The 49ers had a very lopsided performance in their 42-26 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, and their Pro Football Focus grades show where the breakdowns were. 

After a slow start, quarterback Mac Jones and the offense got moving, nearly matching the Rams in yardage, but not on the scoreboard. The 49ers registered 6.6 yards per play, which was higher than the Rams’ 6.0 average. 

Jones again thrived with intermediate throws ranging from 10 to 19 yards downfield, completing nine of his 11 attempts for 119 yards, one touchdown and a 142.0 passer rating. 

Offense

Tight end George Kittle was the Jones’ top weapon, catching all nine of his targets — three of which were contested. Kittle’s 81.5 grade was the best on the offense with his 84 total receiving yards and one touchdown. 

Four of wide receiver Jauan Jennings’ six catches were contested, which is the most of any NFL receiver in Week 10. The wideout was targeted nine times and fumbled, which lowered his overall grade to 68.2. 

After having a little more room to run in Week 9, Christian McCaffrey was contacted at the line of scrimmage on Sunday, with 29 of his 30 yards coming after contact. The All-Pro caught eight of his nine targets for 66 yards and made the most of each reception, gaining 43 yards after the catch. 

Offensive pressures allowed 

LT Trent Williams – one hurry 

LG Ben Bartch – no pressures 

LG Spencer Burford – three hurries 

C Jake Brendel – four hurries 

RG Dominick Puni – one hurry 

RT Colin McKivitz – one hurry 

Kittle allowed one hurry and McCaffrey was charged with one hit. 

Bartch received a 70.2 overall grade on 28 of the offense’s 63 total snaps, allowing no pressures and a 71.9 run-blocking grade, which was the highest on the team. 

Burford received a 52.8 overall grade on 35 snaps, and a 55.7 grade for run blocking. 

Defense

The struggles for the group playing without Nick Bosa, Fred Warner and now Mykel Williams were on full display against the high-powered Rams offense. 

The 49ers defense managed 16 pressures on quarterback Matthew Stafford (13 of his 37 dropbacks), however, the play-caller’s time to throw was a whopping 3.05 seconds, the highest figure in a game for Stafford since Week 11 in 2023.

Pressures 

Dee Winters – three hits

Bryce Huff – two hits one hurry 

Upton Stout – one hit, one hurry 

Kevin Givens – two hurries  

Clelin Ferrell – two hurries 

Tatum Bethune – one hurry 

Keion White – one sack 

Jason Pinnock – one hurry 

Kalia Davis – one sack 

Similar to their Week 8 loss to the Houston Texans, the 49ers used blitz packages to try to get pressure on the quarterback. Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh called for a blitz on 20 of Stafford’s 37 dropbacks, or 54.1 percent. 

Blitzing did not deter Stafford, who completed 14 of his 20 attempts for 190 yards, two touchdowns and a 133.3 passer rating when blitzed. This was the 49ers’ highest blitz percentage in a game since Week 3 of the 2016 season (vs. Seattle 63.9 percent).

Prior to Sunday’s contest, the 49ers only had blitzed on 22.7 percent of their opponents’ dropbacks. 

Rams’ personnel packages yesterday:

11 – 50.0 percent 

13 – 44.1 percent 

12 – 2.9 percent 

02 – 2.9 percent 

The Rams started to rely on 13 personnel when Puka Nacua was injured and have stuck with it. Stafford completed nine of his 12 attempts for 117 yards, two touchdowns and a 144.8 passer rating when passing out of 13 personnel on Sunday. 

It didn’t help that the 49ers missed eight tackles on Sunday, allowing 114 yards after the catch 

Missed tackles 

Ji’Ayir Brown – three 

Malik Mustapha – two 

Luke Gifford – two 

Tatum Bethune – one 

The defense also was unable to contain the Rams’ ball carriers, allowing 2.3 yards before contact whereas the 49ers’ running backs were contacted an average of only 0.8 yards before contact.

There also were communication issues on the 49ers’ defenses, causing a 12-men-on-the-field penalty once and a timeout on another occasion when the defense went into their dime package (four linemen, one linebacker and six defensive backs)

Base – 44.1 percent 

Nickel – 48.5 percent 

Dime – 7.3 percent or five plays, including once when Stafford took a knee to end the first half. 

Coverage 

Renardo Green allowed five catches on eight targets for 52 yards and one pass break up – the only one made by the team.  

Upton Stout allowed three catches on three targets for 50 yards 

Luke Gifford allowed three catches on four targets for 50 yards 

Dee Winters allowed four catches on six targets for 40 yards 

Deommodore Lenoir allowed three catches on three targets for 33 yards and two touchdowns 

Ji’Ayir Brown allowed three targets on four targets for 27 yards and a touchdown

Jason Pinnock allowed one catch on two targets for 15 yards 

Tatum Bethune allowed one catch on two targets for 11 yards 

Malik Mustapha allowed one catch on his only target for 2 yards 

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