SF 49ers position grades following lopsided Week 9 loss vs. Packers

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San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan (left) Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /

SF 49ers Special Teams and Coaching Grades

It’s hard to totally fault Kyle Shanahan and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh for what happened Thursday night. Shanahan was dealing with essentially a makeshift roster, while the lack of offensive prowess by San Francisco ultimately left Saleh’s defense on the field for far too long.

The Packers held possession over the SF 49ers for a full 13 minutes more, including some of the garbage-time drives the Niners had late in the game that were effective.

In short, try figuring out what Shanahan and Saleh could have done better.

SPECIAL TEAMS . B. . .

Kicker Robbie Gould made his lone field-goal try and converted his extra-point attempts. And punter Mitch Wishnowsky had four boots for 219 yards, averaging 54.8 yards per attempt.

Nothing wrong with those numbers. Nothing wrong with the Niners nearly blocking two punts either. Return specialist Austin Walter (if you haven’t heard of him, it’s OK), had a long takeout of 34 yards on one of his three attempts.

Special teams made no difference in this game, and this unit gets the SF 49ers’ best grade of the night.

Teams typically lose when that’s the case, though.

. COACHING . C-. .

Some may think assigning a C-minus grade for Shanahan, Saleh and the Niners coaching staff might be too generous.

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Again, though, what more could Shanahan have done with three-fifths of his offensive line consisting of backups or players moving to other spots, down his top three wide receivers and best tight end, minus two key running backs and going with a backup quarterback with limited reps with this entire group?

All on a short week.

Perhaps Saleh got a little too blitz happy on third downs, and Aaron Rodgers had no issues passing into the blitz packages throughout the game. And one could argue backup safety Tarvarius Moore, not Marcell Harris, should be seeing more time on the field.

But considering all the pieces lacking, there weren’t exactly a slew of schematic breakdowns by San Francisco’s defense. Missed assignments and blown coverages? Yes.

Yet that’s on the players more than the coaching, particularly on a short week where there’s little time for preparation.

Next. 49ers' 5 biggest disappointments over first half of 2020. dark

At least the SF 49ers get a mini bye week before taking their seemingly annual road trip to play the New Orleans Saints in Week 10.