Week 8 Post Match Review: 49ers at Bears

By Scooter_McG 

This was a must win game for the 49ers. While a loss wouldn't have put them out of mathematical contention, it certainly felt like a loss would crush any remaining spirit left in an increasingly dis-spirited looking team. 

It was also a critical game for Jimmy Garoppolo. While Kyle Shanahan maintained there is no QB competition "right now" during the week, and that Jimmy G remains the starter when healthy, it also felt like another performance similar to the one against the Colts would expedite the timetable for a QB competition. 

Not only did the 49ers get that all important win for team morale, Jimmy G was instrumental in it. 

To start the game the 49ers defense came out looking soft while Jimmy's offensive teammates continued to make mistakes that killed drives. But through it all Jimmy was playing some great football, standing tall in the pocket when he needed to, evading pressure when it came, and pushing the ball downfield with confidence. 

There wasn't a lot to show for it through the first half, with three FGs and one missed FG. But blame drops by Deebo and Sanu for two of the first three drives stalling, while the fourth and last drive before the half was one of JG's best all year as he hit Aiyuk on a quick slant with a defender right in his face then hit Deebo for 50 yards in stride deep down field. 

In the second half it was more of the same from JG, but this time it was matched by the rest of his offensive teammates. The first offensive drive of the second half looked like it was going nowhere but on 3rd and 20 Deebo ripped off an 83 yard catch and run on a WR screen down to the Bears 1-yard line. JG would then take it in on a short scamper on a heads up play by him, after Deebo came across too early. The next drive JG reeled off three straight first down passes, slinging a beauty to Deebo on the come back, then hitting Woerner and Juice for 10 yard pickups. Elijah Mitchell would then have two strong runs to score the TD, with nearly all of the 49ers players involved in pushing Mitchell forward on the TD run.

Up by just 1 point to start the next drive, JG hit Sanu over the middle for a nice gain, followed by a long run by Mitchell to the left (more on this later), then Jimmy threw another nice dart over the middle to Hasty to make it first and goal. Emphasising his rediscovered confidence, JG would then keep the ball on a zone read for the score that put the 49ers in a commanding lead late in the game.  

I've seen people compare this performance by Jimmy to some of his work in 2017, and from a confidence perspective I don't disagree. But unlike in 2017 this performance came with an understanding how to work within the system. And as Jimmy continued to play with confidence you could see the team around him gain in confidence. This was easily the best game Jimmy has played for the 49ers this season, and maybe for the past few seasons.

Here is what else stood out to me. 

The left side of the offense dominated. They put on an absolute clinic in run blocking down the left side in this one. The combination of Tomlinson, Williams, Woerner and Juice spring Mitchell for three 20+ yard runs with some exceptional blocking. And I shouldn't exclude Deebo and Aiyuk who also made some nice blocks downfield to allow extra yardage on those runs. Mitchel would finish with 137 yards on 18 carries (a career high in yards for Mitchell), and 92 of those yards would come on three perfectly executed runs to the left. 

The left side also kept Jimmy untroubled by the Bears pass rush all afternoon. 

Deebo is a monster... but also drops too many passes. I don't believe there is a better receiver in the NFL after the catch than Deebo. He is just as likely to make you miss as he is to run over you, and his instincts with ball in hand are as good as any running back. His 83 yard catch and run ignited the team to storm home in the second half. 

However, he was also partly to blame for the team going into the half down. He had two drops on the opening drive which undid some good work by JG and Sanu. He leads the NFL in drops. And a lot of them have been easy ones. 

He isn't the first premier WR the 49ers have had with issues consistently catching the ball - Terrell Owens used to have his issues with drops during his career. And like Owens you can forgive the drops to a degree due to how good he is otherwise, and how often he comes up big when it counts. But if he can cut back on the number of drops he will take his game to an even greater level.

Run defense is still a problem... but is personnel related. The 49ers had some issues stopping the run again this week. Admittedly a lot of that was trouble with Fields, and I will get to that in a bit, but they also had some issues up the middle with Herbert. 

Something I have been keeping track of with the 49ers defense after a slow start to the year stopping the run is who has been on the field at DT when these issues are present. And it is becoming clear in my eyes that the biggest culprits are Givens, Street and Kerr. Kerr struggled considerably weeks 1 and 2, and this week the biggest runs came when the 49ers had Givens and Street on the field. The biggest issues often came when Givens would get some penetration but Street was being blown off the ball (and into the LBs), leaving a huge hole to run into. Givens was also guilty of too often being shoved past the RB as his aggressiveness was too easily used against him. 

With Kinlaw out for the year the 49ers are going to be very reliant on DJ Jones and Armstead at DT. In fact Armstead was used almost exclusively at DT in this one, while DJ Jones was an absolute beast throughout, clogging the middle and making a number of stops for minimal gain. 

Can't contain Fields. Exacerbating the issues against the run, the 49ers reverted to allowing an athletic QB to consistently get around the edge defenders while also failing to prevent big gains through the middle on scrambles after the pass rush allowed big holes to escape. Fields ran for over 100 yards and a number of his runs were on key downs for big gains to extend drives. His TD run was particularly embarrassing for the 49ers defense as they had a number of opportunities to bring him down but whiffed. 

The 49ers should consider themselves very lucky that it looks like Kyler Murray may miss next weeks game. 

Can't give DPI penalties if you practice social distancing. This one seemed like a case of severe over correction by the 49ers secondary. Kudos for not allowing penalties to keep drives alive and give up big plays, but when it is at the cost of giving huge cushions to keep the ball in front of you that is not an ideal solution. You can't play scared like that and expect to beat good teams. If that is Undlin's answer to dealing with penalties he needs to be sacked. 

There is still plenty of work to do for the 49ers secondary. 

Final Thoughts

Winning can cure a lot of ills in football, and this was a 49ers team in desparate need of a cure. For one week at least the 49ers can enjoy a little bit of a pressure release. But it will all be undone if they lose again next week to the Cardinals. 

It was great to see Jimmy G and the offense play with a lot more freedom this week. They need to keep that up and build some momentum, because when the offense is operating freely and executing it can be very hard to stop. 

Despite being a 3W-4L team, pervesely the 49ers find themselves only a half game back from a playoff spot, currently held by a Carolina Panthers team that looks on tilt. And next week it looks like they will be facing a Cardinals team without Kyler Murray and JJ Watt. 

Despite the recent gloom surrounding the team they are by no means out of 2021 if they can hit their stride and play some consistently good football.