San Francisco 49ers: Week 13 position grades and analysis from win over Bears
By Peter Panacy
49ers Defensive Grades
If the 49ers’ mindset in Week 13 was to shut down Bears running back Jordan Howard and force quarterback Mitchell Trubisky to throw, they did a good job.
Howard was limited to a mere 38 yards on 19 carries — an average of just 2.9 yards per attempt.
This did open up things for Trubisky to have a relatively nice game under center, although he wasn’t much of a difference maker.
Defensive Line
The 49ers still lack a solid pass rush, and Week 13 was no different. San Francisco managed just two sacks, and one of those by linebacker Eli Harold was a gift, as Trubisky fumbled the snap and went down on his own.
But the other sack was credited to EDGE Elvis Dumervil, who leads the defense with 5.5 sacks now.
Rookie defensive tackle Solomon Thomas could have added another on the play below, but he took a slightly off angle towards an escaping Trubisky:
These are the kinds of plays you’d like to see Thomas finish, which kind of describes the day the Niners D-line had.
Grade: C+
Linebacker
Rookie linebacker Reuben Foster led the team with seven tackles, which isn’t much of a surprise. One particular play on third down in the first half prevented the Bears from picking up a first down towards the sideline.
Any slower linebacker would have given up the first down.
Interestingly enough, Pro Football Focus gave Foster a 74.6 game grade, although citing he had to clean up a lot of the missed tackles and assignments up front.
Grade: B
Secondary
No Bears receiver broke over 40 yards, which is a good sign for San Francisco’s developing secondary.
In his first game back from a thumb injury, seventh-round draftee Adrian Colbert had himself a game with three tackles, including a hard hit in the third quarter. And fellow safety Eric Reid finished second on the defense with four tackles, including one for a loss.
Fill-in cornerback Greg Mabin did give up an eight-yard touchdown completion to Bears wideout Dontrelle Inman, but that was the only major gaffe this unit suffered.