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

Fifth Fourth-Down Attempt

The 49ers’ last fourth-down attempt comes on their last offensive drive of the game. After driving from the Panthers’ 31-yard line to the 3-yard line, the Niners have a 1st-and-goal.

Instead of handing the ball off to Carlos Hyde — who looked to have an open lane to the end zone, the 49ers first try an unsuccessful play-action pass play to Marquise Goodwin out of 11 personnel:

Second down — again in 11 personnel — is even less successful, due to confusion between Brian Hoyer and Hyde:

On third down from the 8-yard line, Hyde makes a nifty catch, and takes the ball down to the 1-yard line:

Kyle Shanahan calls for more trickery on fourth down. With George Kittle, Trent Taylor and Pierre Garçon blocking, Hyde receives the backward pass from Hoyer.

Surprisingly, the 5-foot-8 Taylor has the only successful block, as Garçon nearly misses his man, and Kittle makes a rookie mistake, ignores Kuechly and blocks no one. Hyde fights for the end zone, but is dragged down at the 1-yard line:

The criticism here is more of the same. The 49ers have four plays to gain three yards. Instead of using heavy sets and running downhill, Shanahan uses 11 personnel on all four plays and calls a passing play on first down and a trick play on fourth down.

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Overall, NFL coaches should be more aggressive on fourth down.

In the future, Shanahan needs to remain aggressive, but he needs to pick his battles — and when he chooses correctly, he needs to always think ahead in order to call play sequences that will allow his team to be successful.