Everyone knows what the San Francisco 49ers’ biggest flaw is entering the playoffs. It has been obvious all season, but now that the lights are being shone down on the playoff contenders, the 49ers’ pass rush is starting to get picked apart. 

Is the San Francisco 49ers’ pass rush their fatal flaw?

Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report went through every playoff team and highlighted what the biggest flaw will be to hold their team back for the 49ers. He went for the low-hanging fruit and called out the pass rush. 

San Francisco is riding a five-game winning streak despite registering just six sacks during that stretch. They have just 18 sacks on the year, while no other defense in the NFL has fewer than 25. Injuries have decimated this group.

Brad Gagnon

This is going to be a problem. 

The secondary has issues, but a lot of them would go away if the team were able to get a little more pressure on the quarterback. However, that seems unlikely to change.

Sam Okuayinonu just returned from injury, but he is a run stopper before a pass rusher, so he may not help much. What he can do is get Bryce Huff off the field on run downs so that he can save his injury for obvious passing situations. 

San Francisco 49er

Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Beyond Huff exploding at the right time, the team is leaning on Keion White and Clelin Ferrell, two mid-season additions that were castoffs from their old teams. 

The interior brings even less intrigue than the edge-rushing group. 

San Francisco could try to blitz more, but that would be the opposite of the philosophy that Saleh plays, and it could lead to even more busts in the back end. Still, at this point, it seems more likely that the 49ers will get pressure by switching things up than they will by hoping someone steps up in this group. 

As far as the other division rivals, the Seattle Seahawks’ fatal flaw is their turnovers. Sam Darnold is starting to turn the ball over in key moments, and for as good as he has played this season, everyone is going to wonder if he can do the same in the playoffs after he struggled to finish last season. 

Meanwhile, the Rams have a lack of receiver depth. This makes sense with Davante Adams banged up currently and Puka Nacua always missing a few snaps due to something minor. The Rams also have major issues with their special teams, and they just fired their special teams coordinator during the season. Beyond that, the Rams do have questions in their secondary. They still rotate at cornerback and do not have a true shutdown option that they trust.

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