Cardinals vs. 49ers: Grading San Francisco’s efforts

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SANTA CLARA, CA – NOVEMBER 05: Head coach Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers looks on during their NFL game against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi’s Stadium on November 5, 2017 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images) /

Special teams

One upside of the 49ers being so awful on the offensive end is that their special teams unit has morphed into one of the league’s best. Particularly the punt team, which has yet to give up a return longer than 13 yards.

Punter Bradley Pinion averaged 44.0 yards on eight punts, pinning the Cardinals inside the 20-yard three times and booting a long of 55 yards.

Kicker Robbie Gould was perfect on the day, making his only field goal (42 yards) and extra point attempt (one) on the day. Bolden Jr. was effective in the kick return game, finishing with three returns for 59 yards.

Grade: A

Coaching

Nine games into the Kyle Shanahan experiment at head coach, and the 49ers have failed to score over 10 points on five different occasions. For being hailed as an offensive guru, Shanahan sure has had trouble finding success in his supposed area of mastery.

That is certainly concerning, as this current 49ers offense is worse than the previous two teams. And those teams were not good, in any way, shape or form.

The lack of discipline cannot be ignored either. San Francisco had eight penalties against Arizona, making it 84 total on the season — 3rd most in the NFL.

Above all, the 49ers sit at 0-9 on the season. This league is viewed through wins and losses. Bottom line, San Francisco is one of the worst teams in the league right now.

Grade: F

Next: San Francisco 49ers: Breaking down 2018 NFL Draft needs after Jimmy Garoppolo trade

However you divvy it up, the 49ers are a lousy team. They look to change their fortunes with a Week 10 matchup against the New York Giants in what might be their last winnable game of the season.