49ers 1st-quarter report card: Offense and defense improving, special teams flop

With four games in the books, Niner Noise looks at the 49ers' efforts over the first quarter of the season and hands out progress-report grades.

The San Francisco 49ers should have easily found themselves 3-1 at the first-quarter mark of the season, and a better overall effort in Week 2 on the road against the Minnesota Vikings could have resulted in a win instead of a loss.

Although the Vikings are undefeated after four weeks and are actually, well... good this year.

Still, the Niners' Week 3 road loss against a banged-up Los Angeles Rams team stings, and it's safe to say San Francisco is still trying to figure out what happened in that fourth-quarter collapse despite pulling off wins in Weeks 1 and 2.

A quarter of the way through 2024, the 49ers have had some areas of excellence. A Week 4 get-right game against the lowly New England Patriots helped buck the trends associated with a two-game losing streak.

But the Niners have also shown some serious weaknesses, too.

There are still plenty of games left, and there is plenty of room to get better. However, as we all did in grade school, let's hand out first-quarter progress-report grades for all three phases: offense, defense and (gulp) special teams.

49ers 1st-quarter grades: Offense

Points scored: 103 (8th)

The Niners have largely navigated through some difficult injuries over the first four weeks, including being without the reigning Offensive Player of the Year, running back Christian McCaffrey, who has yet to make his 2024 debut because of an Achilles issue.

Tack on wide receiver Deebo Samuel and tight end George Kittle missing time with their own injuries, paired with an inconsistent offensive line, and it's something of note how quarterback Brock Purdy has nevertheless shown improvement over his 2023 campaign in which he was in the running for league MVP.

Purdy boosts San Francisco's offense, but other less-known contributors have helped keep this side of the ball in the top 10 of NFL scoring, namely wide receiver Jauan Jennings and running back Jordan Mason.

Jennings, the seldom-discussed tertiary wideout, boasted the fourth-most receiving yards (364) after four weeks, which no one would have predicted. Mason, meanwhile, is second in total rush yards with 447.

Outside of Purdy, few would have guessed Mason and Jennings serving as the 49ers' biggest offensive threats.

There's still room for improvements, and the Niners could stand to get more than a 50-percent red-zone touchdown rate.

But, not bad overall here, given the circumstances.