San Francisco 49ers' Anemic Offense Once Again Exposed in Loss to Packers
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The San Francisco 49ers have the worst offense in the NFL—that’s what we learned during Sunday’s 17-3 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
San Francisco has scored 48 points through four games, which is the fewest in the league and third-fewest in franchise history. The offense hasn’t been this bad since 1977, two years before Bill Walsh became the head coach.
At halftime, it seemed the Niners would come away from the game feeling proud of themselves—even if they lost. The defense held Green Bay’s offense—one of the best in the NFL—to seven first-half points. San Francisco was hanging with a team many expect to win the Super Bowl.
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If the Niners had scored 13 points—or even 10—they could have said they came close to beating an elite opponent and are a team on the rise.
Forget that. The Niners are free-falling into the abyss. They won’t win a game the rest of the season if their offense continues to play this poorly.
And they know it.
After the game, Anquan Boldin refused to answer questions. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I have nothing to say,” he said. Torrey Smith didn’t answer questions either. He never showed up in the locker room.
Carlos Hyde tried to avoid answering questions by walking away from a group of reporters crowded around his locker, but he changed his mind after a few steps, walked back and mumbled short answers for two minutes.
Right guard Alex Boone didn’t avoid the media after the game. He spoke for the entire offense and was brutally honest.
A reporter asked him what the identity of the 49ers offense is. “I think we’re still trying to find that right now,” Boone said. “That’s a (expletive) place to be, especially four games in. You take a long road trip to New York. Whatever it is, we better figure it out. We better figure it out by tomorrow. Four games in—this ain’t happening anymore. We’re going to fix it.”
Boone kept going. He needed to vent. “We’ve got to convert on third down—that’s the bottom line. We only had seven (actually eight) first downs today, and that’s just godawful. As an offense, we’ve got to pick it up, find our identity.”
Give Boone credit for speaking, but what he said is incorrect. The 49ers offense does have an identity, and its identity is the worst offense in the NFL.
Here are three main reasons why the Niners offense is so bad.
Reason No. 1: The Offensive Line
This might be the worst offensive line in the league. These guys can’t pass-block or run-block.
They gave up six sacks on Sunday and are on pace to give up 56 sacks this season. Joe Staley, the Pro Bowl left tackle, seems old and slow, but he is still the best player in this group. Everyone else has been awful.
Hyde is one of the most talented running backs in the NFC, but you can’t tell because he keeps getting hit in the backfield. He gained only 20 rushing yards against the Packers, whose defense was giving up a league-worst 5.0 yards per carry coming into the game.
The Niners have to rebuild their offensive line in the offseason.
Reason No. 2: The Offensive Coordinator
Geep Chryst coached well in Week 1 against the Vikings. It was his first game as an offensive coordinator since 2000, and Minnesota didn’t know what to expect. The Niners scored 20 points.
Since then, the Niners offense has gotten worse every week. It scored 18 points in Week 2, seven points in Week 3 and three points in Week 4. Once the league watched tape of Chryst’s offense, it figured it out and shut it down.
It’s easy to shut down Chryst’s offense because he shuts down part of it himself. The opposing team doesn’t have to worry about wide receiver Torrey Smith, whom the Niners signed to a five-year, $40 million contract this offseason, because Chryst rarely calls a play for him.
Late in the fourth quarter when the game was essentially over, Smith had just one catch for seven yards. Through the first four games this season, Smith has nine catches total. He’s having the worst season of his career.
The Niners must fire Chryst.
Reason No. 3: The Quarterback.
It’s hard to knock a quarterback when his offensive line and offensive coordinator stink.
But Colin Kaepernick stinks, too—that’s becoming clearer every game. Against the Packers, he threw at least two passes that were one-hoppers, at least two that were behind receivers and at least four that landed out of bounds.
Kaepernick is so inaccurate that, a lot of the time, he doesn’t give his receivers a chance to even catch the ball.
The 49ers need a new quarterback. The 49ers need a new offense.
All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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