49ers vs. Cardinals: 5 takeaways from dominant Week 11 victory
Takeaway No. 4: Kyle Shanahan got the most out of his 49ers offense
In hindsight, it might have been understandable. But it took head coach Kyle Shanahan a few weeks to get all his offensive pieces in a row to knock out a complete game.
And what a game it was, with all of the 49ers’ offensive stars getting in on the action as fans had every reason to get excited after seeing this game.
From their four offensive stars, the Niners got big games from all of them:
- Four receptions for 84 yards and two touchdowns from George Kittle
- Two receptions for 20 yards and two touchdowns from Brandon Aiyuk
- Seven receptions for 57 yards and three carries for 37 yards and a touchdown for Deebo Samuel
- Seven carries for 39 yards and seven receptions for 67 yards by Christian McCaffrey
The Cardinals are hardly the toughest defense that San Francisco will face in the second half of the season, but this could be called sort of a tune-up game of sorts to get the offense jelling.
Perhaps the biggest hallmark of the offense this week was Shanahan passed a lot more than expected. The Cardinals dared the 49ers to beat them with the passing game and Shanahan was happy to oblige.
The Niners did get back to their usual ramming the ball down the throat of the defense to good effect in the second half after the Cardinals had to relent and start respecting the passing game more, but it was good to see a mixed strategy for a change.