When 49ers linebacker Fred Warner took the podium following Sunday’s 44-23 drubbing from the Kansas City Chiefs, he let out a long sigh. It was a long day for the hyped 49ers defense.
The group was served up some humble pie by Patrick Mahomes, who shredded San Francisco for 529 yards – the most given up in the Kyle Shanahan era – as the Chiefs matched their season high in points scored.
Not like Mahomes needs any help, but the Niners certainly gave it to him on Sunday. In short, the d-line was too aggressive, the linebackers were too slow and the secondary got lost. The 49ers were looking the wrong way on touchdown runs and gave up more than 100 passing yards on three passes to wide-open receivers.
The drop-off in production has been steep the past two weeks against the Chiefs and Falcons.
“That obviously sucks,” Warner said. “ We have to find ways to get back to playing our style.”
Considering the rash of injuries the 49ers have suffered on defense this season, they had a relatively clean bill of health against the Chiefs. Defensive tackle Arik Armstead (foot/ankle) missed his third straight game, while cornerback Emmanuel Moseley (ACL) is out for the season and linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair (MCL) and defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw (knee) are on injured reserve.
Defensive end Nick Bosa returned and notched his seventh sack of the season to tie Micah Parsons for the league lead. Defensive back Jimmie Ward returned with a cast on his broken left hand and lined up at nickelback all afternoon.
There were a few dings throughout the game, as Talanoa Hufanga (shoulder), Deommodore Lenoir (stinger) and Mooney Ward (groin) all missed a few plays. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw (calf) also clearly isn’t 100 percent and doesn’t have the same lateral movement that made him a tackling machine to start the year. But this was the healthiest the Niners defense looked in weeks.
“It's disappointing,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “I think we're better than that. They had some pretty big plays where it seemed like there was a lot of space. I have to look at the film to see what happened, but yeah that was disappointing. I believe we're better than that.”
Which begs the question: Was the start of the season a mirage? Was the 49ers defense overrated?
They entered the contest allowing the second-fewest points (14.8 per game) and fewest yards (255.8) in the league. The Niners were also the NFL’s best team at limiting big plays (22) and opponents yards per play (4.2) before the shellacking from Mahomes, as the Chiefs blew up those numbers.
Josh Dubow of the Associated Press provided context about Mahomes’ dominance on Sunday.
There was a common theme among the Chiefs’ four rushing touchdowns of the game, as the defensive line got sucked in by lightning-quick handoffs from Mahomes and misdirection, and the linebackers got crushed by linemen releasing to the second level.
The secondary had three blown coverages that led to a 27-yard gain by tight end Travis Kelce in the first quarter, a 57-yard catch by Marquez Valdez-Scantling and a 45-yard touchdown by Juju Smith-Schuster. That’s 129 free yards for Mahomes. Making things worse? All three of those plays occurred on third down.
“I just feel like we came out with some good juice,” Mooney Ward said. “We just didn't keep it up, we just didn't maintain it. They started to make some plays and we stopped making plays. That's what it was. They were making plays and we weren't making plays. Got to have better energy, better eyes, better techniques. We just played a sloppy game on defense. We can't do that.”
It’s also taking a look at the scoring average for each of the 49ers opponents this season: Bears (30th), Seahawks (fifth), Broncos (32nd), Rams (28th), Panthers (26th), Falcons (13th) and Chiefs (first, 31.9 points per game). Perhaps the Niners defense has been buoyed by favorable matchups this season.
Following Sunday’s contest against the Rams at SoFi Stadium, the Niners will get a much-needed bye week to heal up. We’ll have to see if their hot start on defense was just a flash or the real deal.
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