The San Francisco 49ers are 3-0 and appear to be rolling. While Week 3's matchup against the Arizona Cardinals turned into a 36-30 shootout, the 49ers have outscored opponents 98-50 and appear to be well on their way to establishing themselves as the class of the NFC.
Injuries have been an issue for San Francisco, but they haven't seemed to slow the team down much. Brock Purdy is playing like a surefire MVP candidate. George Kittle is healthy and once again proving to be a force to be reckoned with. Fred Warner is proving that last year's ankle injury has not had any lingering effects as he reclaims his crown as the league's best linebacker.
With all of that, there are some chinks in the defense's armor that have been easy to gloss over amid the dominance on the offensive side of the ball. However, if these aren't addressed quickly, they could prove to be the type of deficiencies that can torpedo a promising season.
The 49ers can no longer ignore these three defensive issues
Interior run defense
San Francisco has allowed 317 yards on the ground so far, basically a league-average total that ranks 15th in the NFL. Surprisingly, they've faced the ninth-most attempts, despite playing with so many leads.
The cause for concern comes with the performance of the defensive tackles, who have done little to impact the run game. Osa Odighizuwa is best known as a pass rusher, but injuries have forced the 9ers to lean heavily on him, playing a career-high 71 snaps on Sunday against Arizona. He has a 39.5 Pro Football Focus run defense grade this season.
Sadly, that's one of the better marks on the unit. The guys on the interior have combined for just five run stops through three weeks. They've lacked both the lane-clogging efficiency and dynamic splash plays to truly slow down opponents' rushing attacks. The silver lining has been that Warner and Dre Greenlaw have done a good job cleaning things up before running backs can get into the secondary.
However, if the 49ers aren't playing with commanding leads, this is something that can unravel fast, especially against the better rushing teams in the league.
Slot coverage
The vast majority of slot coverage snaps have gone to Upton Stout, who was great in Week 1 and has been effective as a tackler and in the run game. However, since Week 1, his effectiveness in coverage has started to peter out.
Against the Miami Dolphins, he allowed four catches on six targets and an 84.7 passer rating. Against the Cardinals, Jacoby Brissett was five for five when targeting Stout's receiver with a 96.7 passer rating. Fortunately, most of these completions have been short, and Stout has rallied to make stops. However, as the season progresses, it could be a problem if teams know they can target him for easy completions and dink-and-dunk their way down the field.
The interior pass rush aside from Osa Odighizuwa
In general, the San Francisco pass rush has been a problem with or without Nick Bosa. Bosa is going to be out for a bit with a calf injury, and injuries to other guys on the outside have left an already lackluster group razor-thin.
The easiest way to jumpstart a flagging edge unit is to get pressure up the middle. That's what the 49ers brought Odighizuwa to do, and he's done just that with 10 pressures so far. However, the rest of the unit in total has generated just six. Raheem Morris doesn't blitz often, so if San Francisco is going to get consistent heat on the quarterback, the guys on the interior are going to have to do their part.
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