SANTA CLARA — Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo have a treasure trove of offensive weapons at their disposal. Now what?
Virtually everywhere Jimmy G looks, he’s got a playmaker. The Niners added dual-threat running back Christian McCaffrey via trade this week. On the outside, he’s got Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk. At tight end he’s got George Kittle. At the end of the line he’s got Trent Williams. At his hip he’s got Kyle Juszczyk.
At the end of Sunday’s game against the Chiefs, though, their unit was overshadowed by Patrick Mahomes and Co. to the tune of a 44-23 Kansas City victory.
The 49ers have a touchdown problem and Aiyuk knows it. They were outscored 30-10 in the second half, as the Chiefs scored the final 16 points of the game.
“We have to get it going,” Aiyuk said. “We gotta score 45 points, obviously, woulda been the goal today. We gotta do what we gotta do to try and put points on the board. I just feel like we got too many people – too many, too many – that can change the game to score 23 points. People can ask about the defense, but at the end of the day we gotta score more points than the other team.”
Considering McCaffrey was on something of a pitch count Sunday, as he appeared in 22 plays, the Niners offense should continue to evolve as he gets more familiar with the play-calls. McCaffrey’s trade was consummated Thursday and he arrived about an hour before Friday’s practice, so he had a crash course in Shanahan’s complex system before Sunday’s debut.
McCaffrey (eight rushes, 38 yards) split carries with Jeff Wilson Jr. (seven carries, 54) yards and also hauled in two receptions for 24 yards. While he wasn’t able to completely break one off, McCaffrey jolted the crowd when he touched the ball with his shifty footwork.
McCaffrey lined up in the backfield for the majority of his snaps but also motioned to the slot and even lined up out wide and blocked for Aiyuk on a screen. His role only figures to grow next week.
“This was a weird week for me and for them,” McCaffrey said. “I didn’t know what to expect. I had a certain list of plays that were up. For me, mentally, this just focus on everything I can, control what I can control and get rolling.”
Despite the short turnaround time, Shanahan was impressed by McCaffrey’s afternoon.
“I was impressed that he understood everything we were asking him to do,” Shanahan said. “I don’t think he made any mistakes in the game and was able to make some pretty good plays, too.”
McCaffrey said he was leaning on Garoppolo while learning the playbook this week, but he still entered the game with a raw grasp of the system. In fact, Garoppolo said that McCaffrey heard some play calls for the first time when he was in the huddle on the field.
“He’s a smart guy, he’s picking it up pretty quickly,” Garoppolo said. “A couple little things here and there, but he did a good job today. There’s some bright spots.”
Can CMC help the Niners get in the end zone eventually?
Just look at Sunday’s game for an example of a humming offense. Mahomes went 25-of-34 for 423 yards, three touchdowns and a pick. Kansas City racked up six touchdowns on San Francisco’s vaunted defense.
The 49ers offense scored a season high four touchdowns in the 37-15 Week 5 win over the Carolina Panthers. Otherwise, the offense has only scored as many as three touchdowns on one occasion, coming in a 27-7 Week 2 victory against the Seattle Seahawks.
The Niners left points on the board in the first half, starting with the opening drive, when they had to settle for a 30-yard field goal despite a great start. Garoppolo couldn’t take advantage of a short field after Samuel Womack recovered a muffed punt at the 12-yard line shortly before halftime. Ultimately, Jimmy G got happy feet under pressure and threw a pick trying to get one to George Kittle, though Ray-Ray McCloud was also in the area.
The Chiefs put a nail in the coffin early in the fourth quarter, when Garoppolo was sacked in the end zone for a safety to go up 14, extinguishing any thoughts of a 49ers comeback. Garoppolo finished with a season-high 303 passing yards on 25-of-37 attempts with two touchdowns and a pick, but the missed opportunities loomed large. He also fumbled the ball on a strip-sack in the fourth quarter.
“I thought he came out pretty good,” Shanahan said of Garoppolo. “I thought he struggled at times, a few plays that he’d love to take back – especially that interception there at the end of the second quarter, the safety there at the end. But it wasn’t on him more than anyone else. We all had our moments.”
It seems like the 49ers can get one or two guys going on offense each week, but that’s about it. On Sunday, Kittle (six catches, 98 yards, touchdown) and Aiyuk (seven catches, 82 yards) had solid games, but the team only rushed the ball 21 times for 101 yards. It's rare to see the pass and run game co-exist and thrive.
Deebo Samuel had five catches for 42 yards. McCloud caught four passes for 65 yards and a touchdown in a breakout game for him, but is this the ceiling for the offense?
We’ve still yet to see a game where Jimmy G and the group can put it all together. Certainly not Sunday. The 10 penalties for 80 yards didn’t help either.
“We have plenty of guys to make plays,” Kittle said. “Unfortunately, today, I think it really showed we couldn’t get the ball into those guys’ hands at the right time. And penalties, like I said, we kinda sabotaged ourselves.”
Shanahan is often regarded as an offensive guru, but the 49ers (3-4) currently rank 20th in the league with 20.7 points per game. The Chiefs (5-2) and Andy Reid now lead the league with 31.9 points per game.
49ers fans can only wonder ‘What if?’ Trey Lance was still healthy. But for the rest of the season, we’re in Jimmy G country. Let’s ride.
"We don't want to hit the panic button or anything right now," Garoppolo said. "We wanna just keep plugging away."
