49ers who must step up their game against the Seahawks in Week 2

It takes a collective effort to win football games in the NFL, and these four 49ers must step up their game if they want to emerge victorious vs the Seahawks in Week 2.

San Francisco 49ers fans didn’t get the game they had hoped for in Week 1. Despite being heavy road favorites over the Chicago Bears, Kyle Shanahan’s team wasn’t able to do enough offensively during the monsoon in the Windy City to secure the win and his team falls to 0-1 on the season.

After putting up just 10 points, QB Trey Lance and company are hoping for much better results on their home turf this week as they host the Seattle Seahawks. Pete Carroll’s team is coming off an upset victory over the Broncos last week thanks to a strong performance by QB Geno Smith.

In a crowded AFC West, the 49ers can ill afford to drop their second consecutive game — this time against a divisional opponent. However, it’s going to take a collective effort to avoid dropping to 0-2 on the season, and some key starters must step up their game in a hurry.

49ers who must improve vs Seahawks in Week 2:

QB Trey Lance

Of all the players who must show improvement this week, the performance of Trey Lance is the most important. Obviously, not everything was bad that we saw from the young quarterback in his first start in 2022, and much of his struggles could be contributed to the weather conditions.

However, completing 13 of 28 passes for 164 yards and an interception is rarely going to be a recipe for success. The Seahawks have some young defensive players who can be exploited this week, and I think Lance performs a lot better on his home turf in Week 2.

RB Jeff Wilson

There was a noticeable difference last Sunday between Elijah Mitchell and Jeff Wilson. Before, Mitchell’s injury, he made things look easy from the backfield — dicing Chicago’s defense for 6.8 yards per carry. The same cannot be said for Wilson, who averaged just 2.4 yards per carry and didn’t bust out a run longer than 5 yards on 9 attempts, via ESPN.

With Mitchell on IR with an MCL sprain, Wilson needs to prove that Deebo Samuel isn’t the only player on the roster right now that can carry the football. I thought the offensive line played pretty well overall last week, but Wilson needs to find his groove soon.

WR Deebo Samuel

Speaking of Deebo, the 49ers star receiver is coming off arguably one of the worst games of his professional career to date. In his first contest of 2022, Samuel was credited with 2 dropped passes, via advanced stats from Pro Football Reference. Drops are nothing new, as Deebo experienced 10 of them last season, but we certainly don’t want to see this pace continue.

As a result, the 49ers star hauled in just 2 of 7 targets for a mere 14 yards and failed to make an impact in the passing game. Some of this obviously falls on the QB, and it’s hard to keep a great player down for long. I would expect a bounce-back game from Deebo this week against the Seahawks.

There are others who still need to take that step forward as well, but these three players could be pivotal to their success moving forward, and all three need to do a much better job in Week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks.