49ers position grades after self-destructive loss to Titans

49ers Special Teams/Coaching Grades

Special Teams

Once again, the special teams have come up very short. While cornerback will be a big area of need coming into the offseason, one could argue special teams may be just as important to focus on.

Mitch Wishnowsky shanked a punt. Tennessee had strong kickoff returns. The 49ers didn’t even return a kickoff.

Robbie Gould did what he needed to do at least, his lone field goal and two extra-point attempts going through. Not leaving any points on the field from a kicking situation saves this from a D-range grade.

Grade: C-

Coaching

I liked the aggressiveness in going for it a few times, but I didn’t necessarily like Kyle Shanahan not utilizing more jet-sweep formations.

To be fair to Shanahan, it was a tough job to scheme running lanes open against a stout defensive line, and it was more on Jimmy Garoppolo than Shanahan that points were left on the board.

Defensively, DeMeco Ryans did a good job with what he had, he can’t truly be blamed for the personnel woes at cornerback.

If anything, he deserves credit for blanking everyone else, which gave the 49ers a fighting chance.

There were some downs. The Titans shadowed George Kittle with a second man for a long time, and Shanahan wasn’t able to either scheme him open or make them pay enough for devoting a man to Kittle alone. Ryans could also have taken a leaf from that particular book to put safety help on top of Brown as the Titans’ lone productive receiver.

It’s easy to apply these in hindsight, but it may have just made the difference. The coaching was awful, but nor was it perfect.

Grade: C