Special teams continues to betray 49ers with even more brutal failures

Head coach Kyle Shanahan absolutely needed to overhaul his special teams unit during the offseason, which is precisely what new coordinator Brant Boyer was tasked with doing.

Even if it took him and Shanahan one game into the regular season to finally change out embattled kicker Jake Moody.

Despite the wholesale changes, the Niners' special teams unit entered Week 4 with plenty of special teams worries, particularly in punt and kickoff coverage, which haven't improved at all since the woeful efforts a year ago under then-coordinator Brian Schneider.

In fact, Week 4's showdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars might have been a new low.

49ers special teams hits new low in Week 4 bout vs. Jaguars

There were plenty of issues San Francisco dealt with in the 26-21 loss to the Jags at Levi's Stadium. Whether it was losing the turnover battle, dropped passes or even more injuries, the 49ers' disjointed effort was pretty ugly.

But, wow. Special teams miscues.

On one kick return, running back Bhayshul Tuten managed a 54-yard return that set Jacksonville up nicely and won't look great in the league-wide analytics for Boyer and Co. Yet that even wasn't the worst gaffe for the Niners.

Late in the third quarter, wide receiver Parker Washington returned a punt 87 yards for a touchdown that essentially put the game away for the Jaguars:

In case you were wondering, the last time San Francisco scored a touchdown off a punt return was way back in 2011 when wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. did it against the Seattle Seahawks.

For fans hoping the 49ers solved their special teams woes by getting a new coordinator and changing out the battery of specialists, think again. Week 4 simply revealed the same problems are continuing in the worst possible of ways.

And it's hard to think just how much worse it could be for a team that's struggled on the third phase of the game for what seems like forever.