Who’s to blame for SF 49ers ugly Week 5 loss to Dolphins?

The SF 49ers looked like a bottom-five team in their 43-17 Week 5 loss to the Dolphins, prompting questions on who bears the most blame.

It’s painful to invoke memories of the SF 49ers‘ 2016 season under one-and-done head coach Chip Kelly. But the Niners’ 43-17 Week 5 home loss to the previously one-win Miami Dolphins sure felt like a Kelly-era game for San Francisco.

And for all the wrong reasons.

Granted, that year’s 49ers squad lacked talent across the board, not entirely unlike an injury-riddled San Francisco squad under head coach Kyle Shanahan in the first half of 2020.

Yet Shanahan’s decision-making process in the one-sided loss, perhaps his worst as head coach, prompts some Kelly-like criticisms, too. Shanahan started a still-injured quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, only to pull him at halftime in favor of his backup, C.J. Beathard. There were other starter decisions, such as inserting a practice-squad call-up, cornerback Brian Allen, in place of a more experienced corner, Ahkello Witherspoon.

Those moves didn’t work. At all.

Shanahan deserves to bear a lot of the blame for Sunday’s disaster, which almost by default, eliminates the SF 49ers from repeating as NFC West champions. And NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco surely didn’t hold back from some of the questionable decisions Shanahan and his staff made in advance of the game.

“I don’t think the right decision was to start Jimmy Garoppolo,” Maiocco said after the game. “If at halftime, you determine he’s not good enough or he can’t protect himself, why was he starting this game? He didn’t make it through a complete practice on Wednesday or Thursday. Why was he out there playing if he couldn’t protect himself?”

Garoppolo subsequently went 7-of-17 for 77 yards and two interceptions thrown just before halftime.

Some of the blame goes on Garoppolo, too, of course. His throws were off target and lacked the zip normally seen when he’s not dealing with an ankle injury. So while it might be admirable for Garoppolo to gut his way through the pain, the end result speaks for itself.

And yet that’s not the only issue or spot for blame.

Going with Allen, who hasn’t played since 2018, was a chief problem, too. Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick regularly picked on Allen, who gave up two long plays and a touchdown, as well as being flagged twice for defensive pass interference.

“None of us even knew who Brian Allen was before he was inserted in the starting lineup,” Maiocco continued. “A lot of people are going to criticize Brian Allen. Don’t criticize Brian Allen. Criticize the people who put Brian Allen into that position. It was a no-win position for him.”

Clearly.

Kyle Shanahan, Robert Saleh deserve bulk of blame for SF 49ers loss to Dolphins

Shanahan deserves a good chunk of the blame for Sunday’s loss. Perhaps almost all of it, including that shotgun run on 4th-and-1, which the Dolphins subsequently stuffed for no gain.

A shotgun run on 4th-and-1.

At the end of the day, it’s Shanahan’s team. So it’s fair to place the largest chunk of the blame on him.

Yet defensive coordinator Robert Saleh has to bear a good chunk of the blame, too. Following the loss, former SF 49ers safety and NBC Sports Bay Area analyst Donte Whitner placed the blame on Saleh for coughing up 43 points and 436 net yards to Miami. And one could look at Saleh wondering why Allen was starting at cornerback despite the injuries to other players.

More importantly, why did Allen stay in after being torched with regularity over the first quarter plus?

Saleh eventually inserted Witherspoon for the second half. Witherspoon, who was dealing with a hamstring injury leading up to the game, was clearly able to play even if he wasn’t at 100 percent. Unlike Garoppolo’s situation, Witherspoon wasn’t being asked to carry the team. In this case, he needed to help stop the proverbial bleeding.

Only the move came at least a quarter too late to make any difference, as the Dolphins already had a commanding lead by the time Witherspoon was inserted.

So Saleh, too, bears a large chunk of the blame. Despite the injuries, surrendering 43 points to a so-so Miami offense on the road won’t be a good look.

And it looked a lot like those Kelly-era defenses from that forgettable 2016 season. Never good to bring back memories of those games at all, but unfortunately Week 5 certainly did.