49ers position grades, analysis from sloppy Week 7 loss vs. Colts

The 49ers had to fend off the weather and themselves in Week 7, which turned into a question-raising loss in ugly fashion to the visiting Colts.

Week 7 wasn’t a playoff backbreaker for the San Francisco 49ers. But it sure felt like it.

Now losers of four consecutive games after falling 30-18 against the visiting Indianapolis Colts on Sunday Night Football, head coach Kyle Shanahan sure has a lot of explaining to do.

And plenty of problems to figure out. Especially considering the Niners had a full two weeks to prepare for this game having come off their Week 6 bye. Yes, the wet and stormy conditions at Levi’s Stadium Sunday night made it difficult for everyone involved. But quarterback Carson Wentz and the Colts managed to figure out these problems a lot better than Shanahan and Co.

Needless to say, now at 2-4 and looking at the very real reality of dropping back to last place within the NFC West and seeing whatever playoff hopes existed before the game dissipating, there should be a lot of questions asked of Shanahan.

Tough ones.

We can start by breaking down some of the grades for each San Francisco position, both offensively and defensively, as well as looking at the coaching grades, too.

49ers Special Teams: D

Kicker Robbie Gould’s massive contract still looks as bad as ever, especially when fill-in kicker Joey Slye is making the kind of kicks Gould could otherwise make. And missing the ones Gould would likely miss, too, albeit at a much cheaper rate.

Slye missed one extra-point attempt, which might be somewhat excusable because of the weather. But when punter Mitch Wishnowsky’s 65-yard long for a punt is the only highlight from this group, it’s a bad sign.

Wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who scantly got involved on offense, botched one punt that was fortunate enough to roll into the end zone for a touchback. Had it been a pure fumble and then recovered for a would-be safety, Aiyuk would have found himself relegated to Shanahan’s doghouse even more than he was entering the game.

Still, that didn’t help. Wet conditions at all.

Special teams didn’t cost the 49ers a win. But they didn’t help matters either.

49ers Secondary: F

The Niners are paying the price for investing so little in young cornerbacks the last couple of seasons.

Even so, rookie corner Deommodore Lenoir was a surprise scratch, opening the door for the veteran, Dre Kirkpatrick, to be active for the game. And all Kirkpatrick did was allow Indianapolis’ final touchdown of the game on a play where Kirkpatrick could have at least deflected the ball:

Kirkpatrick isn’t part of San Francisco’s future. Lenoir could be. It’s time to let the rookie play and see where things go.

If that was it, the 49ers’ secondary efforts wouldn’t have been terrible. But the Niners were flagged for three defensive pass-interference calls during the game, and the Colts scored on all three plays, two of which came on 3rd-and-long situations. In a sense, Indianapolis’ third-down game plan was to simply try throwing it deep and hope for some good luck.

Well, that happened.

The weather was a factor, yes. But San Francisco’s defensive backfield had zero answers and made even less an impact. Making things worse, starting strong safety Jaquiski Tart exited with a knee injury.

49ers Linebackers: D

Hats off to linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair for recovering the fumble by Carson Wentz on EDGE Nick Bosa‘s pass rush within the red zone. And Al-Shaair also had a tackle for a loss, too, even though one of his fourth-quarter tackles actually ended up helping Indy get a first down.

Not too much to complain about there, though.

Instead, more complaints could be levied against fellow linebacker Fred Warner, who also clearly hasn’t been at his best this season and doesn’t look like the 2020 All-Pro he was last season. While Warner was tied for the team lead with seven solo tackles, it says something when Indianapolis was able to generate 148 yards rushing with over 100 of them coming from running back Jonathan Taylor.

The 49ers had to expect that, given the weather conditions, but there were more than a few misses and shortcomings in key situations that led to the Colts extending drives.

Warner will be fine, and Al-Shaair is a good reserve option to have. But for one of the Niners’ better positional units to come up short in a key prime-time matchup is awfully disappointing.

49ers Defensive Line: D

Nick Bosa’s near sack was a quality play, yes, but San Francisco’s defensive line came up short despite knowing full well Indianapolis was going to run the ball.

And then some, particularly with Carson Wentz frequently looking like the weather wasn’t affecting his play style.

Interior runs were again a problem against this unit, and it’s pretty clear the 49ers were missing one of their better run-stuffing defensive linemen, Javon Kinlaw, who was out with a knee injury. In the wake of the Niners’ 2020 trade of Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to the Colts, subsequently using that pick on Kinlaw, it isn’t looking as if San Francisco is getting the better end of the deal.

In the battle of the trenches, at least on this side of the ball, the 49ers clearly came up on the short end of the bargain. Not only did Indianapolis average 4.5 yards per rush, it also came up big enough on third downs, going 6-of-14 on these tries where the pass rush was expected to make a massive difference.

Just one sack, and that came from reserve defensive tackle Kentavius Street.

49ers Offensive Line: C-

In fairness to the Niners offensive line, at least DeForest Buckner wasn’t a massive X-factor out there for vengeance against his former employer. For the most part, San Francisco’s up-front blockers did an adequate job limiting the interior pass rush.

Although quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was sacked twice, including a telling takedown at the final whistle when the game ended.

Early on, though, things seemed like a different story for this unit. At least in terms of the run game, where Kyle Shanahan’s outside-zone rushing attack was working to perfection, getting rookie running back Elijah Mitchell 57 yards on the opening drive. When that translated into Garoppolo bootlegs and rollouts, the O-line’s punch was working well enough.

But like so many other elements of the 49ers’ game plan, the O-line began to fall apart as the game drew on. Most of those interior run efforts, notably against a good Colts run defense, weren’t generating anywhere near the needed push, and linemen were frequently struggling to get to the second level of blocking.

It was also pretty clear the Niners were missing left tackle Trent Williams, whose injury absence because of an ankle injury was sorely felt.

Even though fill-in rookie tackle Jaylon Moore performed better than most probably would have thought.

49ers Tight Ends: D

San Francisco sorely misses All-Pro tight end George Kittle. Not just as a legitimate receiving threat and someone who can generate yards after the catch.

But also for his elite-level blocking.

True, second-year pro Charlie Woerner is a good run blocker, which is how he cut his teeth at the collegiate level. And Woerner, whose route-running skills are still noticeably bad, even managed to get on the stat sheet with two catches for 30 yards.

Perhaps that’s a small endorsement for Woerner. Unfortunately, the 49ers needed a lot more from someone else within this unit, especially with Kittle out.

Normally, those duties would fall upon No. 2 tight end Ross Dwelley, who has adequately filled in for Kittle before. Yet Dwelley was targeted only twice during the game, catching just one of those passes for 5 yards.

Nothing else. A disappointing night from this shorthanded unit, which directly impacted the next group.

49ers Wide Receivers: D

Wide receiver Deebo Samuel is still awesome, yes, and he managed to have himself a seven-catch, 100-yard game with a touchdown, keeping himself well within the NFL leaderboard for receiving yards so far this season.

But Samuel also had a costly fumble, too, where he should have gone down after realizing the first-down marker wasn’t going to be in play. While it’s admirable to appreciate his toughness, fumbling in that situation was awfully costly, especially considering the Colts responded with points after the defensive takeaway.

Brandon Aiyuk was absent again, hauling in just one catch for 6 yards. And even though Kyle Shanahan managed to get No. 3 wide receiver Trent Sherfield involved in the game plan a bit more, it was clear Samuel was going to be the only X-factor.

This should have been the right approach, considering the Colts were down their starting safety, Julian Blackmon, who tore his Achilles this week, and a starting cornerback, Rock Ya-Sin. Fellow corner Xavier Rhodes was also banged up, too, even though he recorded a back-breaking interception late in the game.

So far for the Niners this season, it’s been Samuel and nobody else from this group. Bad.

49ers Running Backs: B-

Elijah Mitchell looked to be on pace to take over the game early on, getting off to record those 57 yards on San Francisco’s opening drive that included in one 20-yard long of a run and culminated in the opening touchdown that looked easy:

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1452432305104900098

During the second half, though, Kyle Shanahan seemed to get away from Mitchell and focused more on passing than anything else despite the early successes on the ground.

Even though it took a while to get there, Mitchell finally finished the game with 107 rush yards on 18 carries and averaged 5.9 yards per carry. He’s clearly the 49ers’ No. 1 running back on the roster, even though that’s come at the expense of the Niners’ other rookie rusher, Trey Sermon, who wasn’t a healthy scratch but nevertheless didn’t get in on the ground action at all.

Instead, Shanahan went with fellow running back JaMycal Hasty, who was mostly bottled up at the line of scrimmage, averaging just 0.3 yards per rush, and was scantly a factor in the receiving game with just 15 yards on three catches.

If the rushing game is San Francisco’s primary method of operation, Mitchell needed to play a bigger role than he already did.

49ers Quarterback: D-

Jimmy Garoppolo and Carson Wentz were both impacted by the poor weather. There’s no getting around that.

But Wentz made more of it. Garoppolo did not.

Garoppolo, returning after missing the 49ers’ last game two weeks ago because of a calf injury, had his moments where he looked OK enough to lead an effective offense, particularly a three-play drive that ended with the touchdown pass to Samuel at a point in the fourth quarter when the Niners still had a chance to get back into the game.

That might have been the only impressive stretch, though, and Garoppolo’s night finished with him going 16-of-27 for 181 yards, the touchdown against two interceptions and a passer rating of 60.9.

He also fumbled twice, losing one of those, too. Rain was a factor. But stats are stats.

Kyle Shanahan is likely to continue rolling with Garoppolo, although the chorus of calls for rookie quarterback Trey Lance, inactive because of the knee injury suffered two weeks ago, certainly are going to get louder after Garoppolo delivering short of what could have at least been a so-so performance.

49ers Coaching: F

Kyle Shanahan isn’t going to get fired. But he surely deserves a heavy, heavy load of the criticism. Both for San Francisco’s collective struggles over this four-game losing streak and for all that went wrong in Week 7 against Indianapolis.

Aside from getting away from what was working early, the strong outside run game with Elijah Mitchell, Shanahan has to be called for two specific problems.

One, Shanahan’s faulty challenge of what he thought was a Colts fumble despite it being recovered by Indianapolis after the ball crossed the first-down marker. It resulted in a burned timeout, which was surprising. And even though Shanahan later blamed the headsets for not working correctly in the rain, there was no reason for the challenge.

Related Story: Why Kyle Shanahan still isn’t on the hot seat

Beyond that, and perhaps even more troubling, is the fact the 49ers were flagged seven times for a whopping 122 yards.

Sure, a lot of those yards came on defense on pass-interference calls, and defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans has to bear some blame there, too.

Ultimately, however, Shanahan has to be held accountable for the lack of preparation. Especially after the two-week break with the bye.

If Shanahan was responsible for getting his team up for this contest, he failed.