49ers vs. Chiefs: Lopsided Week 7 loss leads to ugly game grades

The 49ers were completely dominated by the Chiefs in Week 7, and there’s a painful truth that needs to be acknowledged in our postgame grades.

Despite the San Francisco 49ers’ blockbuster addition of All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey earlier in the week, there’s a notably glaring truth about head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense.

It’s completely disjointed and ineffective despite boasting talents like McCaffrey, tight end George Kittle, left tackle Trent Williams and wide receiver Deebo Samuel.

Shanahan’s offense struggled to score more than 20 points in six games this season, and it only managed 23 points in the lopsided 44-23 loss at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs, who absolutely dominated the Niners on every front Sunday afternoon.

McCaffrey had his moments, yes. But San Francisco was outclassed on defense at all three levels, and its offense failed to execute well enough in the red zone, settling for field goals too frequently against the NFL’s leading offense.

Not exactly a recipe for success.

Yes, a year ago at this time, the 49ers were offensively flat and started off with a 3-5 record before proverbially “righting the ship.” Now at 3-4 in the wake of a complete embarrassment at the hands of Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, Shanahan and his team are facing yet another reality of having to scramble their way back into the playoff picture.

Sure, it’s still early in the season, and the NFC is wide open. But the Niners have plenty of soul-searching to do, and the Week 7 position grades certainly reflect that.

Let’s try to absorb all that as well as possible.