49ers fall short: position-by-position grades from 28-18 loss to chiefs
The San Francisco 49ers just lost yet again to the Kansas City Chiefs, this time by a score of 28-18. Here are the 49ers’ grades for this embarrassing performance.
QUARTERBACK: F
This was the worst performance of Brock Purdy’s career. He was 17 of 31 passing for 212 yards, 1 touchdown run, 3 interceptions and a grotesque quarterback rating of 36.7. To be fair, Deebo Samuel missed most of the game with an illness and Brandon Aiyuk left the game with what the 49ers fear is a torn ACL, so Purdy didn’t have many open receivers. Still, at least two of the interceptions were his fault. One was an errant throw and one was forced into double coverage in the end zone. Once again, Purdy tried to be Superman when’s he just Clark Kent. After the game, Shanahan lectured Purdy at his locker in front of the media for five minutes. Purdy stared at Shanahan and silence and nodded, then they embraced and Shanahan walked away. I asked Purdy about the nature of the conversation. “We were talking about some stuff throughout the game, just some moments and how we can get better going forward.” Sounds like Shanahan was ripping him a new one for his mistakes. Purdy has looked anything but a franchise quarterback this season. He’s a big reason the 49ers have lost four games.
RUNNING BACKS: C
Jordan Mason gained just 58 yards on 14 carries against a great run defense. He’s an incredibly hard runner, but he doesn’t have much finesse to his game — he just slams into the line of scrimmage as hard as he can. As opposed to Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt who has a nice skip step and a beautiful jump cut. Isaac Guerendo carried the ball once, gained two yards and fumbled the ball out of bounds.
FULLBACK: D
39 motions, 14 rushing yards and zero catches on 3 targets.
WIDE RECEIVERS: D-PLUS
Brandon Aiyuk dropped a potential long pass before leaving the game with a torn ACL. He most likely will miss the rest of the season. If he’s done, he’ll finish with 25 catches and no touchdowns this year. Brutal. Deebo Samuel also missed most of the game with an illness. Plus Jauan Jennings was out with a hip injury. Ricky Pearsall stepped up in his first career game by making 3 catches for 21 yards. But Jacob Cowing was the 49ers’ best wide receiver on the field. He had a beautiful 41-yard catch after running a stutter-go. He’s the most explosive player on the offense. He should have been playing all season.
TIGHT ENDS: B-PLUS
George Kittle had 6 catches for 92 yards but couldn’t make an impact in the red zone where head coach Kyle Shanahan has absolutely zero creativity. More on him in a minute.
OFFENSIVE LINE: B
They gave up just one sack and held their own against a phenomenal run defense. Jake Brendel continues to commit penalties and get tossed around. He’s not a good center.
DEFENSIVE LINE: D
They sacked Patrick Mahomes twice, but they repeatedly rushed past him which allowed him to scramble for first downs and huge gains, plus they absolutely stunk against the run considering the Chiefs gained 184 yards on the ground. The 49ers defensive line is soft and overpaid. After the game, Nick Bosa seemed completely checked out at his post game press conference. He was sitting next to the media as Ricky Pearsall spoke at the podium. Pearsall got shot less than two months ago. When Pearsall left, Bosa went to the podium and a reporter asked him what he thinks of Pearsall after listening to him talk. Bosa said he wasn’t paying attention. Nice, Nick.
LINEBACKERS: D
They also couldn’t stop the run or cover backup tight end Noah Gray who had 66 receiving yards. Plus Fred Warner couldn’t run down Patrick Mahomes who looked like he was running in slow motion when he made Warner miss. Bad look.
DEFENSIVE BACKS: A
They held Patrick Mahomes to the worst passer rating of his career. Deommodore Lenoir picked him off — he’s having an All Pro season. Charvarius Ward and Renardo Green were good as well. And rookie safety Malik Mustapha was the best defensive back on the team — he’s extremely explosive and violent. The other safety, Ji’Ayir Brown, isn’t nearly as good.
SPECIAL TEAMS: D
They stopped a fake punt, but they gave up a 55-yard punt return and missed an extra point. The 49ers should fire special teams coordinator Brian Schneider tonight.
COACHES: F
Nick Sorensen is the 49ers’ defensive coordinator simply because they scapegoated Steve Wilks for the Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs. In that game, Wilks’ defense gave up 19 points in regulation and 25 points total including overtime. Today, Sorensen’s defense gave up 28 points in regulation to a Chiefs offense that was missing Rashee Rice, Isiah Pacheco and Juju Smith-Schuster. Which means the 49ers fired the wrong man. Wilks should still be the defensive coordinator. But Sorensen isn’t the main reason the 49ers lost this game — Kyle Shanahan is the main reason. He’s doing a terrible job this season and he was awful today. The difference between him and Andy Reid was the biggest mismatch in the game. Shanahan has a system while Reid has creativity — big difference. So Reid was able to scheme open his players against man-to-man coverage while Shanahan was not able to do the same thing. Shanahan’s passing game is schemed for run downs when teams are playing zone coverage and primarily focused on stopping the run. When a team like the Chiefs can shut down the 49ers run game with their front seven, they can play man coverage and the 49ers can’t beat it because Shanahan doesn’t have enough man-coverage-beater routes in his play designs. As opposed to Reid, who has a million different screens, pick plays and rub routes he can call to free up players who can’t get open on their own. Shanahan is a zone-coverage merchant. The NFL has figured him out. The 49ers need to fire him. He’s doing an awful job this season and his team isn’t good. It’s one of the most dysfunctional teams in the NFL, and that’s his fault. The 49ers should hire Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as their head coach at the end of the season. He’s much more creative than Shanahan.
