By Scooter_McG
The 49ers rollercoaster of a season continued against the Tennessee Titans on Thursday Night Football. As has been the case a number of times this year, this game was very much a tale of two halves. The 49ers dominated the game in the first half, racking up 191 yards to the Titans 55. But things turned around in the second half as the Titans wrested away momentum to take the lead and ultimately the win.
Here's what stood out to me.
Slip, slip, slipping away. For the 49ers, this was yet another game they let slip away. In addition to significantly outgaining the Titans in the first half, they also had multiple scoring opportunities and should have led by at least 17 at the break, if not by 21. However, they would only end up scoring 10 points in the first half after an intercept in the end zone stopped one drive while an overthrow of a wide open Kyle Juszczyk, which would have been an easy TD, led to a FG.
Those missed opportunities would come back to bit them quickly in the second half, as they failed to stop multiple third and longs on the Titans opening possession to allow a FG, then Jimmy G threw his second intercept of the day deep in 49ers territory which led to a TD and a tied game. From there the Titans controlled the game until late in the 4th quarter when Deebo took a slant for a long gain to near the Titans goal line, leading to a TD to level the scores at 17, but ultimately left enough time for the Titans to drive into FG range and finish the game.
Bad Jimmy. Before the game I wrote that I saw this coming down to three things: the 49ers being able to run the ball against the Titans strong run defense, Jimmy G staying efficient and avoiding turnovers, and the 49ers winning the turnover battle.
It all started out very well, with the 49ers mixing up the run and pass very effectively, while also making use of play action boot and misdirection to get the passing game going. The first drive was a masterclass in play scripting that was executed perfectly to open the scoring. The second drive looked to be going the same way until Jimmy G forced a ball to Kittle in the end zone when he was well covered, resulting in an INT.
In fact, Jimmy G didn't miss a pass until that INT. Up to that point he looked confident and poised in the pocket and on the move, hitting his receivers in stride.
After the INT it looked like Jimmy had shrugged it off, as he often does. The next drive was again very efficient as they drove down into Titans territory. But then on a beautifully schemed up play that saw Juice break free down the right sideline, Jimmy G inexplicably overthrew him on what would and should have been a wide open TD. In the end the 49ers would have to settle for a FG, for what would be their last points until late in the 4th quarter.
After that glaring miss of Juice everything changed. Jimmy became far less decisive and started misreading plays far too often. He should have been picked by a LB dropping back into a middle of the field zone on the next drive, on what was the 49ers worst sequence of plays of the game (it was followed by a run to nowhere, a sack and almost fumble, then a shanked punt). After letting time expire at the end of the first half, Jimmy's next series resulted in another INT in the middle of the field throwing to a well covered Deebo Samuel. On the next drive, the offense was moving the ball effectively but then on 4th and 6 Jimmy G and Aiyuk were not on the same page, and on replay it looked like Jimmy was in the wrong as he led Aiyuk after Aiyuk and slowed to sit in gap in the zone coverage.
While he was able to lead a TD drive late in the 4th quarter, at the end of the day this was a game that Jimmy G was largely responsible for the 49ers loss.
Throw it up to AJ. The 49ers defense completely shut the Titans down in the first half. The Titans finished the half with 32 net passing yards and 23 rushing yards. They were unable to get anything going on first down which consistently had them in 3rd and long situations.
At the start of the second half the Titans continued to struggle to get anything going on first down, but they started to have success on 3rd down largely due to getting the ball to AJ Brown. The 49ers would eventually get a stop for a FG, but it was a sign of things to come in terms of the Titans shift in game plan. They continued going to Brown for the rest of the game, whether it be against zone or man coverage, and he would repeatedly make big plays for the Titans. He would finish the day with 145 of the Titans 209 total receiving yards. And when the 49ers finally started giving him extra attention the Titans did a nice job of getting it to wide open check down options.
The inability to shut down one WR without devoting significant help from the safeties and LBs is a cause for concern moving forward. Assuming the 49ers make the playoffs they will be facing teams with some very good WRs.
Big picture. The 49ers still remain in a pretty good position to make the playoffs, however, this loss all but rules out any chance of doing better than the 6th seed and, depending on results, may mean the 49ers need to run the table from here. The margin for error has certainly gotten smaller.
More concerning is that this game once again showed how fragile the 49ers route to success is with the current roster. If they can't run the ball, it is very hard to have confidence in the team's ability to win consistently. And if they lose the turnover battle, forget about it.
The way the season has played out, they are the sort of team that nobody would want to face in the playoffs, but equally it is hard to imagine they could find that successful formula enough times in the playoffs to go all the way.
