Why the Secondary Is Key to the 49ers Week 3 Matchup with the Cardinals

The San Francisco 49ers have endured a mixed start to the 2014 NFL season, with their dominant 28-17 win over the Dallas Cowboys followed up by a hugely disappointing 28-20 loss to the Chicago Bears in the first regular-season game at Levi's Stadium on Sunday.

Jim Harbaugh's team will now look to bounce back from that setback with victory against the division rival Arizona Cardinals, who head the NFC West after winning their first two games.

San Francisco has won the last four meetings with the Cardinals, but will certainly need to improve if it is to stretch that streak to five games following a below-par performance against the Bears.

There were a number of areas in which the 49ers struggled versus Chicago, but it is the secondary that heads into the game with the most pressure on its shoulders as San Francisco aims to leave Arizona with a winning record.

Here I examine why the secondary is pivotal to the Niners' hopes of continuing their recent dominance of the Cardinals.

Performances so far

The 49ers secondary has had a decisive impact on each of their two regular-season games.

Against Dallas the back end of San Francisco's defense enjoyed a superb outing, recording three interceptions to help the Niners coast to a straightforward success.

However, in truth the Niners secondary was rarely tested by Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who struggled throughout that season-opening encounter.

And when Cutler and the Bears did challenge the San Francisco defensive backs, they enjoyed spectacular results, with three fourth-quarter passing touchdowns turning a game that the Niners had led 17-0 in Chicago's favor as the preseason concerns regarding their secondary were brutally exposed in a stunning meltdown on both sides of the ball.

Struggles against the Bears

So why did the Niners secondary struggle so markedly against the Bears?

For much of the game it looked as if the unit would enjoy a comfortable day's work, with Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery both unable to test San Francisco downfield due to injuries.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

Yet problems occurred when Chicago was finally able to get into the red zone, something the Bears achieved predominantly because of the amount of penalties committed by the Niners, as Marshall ran riot to make a game-changing difference with three grabs in the end zone.

Marshall's showing highlighted an issue that the Niners attempted to fix in the offseason, a lack of big, physical defensive backs.

In the lead up to the 2014 campaign San Francisco added two players that fit that mould as Chris Cook came over from the Minnesota Vikings in free agency and Dontae Johnson was selected in the fourth round of the draft.

Both of those players fit the build of the corner that is becoming more sought after in the modern NFL, however, neither was covering Marshall on any of the touchdown plays.

Instead Marshall was matched up with slot corner Jimmie Ward, who despite being a highly-rated first-round pick, was made to look like a rookie by former Denver Bronco and Miami Dolphin.

Ward, who stands at 5'11" compared to Marshall's 6'4", insisted that he will treat the dreadful outing as a learning experience, per Cam Inman of The Bay Area News Group.

"

It's only going to get me better. 

...I feel like Marshall played like an All-Pro. I was challenging him. I was trying to press him and get in his face, but he made great catches. He's good with his body and his height.

"

Yet his failure to effectively press one of the league's bigger wideouts could well be something other teams, including the Cardinals, will look to take advantage of.

Therefore adjustments to substitute Cook, brought in to be a press guy, or Johnson into the lineup on a more regular basis must now surely be under consideration by 49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.

Analyzing the Cardinals wideouts

After failing to deal with Marshall and Jeffery, the 49ers will now face a similar challenge in Week 3 from a Cardinals offense that features two similarly imposing targets in Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd.

Fitzgerald and Floyd both stand at 6'3" and have each made strong starts to the new season.

Through the first two weeks of the campaign Floyd is rated as the ninth-best receiver (subscription required) in the league by Pro Football Focus, while Fitzgerald is ranked at No. 16 (subscription required) among all wideouts.

Ward serves as the 49ers slot corner, but he could still see plenty of Fitzgerald and Floyd.

Per PFF's Jeff Deeney (h/t David Fucillo of SB Nation), Fitzgerald has lined up in the slot on 36.7 percent of his snaps, with Floyd featuring as a slot receiver 29.2 percent of the time.

Should that trend continue, Ward will once again be posed with a significant test of his physical attributes, which could be considered to be limited when compared to those of Fitzgerald and Floyd.

Fangio may therefore have a decision to make over whether to keep Ward in the lineup in red-zone situations, yet with Tramaine Brock's participation again in question because of a toe injury, the 49ers' top draft pick will not be the only member of the secondary to be challenged by the Cardinals' leading pair of receivers.

The expected absence of Brock, who was ranked as PFF's No. 9 cover corner (subscription required) in the NFL last season, will place more pressure on Chris Culliver and Perrish Cox to deliver.

And, with the latter having made a pleasingly strong start to the campaign, 49ers fans should be hopeful of that starting duo shutting down a receiving cops that has little in terms of depth beyond the talents of Fitzgerald and Floyd.

Still, Fitzgerald has regularly enjoyed success in clashes with the 49ers, scoring 12 touchdowns in 20 games versus San Francisco, according to Pro Football Reference.

Regardless of any adjustments the Niners may make, it will be difficult to contain Fitzgerald, especially if they continue to be hampered by penalties.

Penalties

After two weeks, the 49ers stand as the most penalized team in the NFL.

San Francisco has given away 27 penalties for 196 yards in the first two games, with their ill-discipline a key contributor in the Week 2 collapse.

Of the 16 penalties the 49ers gave up last Sunday, six resulted in first downs for the Bears, helping a team that had no viable deep threat to drive down the field and get into a position to reduce the lead San Francisco had built up in the first half.

According to B/R's Joseph Akeley, four of the Niners' 10 first-down yielding penalties they have conceded this term have been as a result of illegal hands to the face—a point of emphasis among NFL officials this season—while another four have come when contacting receivers downfield.

The 49ers secondary has been a clear culprit in San Francisco's early struggles with its discipline. Versus a division rival with two tall and talented starting wideouts, this cannot afford to continue.

Final Thoughts

Most observers will expect the Niners to get back on track versus the Cardinals considering that they have gone 9-2 under Harbaugh in the game after a loss.

However, rarely during his tenure has a positional unit had so many questions hanging over it so early in the season.

Even with quarterback Carson Palmer on the sidelines the Cardinals' main weapon figures to be their passing attack, meaning that the 49ers defensive backs must resolve their issues quickly in order to avoid another disappointing performance.

San Francisco's defense has been the backbone of its success in recent years.

And if the 49ers are to emerge from Arizona with the victory, then this young secondary will need to learn quickly from its troubles and improve to ensure the defense does not quickly turn into a liability.

All statistics courtesy of NFL.com unless otherwise stated.

Nicholas McGee is a San Francisco 49ers Featured Columnist based in Leeds, England. Follow him on Twitter @nicholasmcgee24.