Grading each SF 49ers position after disgusting Week 5 loss to Dolphins

The SF 49ers lost one of the ugliest games in the Kyle Shanahan era, falling to the visiting Dolphins 43-17 in Week 5. Time to muscle through the grades.

The optimistic SF 49ers fan would try passing what happened to head coach Kyle Shanahan’s squad in Week 5 during their lopsided loss to the visiting Miami Dolphins as a fluke, perhaps nothing more than the inevitable defeat when a team has suffered a ton of injuries on both sides of the ball.

But that would be shortsighted.

In every sense, Shanahan was outcoached by the Dolphins’ head coach, Brian Flores, while the Niners were outclassed by the previously one-win Miami squad on Sunday, losing in embarrassing fashion, 43-17, in a game that looked more like those one-sided losses former head coach Chip Kelly endured back when the SF 49ers went 2-14 and looked entirely lost on all three phases.

Now at 2-3, the Niners are limping through the first portion of their schedule — considered the easiest — en route to what could be a tough stretch to even muster a win.

Based on how things looked on Sunday, 2020 could be a long, long season for San Francisco.

Needless to say, position grades for the 49ers won’t be pretty. Nearly every unit, both offensive and defensive, struggled to contain whatever the Dolphins were trying to do, and Miami set the tone and kept it from its opening possession.

Again, just like the Kelly-era of games.

There were only a handful of standouts for San Francisco in Week 5. And nearly every position struggled in one way or another, which helps explain the one-sided defeat.

So, to no one’s surprise, the postgame grades aren’t going to be too friendly.

At all.