After winning their first matchup in Week 5 on a field goal in overtime, the San Francisco 49ers met with the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, but this time, Kyle Shanahan’s team was handed a 42-26 loss.
San Francisco was able to move up and down the field somewhat regularly, but they couldn’t keep up with Los Angeles’ offense, which was dominant throughout the contest.
Following the disappointing loss, there are many 49ers who shouldn’t be thrilled with their performance and will need to put in extra effort on the practice field this week before they play again.
Christian McCaffrey
McCaffrey was a solid target for Mac Jones again, catching eight passes for 66 yards. However, he wasn’t effective running the ball, as he averaged just 2.5 yards per attempt. Brian Robinson Jr. has looked more explosive in recent weeks, and that continued again on Sunday with the reps even more split.
Pass Rush
San Francisco has lost Nick Bosa and Mykel Williams for the year and are without Yetur Gross-Matos, who is on injured reserve. However, they got Bryce Huff back from injury this week, and their pass rush didn’t look better. They took down Matthew Stafford just once, as Keion White recorded his first sack with the 49ers. Quarterbacks are just too comfortable against this unit.
Run Defense
The loss of Bosa, Williams and Fred Warner to season-ending injuries doesn’t help and neither does the absence of second-round pick Alfred Collins, who suffered an injury in practice this week. San Francisco’s front allowed Kyren Williams to rush for 73 yards and two touchdowns on 5.2 yards per carry and Blake Corum to rush for 56 yards on 4.3. That’s not a recipe for success.
Team IQ
While the play was rough when the game was going on, the mistakes were just as maddening. Being penalized for too many men on the field, delays of games and late hits are all unacceptable. That’s before we even mention the illegal shifts, false starts and offsides that were all costly.
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