Robert Saleh deserves some blame from 49ers loss to Falcons

The San Francisco 49ers lost a tough Week 15 bout to the Atlanta Falcons, falling to 11-3 on the season. And defensive coordinator Robert Saleh shoulders a lot of the blame for the defeat.

The San Francisco 49ers didn’t do anything to help their precarious hold on a top playoff spot in Week 15, ultimately losing 29-22 to the Atlanta Falcons, who had a mere four wins on the season before pulling off the upset at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday.

There’s a lot of blame to go around. Whether it be on head coach Kyle Shanahan, who ultimately didn’t do enough to avoid the pitfalls of Week 15 being a prototypical “trap game,” tight end George Kittle fumbling on a crucial fourth-quarter third down just under two minutes with the 49ers holding the lead or the Niners once-dominant pass rush looking much more lackluster than it had earlier this season.

But a lot of the blame has to fall on defensive coordinator Robert Saleh. And for one simple reason: Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones.

Without No. 2 wide receiver Calvin Ridley, who is done for the year with an abdominal injury, Jones was essentially the lone threat Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had at his disposal. The 49ers knew it, Saleh knew it and practically the entirety of both sides’ fanbases knew it, too.

All Jones did was simply take over the game, catching 13 of his 20 targets for a whopping 134 yards and two touchdowns, including the game winner with mere seconds of regulation left:

Yes, the Niners were massively shorthanded for this contest, particularly in their secondary. Starting defensive backs Richard Sherman (hamstring), K’Waun Williams (concussion) and Jaquiski Tartt (ribs) were all absent, forcing Saleh to rely on fill-in defenders, such as second-year cornerback Emmanuel Moseley.

Moseley has performed well this season, yes. But asking him to defend against Jones, often in one-on-one coverage, was far too tall an order.

Quite literally. Jones is 6-foot-3, while Moseley stands at 5-foot-11. It’s a perennial Pro Bowler versus a relatively untested backup defensive back. Exactly why Saleh didn’t call for more blanket, press and two-man coverage on Jones is anyone’s guess.

Instead, Jones was able to rip off plays like this with relative ease:

Soft coverage in a one-score game with the game on the line against an opponent’s No. 1 threat, when there were few other significant threats against which to defend.

Exactly what coerced Saleh to neglect Jones like this on Sunday is anyone’s guess until otherwise explained is troubling. Sure, the 49ers are dealing with some notable injuries on that side of the ball, and it would have been nicer to see San Francisco’s pass rush perform better in key situations, too.

But Saleh still has to manage what he has at his disposal. He didn’t in Week 15, and Jones took full advantage of it.

Why does it matter? Well, many of the teams the 49ers will face between now and into the postseason boast more weaponry than the Falcons with Jones, meaning the play calling and subsequent execution won’t be able to suffer the kinds of gaffes Saleh was ultimately responsible for during this particular bout.

If it’s a learning point, good. If not, that’s a problem.