SF 49ers grades in heartbreaking season-finale loss to Seahawks

SF 49ers Offensive Grades vs. Seahawks

It was pretty clear early on head coach Kyle Shanahan wanted to let running back Jeff Wilson, not quarterback C.J. Beathard, shoulder the bulk of the offensive load. Especially against a Seahawks team that hadn’t allowed 20 points in a game for the previous five weeks.

But Wilson, Beathard and the San Francisco offense struggled early, putting more pressure on Robert Saleh and the defense.

Well into the second quarter, Beathard had minus-6 yards of net passing. That’s not a typo.

Beathard’s final stat line — 25-of-37 for 273 yards, one touchdown against zero interceptions for a 98.1 passer rating — is quite misleading. A good chunk of those yards came on the SF 49ers’ final “garbage time” drive, and Beathard missed wide-open tight ends, namely George Kittle and Ross Dwelley, for what could have been crucial touchdown throws earlier in the game.

Turn one of those field goals into a touchdown, and the outcome could have been noticeably different.

Additionally, Beathard’s pocket presence never showed much improvement during his time with the Niners, as he was sacked three times, including the final one on which he fumbled, Seattle recovered and subsequently scored the game-icing touchdown in response.

Beathard finished with a touchdown pass to Wilson on the final drive. But that turnover is going to be a noteworthy epitaph to the quarterback’s career in San Francisco if he indeed leaves in free agency this offseason.

Wilson runs awfully hard, and that was perfectly evident against a Seattle defense keyed in on stopping him and the SF 49ers’ ground attack.

Like Beathard, the rushing stat line doesn’t tell the whole story: 20 carries on 76 attempts, a touchdown and an average of 3.8 yards per rush. But Wilson did manage some chunk gains later in the game and offered up 12 yards on three receptions, including the fourth-quarter score.

That last part was a nice gesture by Shanahan to Wilson, who went from the No. 4 rusher on the depth chart to a strong starter by season’s end.

The Niners have something in the former undrafted free agent, and he figures to be part of the team’s future plans into 2021.

It would be nice to grade this group on a curve, particularly with top wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel missing Week 17 with injuries. Yet their vacancies opened up some solid playmaking from depth wideouts, Kendrick Bourne and Richie James, who each contributed enough in their own ways.

Bourne actually led all San Francisco pass-catchers with 76 yards on five receptions and came through with some clutch third- and fourth-down conversions, too, adding to his own free-agent value this offseason.

Yet James, who hauled in Beathard’s longest pass of the day — a 45-yard bomb that sparked what was otherwise an inept SF 49ers offense up to that point — could be the player the Niners look to more next season.

Not terrible from a crop of backups.

Kittle had a couple of drops, and both hurt in their own respective ways.

But Kittle answering back with perhaps one of the greatest catches in recent team history has to more than make up for it, right?

Seriously, this was nuts:

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1345870812612501504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1345870812612501504%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fninernoise.com%2F2021%2F01%2F03%2Fsf-49ers-goal-line-magic-loss-seahawks%2F

Kittle had a solid seven-catch, 68-yard effort during the game, which was pretty exceptional considering Seattle was looking to contain him, too. There were multiple plays where he was left uncovered and open, only to not have Beathard find him.

Another “what if?” from San Francisco’s vantage point in a season of what-ifs.

It’s pretty easy to dog the SF 49ers offensive line. But when backup quarterbacks don’t display the pocket poise and make efforts to step up to avoid the outside pass rush, blaming the O-line becomes relatively easy to do.

And it gets easier when looking at how shorthanded this unit, even missing Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams in Week 17, was over the course of the year.

At least two of Beathard’s three sacks taken could have been avoided if the quarterback had better pocket presence. Perhaps all three depending on how he was seeing the field. Yet this group wasn’t the No. 1 liability in the game, particularly when looking at the general efficiency moving the ball on the ground against stacked Seahawks boxes.

Granted, this doesn’t mean the Niners should avoid upgrading the O-line this offseason. But Week 17 wasn’t its worst performance.