Why the 49ers Defense in 2019 Trumps Any Defense During the Harbaugh Era
Entering the 2019 season, the offense of the San Francisco 49ers was expected to be their best attribute. Kyle Shanahan is an offensive oriented head coach, which usually translates to what the team's identity is. Well through five games this season it isn't the offense of the 49ers that is the staple of the team, it is the defense.
The dominance that the defense has been showcasing this season is a major reason as to why the 49ers are undefeated. They are smothering offenses into a point of submission. Against the Los Angeles Rams, they held their offense to career lows since Sean McVay became the head coach. It is amazing to see this defense put the clamps on every offense they have come across.
You can't help but think and compare this defense to the ones during the Jim Harbaugh era. In fact, despite it being a small sample size the 49ers defense in 2019 trumps any of the ones during Harbaugh's tenure.
From 2011-2014, San Francisco's defense was an impenetrable wall that was beautifully schemed up by renowned defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. The talent, dominance and swagger that those defenses had are very similar to this year's defense of the 49ers. However, things have changed from those times under Fangio and Harbaugh. The NFL caters to the offense dramatically more now than it did back then.
Maintaining consistent elite play on the defensive side of the ball is insanely difficult, yet the 49ers have managed to do so for five straight games. Forget who their opponents are, at some point they should have had one low-level performance. But the defense that is schemed up by Robert Saleh is just too phenomenal.
Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders puts things in perspective about how great this defense has been by utilizing DVOA (Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average). For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, I'll fill you in with their ultra-short version on how they define it. DVOA measures a team's efficiency by comparing success on every single play to a league average based on situation and opponent.
So it essentially gives context to every play for a deep and accurate analysis. It is a great way of how to understand a team's performance, which if you look at the tweet below the DVOA shows that this San Francisco 49ers defense is putting up the best performances ever recorded, next to the New England Patriots this season.
They are doing all of this with the rules of the league skewed towards the offense. Not even the defense's from 2011-2014 managed to rank this high and their dominance during those years are well known. What this defense is doing in 2019 is something special and should not be taken for granted. Their is no reason to believe that this is all a fluke or that they can't continue to keep up this level of play. Talent on the defense is second to none and is led by an underrated coordinator in Robert Saleh.
If we compare this defense to the ones during the Harbaugh era, then you'll notice that both defenses hardly blitz. They strictly let their defensive line rush the passer, while dropping everyone into coverage. By doing so they eliminate any chance of a big play, so that an offense is forced to go underneath.
We just witnessed how brilliant it worked against one of the best offense's in the league led by mastermind Sean McVay. And the 49ers pinned them down into submission. They quickly realized, just like previous opponents, how immensely difficult it is to move the ball against this defense.
That is because they have shut down any hopes for an opposing offense to sustain drives. The 49ers' defense excels on third down, which is always an indicator of a high-level defense. Over the last three games, team's have hardly managed to convert on third down situations and the Rams didn't even manage a conversion all game. The degree of difficult, once again, to do this with how offensive oriented this league is astounding.
This defense is having a larger impact than under Harbaugh and Fangio. Other than coaching, the talent looks overall better than during those times. I think we can all agree that the secondary in 2019 is exponentially better any of the defense's from six years ago. A lot of that has to do with the stellar pass rush, which I believe is better than of the ones during Harbaugh's tenure.
According to Pro Football Focus, among edge defenders with 70+ pass rushes so far this season, Nick Bosa (14.3) and Dee Ford (11.8) rank first and second in the NFL in Pro Football Focus' pass rush productivity rating. As great as Aldon Smith and Ahmad Brooks were, Bosa and Ford are having the better impact. The only edge the defense from 2011-2014 had was their hall of fame linebackers.
It cannot be overstated how elite this defense is playing this season. I understand that this is still a small sample size and things can change, but I will continue to hammer away the NFL wants offense. That is why it is called a "passing league" now and the defense of the 49ers is still succeeding. I believe that when it is all said and done, that this defense will undoubtedly be regarded as better than the defenses during the Harbaugh era.
Whether you agree or not about this assessment, one thing that is for sure is that this defense has been fun to watch. The best part is that most of the players are young, so this elite level of play can be sustained for a long time. They show no signs of slowing down and will continue to prove why their performances are being regarded as special.
