4 hard realities 49ers taught us in Week 7 loss vs. Chiefs

49ers still have NFL’s best defense?

Going into Week 7, the Niners owned the league’s best defense in many categories, and San Francisco was allowing 14.8 points per game, second-best in the league.

The 49ers basically gave up three times that average to the Chiefs in Week 7, and this side of the ball certainly did not look like a league-best defense. It seemed like on almost every offensive possession, the Chiefs scored.

The Niners were also among the best in the league in sacks and only managed one sack when Nick Bosa brought quarterback Patrick Mahomes down in the fourth quarter when it seemingly mattered little.

Cornerback Charvarius Ward, who also left last week’s game against the Falcons with a groin injury, was among the league’s best in coverage up to this week. In his Week 7 return, he also looked rusty in coverage.

This was most glaringly evident on a 3rd-and-11 play when Kansas City wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling seemed to run right past him on a streak and picked up 57 yards on that play.

So, it bears the question: Are the 49ers one of the best defenses in the league? Or did they just happen to play against offenses that weren’t that potent through the first six games?

The Chiefs entered the game with the No. 1-ranked scoring offense, but this might have been less of a litmus test and more of an anomaly for San Francisco.

The 49ers will play a number of top offenses in the league later this season when they face off against the Los Angeles Chargers, Miami Dolphins and New Orleans Saints, all of whom are top 10 in yards.

They will have to shake off all the bad juju from Week 7 and get back to form against those offenses to prove this game was just a fluke rather than a sign of things to come.