Niner Noise
FanSided

5 biggest problems facing the 49ers in 2019 so far

By Peter Panacy

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 13: Pressure by defensive tackle Aaron Donald #99 of the Los Angeles Rams forces an incomplete pass by quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo #10 of the San Francisco 49ers in the second half at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on October 13, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 13: Pressure by defensive tackle Aaron Donald #99 of the Los Angeles Rams forces an incomplete pass by quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo #10 of the San Francisco 49ers in the second half at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on October 13, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
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SANTA CLARA, CA – DECEMBER 23: Robbie Gould #9 of the San Francisco 49ers kicks a field goal against the Chicago Bears during their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium on December 23, 2018 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CA – DECEMBER 23: Robbie Gould #9 of the San Francisco 49ers kicks a field goal against the Chicago Bears during their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium on December 23, 2018 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

The San Francisco 49ers are off to a dominant 5-0 start through six weeks in 2019, but there are still some problems head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. need to address.

As the saying goes, “if you’re not improving, you’re getting worse.” And the San Francisco 49ers would be wise to heed that advice despite their red-hot 5-0 start to the 2019 season.

No team is perfect, and there is plenty of room for improvement for head coach Kyle Shanahan’s squad. Yes, the Niners have both a top-five offense and defense, in terms of points allowed and yardage surrendered per game. San Francisco’s running game has been more than just on point.

And that defense ranks No. 1 against the pass — extremely beneficial in today’s pass-happy NFL.

In his last postgame press conference, though, even Shanahan didn’t want to call his team “elite” and stressed the need to improve in various areas where the team is still struggling.

Thankfully, Shanahan has Niner Noise on his side, and we’ve put together five areas in which the team could stand to get a little better in coming weeks.

Here are five areas which have been problematic for San Francisco despite the strong start.

No. 5: Special Teams

It’s hard to truly quantify struggles on special teams, since there are so many elements working into the equation.

Football Outsiders‘ DVOA metric does a good job, combining a number of varying statistics, and the conclusion isn’t great: San Francisco ranks 26th with a mark of minus-2.9 percent.

A big reason has been kicker Robbie Gould‘s inconsistency this season. The usually reliable Gould has already missed six kicks on the year, and his field-goal percentage is at an even 60 percent — 30th out of qualifying kickers in 2019.

Granted, not all of this has fallen on Gould. There have been issues at long-snapper, and his last miss against the Los Angeles Rams was a bit out of his range.

Punt returner Richie James is averaging 11.5 yards per return attempt, which ranks fourth through Week 6. While that’s good, some of his fair catches have been questionable, at best.