How the 49ers Fixed Their Pass Rush

SANTA CLARA -- It wasn't long ago when the 49ers' vaunted pass rush couldn't get to Kirk Cousins, who could hardly move. Now, it's coming off a game in which it terrorized Trevor Lawrence, who's extremely athletic. Something changed.

Sure, the 49ers traded for Chase Young. But he's not the biggest reason the pass rush improved. He didn't unlock it -- Steve Wilks did.

"If you understand and know the game and watch the actual tape, we got a lot of pressure on the quarterback," Wilks said on Thursday. "So there was different things, yes, probably within the secondary that we could do differently, starting with maybe the calls and allowing those guys at certain times to be a little bit more sticky in the coverage or as I just talked about this past week, given a different look which confuses the quarterback and makes him hold the ball a little longer. That's all we really need sometimes with the guys that we have up front, it's just that second hitch. So again, it was great to see those guys complement one another."

TRANSLATION: Wilks finally came around to DeMeco Ryans' approach to defense.

When Wilks got the job, he said his No. 1 goal was to give up fewer explosive passes than last year. Remember, Ryans' defense gave up some long catches despite ranking No. 1.

So Wilks started calling extremely soft zone coverages so the 49ers wouldn't get beaten deep. Instead, they gave up tons of short passes, which negated the pass rush. Now, Wilks understands if he calls aggressive man-to-man coverage like Ryans did, then the quarterback will have to hold the ball longer, and he'll get sacked.

It's that simple.