The 49ers ended their four-game losing streak by beating the Bears 33-22 in Week 8, and at least the offensive grades reflect positively.
It almost feels strange to take a hindsight look at the San Francisco 49ers following a win, but that’s precisely what happened after the Niners pulled off their first win since beating the Philadelphia Eagles way back when in Week 2.
This time, head coach Kyle Shanahan’s squad was on the right side of the win column by pulling off a 33-22 road victory over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in Week 8.
True, the game was far from perfect. San Francisco’s defense had all kinds of trouble with Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields during the game, and some of the same woes that have existed on that side of the ball all year long didn’t exactly go away in Week 8 either.
Fortunately, Shanahan’s offense finally picked up the slack after starting slow, leading to quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo having his best game of the season en route to a much-needed 49ers victory to improve to 3-4.
Yet Garoppolo’s opening drive ultimately stalled, thanks to a player who likely won’t be with the Niners this time next week.
Let’s grade that player’s unit, then break down each other position group’s efforts from the victory.
49ers Week 8 Grades: Special Teams
The inconsistency issues of fill-in kicker Joey Slye were on full display in Week 8, as he missed what would have been an opening-score field goal from 48 yards out on San Francisco’s first possession.
Later in the game, Slye also missed an extra point, which prompted the 49ers to attempt a two-point conversion on their next possession that found the end zone.
Thankfully that worked.
Slye, filling in for injured veteran kicker Robbie Gould, went 2-of-4 on his kicks, and it’s likely Slye won’t be on the Niners roster a week from now when Gould is expected to come back from his calf injury.
Interestingly enough, punter Mitch Wishnowsky actually didn’t have to punt at all during the game, which was an anomaly that actually worked in San Francisco’s favor.
Grade: C-
49ers Week 8 Grades: Secondary
Injuries already played a factor in the 49ers’ defensive backfield leading up to Week 8 with strong safety Jaquiski Tartt being out with a knee injury, and the Niners took another hit by losing free safety Jimmie Ward to a quad injury.
It’s not yet clear how serious Ward’s injury is, but reserve safety Tavon Wilson had to come in and contribute in a pinch.
So did the fifth-round rookie, Talanoa Hufanga, who surrendered Justin Fields’ touchdown pass to tight end Jesse James, although Fields’ pass was pretty noteworthy.
Inconsistent play also dogged San Francisco’s cornerbacks, namely Josh Norman, whose sixth defensive penalty against leads the team after he was flagged for a holding call. Additionally, fellow corner Emmanuel Moseley was one of many who frequently gave up too big a cushion to Chicago’s receiving targets. It would have been much better to see defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans call for more press coverage knowing Fields hasn’t used much of a deep passing attack so far this season.
Norman made up for it a bit with a last-second interception, only the 49ers’ second on the year, but he has yet to get away from the “high risk, high reward” association.
More troubling, if anything, is the fact Fields completed 70.4 percent of his passes, his highest mark as a starter over the course of his young career.
Grade: D+
49ers Week 8 Grades: Linebackers
Fred Warner remains one of the NFL’s best linebackers, but 2021 has continued to show why he’s having a bit of a down year.
Perhaps it’s a bit of DeMeco Ryans’ scheme, which has frequently put Warner out of position to make impactful plays, although Warner nearly deflected a pass that could have gone for another 49ers interception.
Despite that, Warner still led all Niners defenders with eight combined tackles on the game.
What was truly missed, however, was the presence of depth linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, who had been filling in for the injured starter, Dre Greenlaw (groin), yet had to miss Week 8 because of a concussion suffered the week prior.
This led to Ryans being forced to insert deeper linebackers like Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles and Marcell Harris, which didn’t exactly generate ideal results.
Harris’ pass-coverage skills aren’t great to begin with, and on one of his missed tackles, the Bears were able to pick up a 9-yard chunk gain.
Missed tackles were a key problem for all of San Francisco’s defense throughout the game, and the linebacker corps has to bear the brunt of the blame in that department. Especially when considering Chicago was able to muster a net total of 176 yards on the ground, Justin Fields picking up 103 of them.
Grade: D
49ers Week 8 Grades: Defensive Line
Another one of the reasons why the Bears were able to have success on the ground was because the 49ers now find themselves without second-year defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw, who’ll be done for the year with a knee injury. As much as Kinlaw has struggled in the pass-rush department, his run-stopping skills shouldn’t be undersold.
As a result, the Niners gave up an average of 4.9 yards per rush play, including this insane 22-yard scramble for a touchdown by Justin Fields that put nearly every San Francisco defender on roller skates:
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1454893919620124680
The 49ers defensive line frequently struggled to contain the elusive and mobile Fields, which has been a factor this unit has had problems with all season long.
But on the positive side, the Niners were still able to generate some penetration, albeit against a questionable Chicago offensive line, generating 10 tackles for a loss and picking up an additional four sacks on Fields.
EDGE Nick Bosa got two of those, and he’ll carry the weight of San Francisco’s pass rush, which was without fellow EDGE Dee Ford (concussion) in this game.
Fortunately, after not registering a sack all year to this point, reserve pass-rusher Samson Ebukam picked up his first sack of the season, too.
Not a terrible day for this unit, but it certainly wasn’t one of its best performances either.
Grade: C
49ers Week 8 Grades: Offensive Line
After being largely dominated by the Indianapolis Colts’ defensive front in Week 7, it was refreshing to see the 49ers offensive line get back to a point of strength at Chicago.
True, the Bears were without their own star edge rusher, Khalil Mack, which made pass protection a lot easier for the O-line in front of Jimmy Garoppolo. But even against a depleted Chicago pass rush, it’s still commendable for the Niners to keep Jimmy G upright.
He didn’t take a single sack or suffer a quarterback hit in the game.
Garoppolo being well protected was a bonus, but the proverbial bread and butter of San Francisco’s offense is the run game, and a healthy return of left tackle Trent Williams from an ankle injury opened up the door for the 49ers to obtain 145 rush yards and average 5.6 yards per carry in the process.
If there were any gaffes, one happened on a late snap from center Alex Mack, forcing Garoppolo to scramble in for his first touchdown on the ground instead of handing the ball off to wide receiver Deebo Samuel:
https://twitter.com/49ers/status/1454886769833435139
Kind of an odd play. But it worked in the end, so few will end up caring.
Garoppolo also had passes batted down at the line of scrimmage, which often falls upon the O-line, too. Considering the trade-off in pass protection, though, it’s an issue few would truly complain about.
Good day from this unit.
Grade: A
49ers Week 8 Grades: Tight Ends
The Niners are still sorely missing All-Pro tight end George Kittle (calf), who is expected to make his return off injured reserve next week. And when the offense was struggling a bit in the first half, one could easily point out how much of a difference Kittle would have made if he was on the field.
In the blocking department, though, San Francisco is getting some excellent production from second-year pro Charlie Woerner, who is clearly taking over the No. 2 role from the presumed backup, Ross Dwelley, who was mostly a non-factor in Week 8.
True, Woerner’s stat sheet doesn’t exactly suggest he was impactful, having only one catch on two targets for 7 yards.
Despite not being a major contributor in the receiving department, Woerner is beginning to find his groove as a lead blocker, and that particular element of the 49ers offense was working at top capacity during the game.
Still, it’ll be nice to get Kittle back soon.
Grade: C-
49ers Week 8 Grades: Wide Receivers
Two things can be equally true.
The Niners have a good array of wide receivers who can make plays, namely Deebo Samuel. But this unit can also struggle with drops, too. In that latter case, Samuel dropped two passes early in the game, while veteran receiver Mohamed Sanu dropped another. So did fellow wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
Well, maybe three things should be a factor.
Aiyuk got off the skid with a season-best 45 receiving yards and even managed to convert on a two-point conversion despite his drop taking place on a would-be touchdown toss from Jimmy Garoppolo.
Yet the biggest impact was felt by Samuel, whose 50-yard reception towards the end of the first half helped set up a key field goal. And then, Samuel managed to rip off 83 yards on a screen pass that nearly went for a touchdown, only to be ruled out of bounds just shy of the goal line:
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1454885440658423813
At least San Francisco followed that one up with a touchdown instead of a field-goal try.
More importantly, Samuel finished the game with a team-high six receptions for a whopping 171 yards, which not only will keep him within the top five in receiving yards through Week 8 but also surpassed Hall of Famer Jerry Rice’s prior franchise record of most receiving yards over the first seven games.
Despite the drops, Samuel is very much a star.
Grade: A
49ers Week 8 Grades: Running Backs
There’s also another clear-cut conclusion when it comes to looking at the 49ers’ running back situation.
The third-round NFL Draft pick, Trey Sermon, is nowhere close to unseating the sixth-round rookie, Elijah Mitchell, who looked a lot like his Week 1 self and then some in Week 8 against the Bears.
Yes, the Niners offensive line was outstanding in creating lanes for Mitchell, even at one point helping push him into the end zone for a touchdown, rugby scrum-style.
But what arguably even more effective was Kyle Shanahan dialing up plenty of outside runs beyond the tackle box, taking full advantage of Mitchell’s speed, and the rookie rusher was frequently picking up 6, 7 or even 10 yards per carry with relative ease.
And late in the second half when San Francisco was trying to grind down the clock, Mitchell’s gains were getting bigger and stronger.
All told, and despite Sermon not getting a carry in the game, Mitchell finished with a career-best 137 rush yards on 18 carries, averaging 7.6 yards per rush, while No. 2 running back JaMycal Hasty contributed nicely in the receiving game with two catches for 29 yards.
When the 49ers focus on the run, good things can happen.
Grade: A+
49ers Week 8 Grades: Quarterback
Make no mistake, Week 8 was Jimmy Garoppolo’s best game of the season.
That’s not necessarily a highlight point for Jimmy G this season, rather an indication of how much he’s struggled in 2021 so far. But even while Garoppolo has his limitations and isn’t the long-term solution under center with rookie Trey Lance in the folds, one at least needs to point out the instances where Garoppolo plays well.
He did this week. That’s for sure.
Garoppolo, who went 17-of-28 for 322 yards and a 100.6 passer rating, had a Lance-like rushing touchdown on a 5-yard RPO-like run:
https://twitter.com/49ers/status/1454897040006189058
Lance didn’t play in the game, by the way. At least Garoppolo delivered, though.
For all the scrutiny Garoppolo has received this season, including being under the pressure of knowing Lance will eventually take over, Jimmy G was at least a key reason why the Niners were able to end their losing streak with a much-needed win over the Bears. Sure, Garoppolo had his Garoppolo-like moments, including missing Deebo Samuel on what could have been a touchdown pass just before halftime after the impressive 50-yard pass.
Related Story: 49ers have to start Jimmy Garoppolo again after beating Bears, right?
In Week 8, though, Garoppolo did nothing to suggest he’s imminently going to be replaced under center by Lance.
Even though that’ll eventually happen.
Grade: A
49ers Week 8 Grades: Coaching
DeMeco Ryans still has a lot of learning to do, and that was pretty apparent throughout the game and in light of all the struggles San Francisco’s defense had against Justin Fields on Sunday.
In one small positive, though, the sheer volume of defensive pass-interference calls went down a lot, and the 49ers weren’t hit by repeated flags in this category after being subjected to them at regular intervals in Week 7 against the Colts.
So, perhaps, all that mid-week preparation to guard against committing pass interference paid off. Now, it’s going to be about putting defenders into better positions to cut off rushing lanes against mobile quarterbacks while also not sacrificing those crucial interior rush lanes, too.
For Kyle Shanahan, the first half saw a lot of the same problems the head coach has been dogged with in recent weeks, namely the lack of a systematic approach and an overall lack of rhythm.
Fortunately, Shanahan seemed to figure out the woes as the game wore on, finding out what would work against a still-talented Bears defense.
A lot of this had to do with continuing reliance on Elijah Mitchell, particularly working towards getting those outside runs going in the wake of largely abandoning them in previous weeks.
Oh, and it was also beneficial for Shanahan to call Brandon Aiyuk’s name a lot, too.