10 things the 49ers need to do to reach the Super Bowl in 2020
By Peter Panacy
No. 3: Vastly Improve Efforts in the Red Zone
One might think both the Patriots and Rams were highly effective in the red zone during their regular-season trip into the playoffs and towards Super Bowl LIII.
Not necessarily, which is interesting.
The Pats’ 62.9 red-zone touchdown efficiency rating actually ranked 12th, while the Rams’ 56.8 rating was 19th. The Steelers, who didn’t even make the playoffs, came in first with an efficiency rating of 73.5.
This goes to show merely having a great red-zone offense isn’t the end-all, be-all formula for winning Super Bowls. Rather, just having something of an effective red-zone offense is more important than dominating this category.
That said, the 49ers were flat-out bad in this area last year.
San Francisco’s 41.2 percent red-zone touchdown efficiency was dead last among all 32 teams, and it’s an area Kyle Shanahan struggled in back in 2017, too. The good news, however, is the Atlanta Falcons’ 2016 red-zone offense ranked eighth best when Shanahan was calling the offensive plays there.
So, it looks as if the Niners are suffering more from a lack of personnel than they are inadequate red-zone play calling. Improving both will help, and just getting into the middle of the pack here would be a great way for San Francisco to find some postseason success.