterback to Jimmy Garoppolo and that he will start to work with Lance in 2022. That is a ludicrous way of thinking right there. Shanahan has completely mismanaged the quarterback room. There really isn't a debate anymore. Just look at how Lance looked when he filled in for the second half against Seattle. Lance looked like a guy who has had ZERO help since the regular season started.

This whole notion that sitting for a rookie like Lance is beneficial is delusional. If it was beneficial, he would've looked a bit cleaner in his performance. But all he does now is practice on the scout team, which is to get his teammates better, not himself. That is poor handling on Shanahan's part. This is why I advocated for Lance to get first-team reps in training camp, because that is the only time for him to get better. Once the season starts, there isn't going to be dedicated time to help him develop and improve. All he does is see how the plays are executed and repetition of play calls. I am sure that is so helpful to his growth (sarcasm). This is a failure on Shanahan.

49ers are better off starting Trey Lance

Garoppolo could be out of action for a bit with a calf injury. That puts Lance at the forefront of starting and finally receiving attention from the coaches. Lance should start to look a little better going forward. While he didn't impress when he came in against the Seahawks, which you cannot hold against him, he still was able to move the ball better than Garoppolo. The 49ers are better off starting Lance the rest of the way. Lance is still going to be skittish, but this is why Shanahan and his coaches get paid the big bucks. Coach the kid up. Stop waiting.

To go back to Garoppolo once he is recovered would be foolish. Garoppolo has once again proven he cannot stay healthy. Flip the page already, Shanahan. You tried to do it your way by being so short-sighted with starting Garoppolo and it failed. Now it's time to look at this as a head coach and develop Lance. There are going to be growing pains and it'll possibly look worse than Garoppolo at times, but not playing him now only prolongs his issues. Let him work through it, coach him and adapt to the speed of the game. Once that happens, then the ceiling of the 49ers offense will dramatically rise higher than ever before.

49ers are fringe playoff contenders

What makes the 49ers better off starting Lance is because they are not Super Bowl contenders. Heck, they aren't even bonafide playoff contenders. They are FRINGE playoff contenders. True contending teams do not drop to the Seahawks after they were begging to lose that game in the first quarter. The 49ers have a lot of issues, but they can mask those issues if they can get their rookie quarterback to smooth out his rough edges. Starting Garoppolo was always about the "best chance at a Super Bowl." Whatever that meant. Clearly, even with Garoppolo they are not Super Bowl contenders. The 49ers are borderline playoff contenders. They need to finally start fully buying into their rookies.

Enough of this half-hearted effort. The 49ers are not doing enough with their young talent. The fact that Dre Kirkpatrick started over Deommodore Lenoir says it all. Shanahan just loves his washed up veteran players. The 49ers do have the fourth-oldest roster. Whatever it is Shanahan has against young talent, he needs to get over it because it is the young talent that will promote his success in the future. And it his lack of attending to young talent that has the 49ers as fringe playoff contenders. This 49ers team still looks the same as it did in 2019. This is basically "Run it Back 2.0" for the 49ers. They need to cut that out and realize investing in the future can benefit the present.

49ers defense is still solid

The 49ers defense forced FIVE consecutive three-and-outs against the Seahawks. This is where it felt like the 49ers were going to kick open the floodgates and just annihilate Seattle. Everything was primed for the 49ers to win convincingly. That was until Garoppolo failed to make basic throws and could not lead the offense down the field. Eventually, the defense crumbled in the second-half, but by no means does it deserve anymore than a little criticism. The defense did its part. The 49ers defense is still solid.

The defense just isn't the same unit that could carry the team to wins like it did in 2019. This is why I wrote in the lead-up to this game that the 49ers offense have to take ownership in winning this game. The defense played better than I thought, but even with a sweet performance, its efforts were for naught. This is why I place a good share of the blame for the loss against the Packers on the offense. The offense still couldn't get the job done, and in a game where the defense was performing at an elite level, it fell short. San Francisco's defense is still a force, but not four-quarter suffocating side anymore.

Brandon Aiyuk isn't thought of highly by Kyle Shanahan

It didn't take long for Brandon Aiyuk to look like an outcast again. Three targets is all he was used for in Week 4. How does that happen? In a game where the offense needed any help moving the ball down the field, how does he not get utilized more often? Forget Garoppolo. Shanahan can easily tell him or dial up specific plays for Aiyuk. We all saw it last season and Aiyuk flourished no matter who the quarterback was. Shanahan just isn't doing it. He is legitimately limiting his offense to prove a point. And the offense is already limited when Garoppolo is out there.

This ties back into my point that Shanahan has zero patience for young talent. I am starting to think the reason he does not allow Lance first-team reps is because he doesn't want to deal with Lance. He would rather live with Garoppolo, who is far beyond being developed, than to actually try to work on a player who can dramatically improve his offense. All because he is young. At some point, the 49ers cannot keep force-feeding Samuel. The ball will need to be spread around. While it is nice to see Aiyuk used as a punt returner, it looks like that is being more of his focused role than on offense. If this trend continues, the 49ers will start to look like fools for trading up to draft Aiyuk.