Niner Noise
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San Francisco 49ers: 2017 midterm positional grades after Week 8

By Peter Panacy

SANTA CLARA, CA - OCTOBER 22: C.J. Beathard #3 of the San Francisco 49ers celebrates after a four-yard touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys during their NFL game at Levi's Stadium on October 22, 2017 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CA - OCTOBER 22: C.J. Beathard #3 of the San Francisco 49ers celebrates after a four-yard touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys during their NFL game at Levi's Stadium on October 22, 2017 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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PHILADELPHIA, PA – OCTOBER 29: C.J. Beathard #3 of the San Francisco 49ers heads to the huddle in the second half against the Philadelphia Eagles on October 29, 2017 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA – OCTOBER 29: C.J. Beathard #3 of the San Francisco 49ers heads to the huddle in the second half against the Philadelphia Eagles on October 29, 2017 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

Halfway through the 2017 season, Niner Noise dishes out midterm grades for the winless San Francisco 49ers and notes areas of improvement needed.

If the NFL was the sports’ equivalent of grammar school, the San Francisco 49ers might need to stay back a year, as they are failing almost every class.

Here we are, halfway through the 2017 campaign, and head coach Kyle Shanahan’s squad still remains winless. In fact, this is the worst start to any season in franchise history. While we likely knew Shanahan and general manager John Lynch’s first year at the helm would be rough, it’s hard to think anyone predicted this bad a start.

In fairness, these Niners have been beset by numerous injuries and setbacks. Paired with entirely new schemes on both sides of the ball and wholesale changes to the roster, the 2017 49ers are closer to an expansion team than a rebuild in process.

Still, it stinks.

Four weeks into the 2017 season, Niner Noise dished out quarterly report-card grades for each position. The grades then weren’t great, although we did find some room for hope and improvement.

The midterm grades may not be quite as friendly, but let’s get into that here in a moment.

Before we get into the numerous areas that are bad, we’ll kick things off at a spot that’s been surprisingly good to the 49ers this season — special teams.