The good, bad and ugly from 49ers’ efforts versus Rams on Thursday Night Football

The Bad

Aside from the NFL’s color rush uniforms — they’re bad — almost the entire game had the feel of sloppiness throughout.

San Francisco was penalized 10 times for 55 yards, and those issues have been problematic for head coach Kyle Shanahan ever since the preseason. And cornerback Rashard Robinson, who was a regular member of the Niners’ penalized group, might want to consider some different coverage strategies. He was flagged on multiple occasions.

Robinson was only part of the defense’s problems, though.

The Pass Rush

If one wants to argue how “it all starts up front,” the 49ers defense certainly lost some stripes in the trenches in Week 3.

San Francisco’s pass rush was virtually non-existent over the course of the game. Rams quarterback Jared Goff wasn’t sacked, and the Niners managed just two quarterback hits — one by defensive tackle Tank Carradine and the other by safety Lorenzo Jerome.

EDGE Elvis Dumervil almost had his 100th career sack, but that was wiped out by a 49ers penalty.

DeForest Buckner and the interior pass rush were non-factors, and San Francisco wasn’t getting any pressure off the edge from fellow defensive ends Solomon Thomas or Arik Armstead.

As a result, Goff was well protected and able to throw almost unchallenged for 292 yards and three touchdowns. His passer rating was 145.8.

Containing Rams Running Back Todd Gurley

Forget 2016, Rams running back Todd Gurley looks like his rookie self. And that was surely the case in Week 3.

Gurley ran all over the 49ers defense, finishing with 113 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, as well as adding another 36 yards and a touchdown through the air.

Stopping him would have been easier if rookie linebacker Reuben Foster (ankle) was available. Instead, veteran linebacker NaVorro Bowman ended up missing tackles.

Not a good look for Bowman either.

Needless to say, defensive coordinator Robert Saleh didn’t scheme enough to take Gurley out of the picture. From Los Angeles’ opening touchdown directly after a Brian Hoyer interception to the final Rams possession of the game, Gurley wasn’t being stopped.

And the 49ers defense paid dearly for it.

Quarterback Brian Hoyer

So Hoyer had a stat line of 23-of-37 for 332 yards, two touchdowns against one interception for a passer rating of 98.0.

That sounds good, but this is one of those instances where statistics are deceiving.

Hoyer set the 49ers up to be playing from behind the very first snap from scrimmage, tossing a pass intercepted by L.A. defensive back Nickel Robey-Coleman that he nearly returned for a touchdown:

Sure, Hoyer ended up with two more passing touchdowns and a rushing TD on top of that. And there were some nice passes mixed in later throughout the game. But the same accuracy issues plagued Hoyer’s ability to effectively move the ball.

And it would be nice to see some better pocket awareness too. Hoyer was sacked four times, and three of those could have been avoided.