5 things Kyle Shanahan, 49ers need to accomplish during Week 4 bye

The San Francisco 49ers may have been unfortunately graced with an early bye week. Yet the Week 4 break affords head coach Kyle Shanahan a few opportunities, and he can use the time to address some key issues.

On one hand, the San Francisco 49ers receiving the earliest of bye weeks in Week 4 doesn’t do head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. any favors.

Ideally, the Niners would receive their 2019 break at some point either in the middle, or at least towards the latter half of the regular season.

But on the other hand, San Francisco certainly needs this break right now. And the team isn’t in any position to complain about an early bye anyway.

Yes, the 49ers are a perfect 3-0 to start the season. And two of those wins, Week 1 at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Week 2 versus the Pittsburgh Steelers, weren’t overly pretty. It does say something the Niners were able to win the ugly games — something they haven’t been able to do so far under Shanahan’s tenure, previously.

Yet those wins reveal a number of question marks. Through three games, Shanahan’s offense has managed 96 points, which is good for fifth best in the league. But in two of those games, the offense appeared to make more mistakes than it did good plays.

Shanahan would be wise to use the extra time to get his complex offense functioning at a high level. And based off what we’ve seen from the defense, getting rested and healthy should be a top priority, too.

Here are five things San Francisco needs to address during its early bye week.