49ers: Analyzing Kyle Shanahan’s fourth-down decisions

Fourth Fourth-Down Attempt

This is the fourth-down attempt that wasn’t — but would have been.

On the next play after Pierre Garçon’s catch-and-run, Brian Hoyer hits Trent Taylor on an out route for eight yards:

On second down, Matt Breida manages one yard on the run:

In obvious four-down territory, the 49ers have two plays to gain a single yard. But instead of pounding the ball up the middle, Hoyer appears to audible to a pass play.

With time, Hoyer attempts a pass to Garçon, and the referees miss an obvious case of both defensive holding and pass interference:

After some confusion with the play clock, and with referee Hugo Cruz oblivious to Kyle Shanahan screaming for a timeout, the 49ers are given a delay-of-game penalty as Hoyer takes the snap and looks to pass.

The 49ers move back five yards, and Shanahan elects to put three points on the board, thus avoiding the shutout:

Shanahan was less than pleased with Cruz, who he

apologized to through the media

after the game:

Down by three scores, Shanahan was obviously correct to keep his kicker on the bench when it was 4th-and-1, but why pass the ball on both third and fourth down?

When you have two downs to gain one yard, impose your will on your opponent and run the ball down their throat. If you’re confident enough to gain a yard-and-a-half on one running play, you should be confident enough to gain one yard on two running plays.