49ers vs. Cardinals: 4 worst performances from dismal loss
No. 3: 49ers cornerback Josh Norman didn’t have his best game and found himself benched
As mentioned earlier, Josh Norman was flagged for taunting after a strange sequence with Arizona head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
The corner then found himself guarding the bench as he was then swapped out for cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick.
After the game, Kyle Shanahan talked about what happened:
Josh Norman told Kyle Shanahan that Cardinals "coaches were talking to him" and he got head-butted by an offensive lineman pic.twitter.com/cc6t28Mbfw
— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) November 8, 2021
One of the most interesting parts of Shanahan’s comments was he didn’t decide to bench Norman but was “OK with it.”
There was something else going on with Norman we didn’t get to see. We know he’s an intense player and this season has been extremely frustrating. But in a weird sense, maybe that penalty eventually wakes up the 49ers defense. They saw one of their players getting chirped at by the opposing coaches, a head-butt from an offensive lineman, and did nothing.
As much as you don’t want to see a player get kicked out or benched for standing up for himself, you want to see the defense fight for each other.
The Niners cannot play for the name on the front of their jerseys and play for the name on the back.