5 Keys for a Successful Playoff Chase for the San Francisco 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers come off the bye in the thick of the NFC playoff race but will need to make some improvements in order to ensure they seal a fourth straight postseason berth. 

At 4-3 the Niners have performed well for most of the campaign. However, a number of failings in key areas have kept Jim Harbaugh's club two games behind the division rival Arizona Cardinals, who at 6-1 sit as the class of the conference.

Yet with its roster now getting healthy and the returns of star linebackers Aldon Smith and NaVorro Bowman on the horizon, San Francisco has plenty of reason for optimism heading into the final nine regular-season games, the first of which comes against the St. Louis Rams on Sunday.

The second half of the schedule still presents many significant tests, though, with two games versus the defending Super Bowl champions, Seattle Seahawks, a road game against the New Orleans Saints and home meetings with the Cardinals and San Diego Chargers.

San Francisco is a team that has regularly excelled in big games, though, and Harbaugh will hope that his squad can show a similar quality down the stretch and keep hopes of a sixth franchise Super Bowl crown intact.

Even with Smith and Bowman's prospective returns, making the playoffs promises to be no easy task despite the huge talent possessed by the Niners.

Here I look at five things that have to happen for San Francisco to achieve that feat.

Improve the Return Game

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The 49ers are one of the best overall teams in the NFL, however, one area where they have failed to excel is in the return game.

According to Football Outsiders, San Francisco ranks at No. 28 in the NFL in special teams and displayed fallibility in that facet of the game in the Week 4 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, who blocked an Andy Lee punt for a touchdown and also added another score as Darren Sproles found the end zone on a punt return.

Those miscues did not cost the 49ers, as they edged the Eagles, 26-21, and they have not been committed since. But what has been most disappointing about their special teams play is that the Niners do not appear capable of pulling off a big return for a score.

Not since Ted Ginn Jr. took a kickoff and a punt back for a pair of six-pointers in the opening game of the 2011 campaign have the Niners scored a touchdown on a return, and that drought has shown no signs of coming to an end.

Rookie Bruce Ellington took over the return duties from LaMichael James at the start of the season but, despite the receiver clearly boasting exciting speed, the former South Carolina Gamecock has been unable to make a substantial impact.

The numbers actually make good reading for the fourth-round pick, with his 25.8 yards per kickoff return standing as the No. 8 average in the NFL, according to ESPN, although his mark of 7.6 yards per punt return is less impressive.

With Ellington posting decent statistics and the Niners boasting a potentially explosive offense with a host of weapons, few would see the return game as a pressing issue.

But for a team that has had consistently ended drives with field goals, a kick returner with the ability to take it to the house and put points on the board would be a much-valued commodity.

Ellington is enjoying a respectable maiden season, now his challenge will be to build on that and give San Francisco a special teams scoring threat as the 49ers seek to gain postseason momentum in the second half of the year.

Get Vernon Davis Going

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It is no understatement to say that the 2014 season has been a dreadful one for tight end Vernon Davis.

Hampered by injuries that kept him out of the Week 3 loss to the Arizona Cardinals and the Week 5 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, Davis has looked a shadow of the player that led the league in touchdown receptions in 2009.

Davis' only pleasing performance came in the opener against the Dallas Cowboys, scoring two touchdowns in a comfortable 28-13 triumph. But he has been a non-factor in all four of the other games in which he has played.

Indeed, Davis has just 14 receptions for 142 yards and has failed to showcase the explosiveness has made him such a dangerous deep threat over the years. He's also demonstrated an alarming tendency to drop passes, a couple of which would have gone for significant gains.

The former Maryland Terrapin's failure to contribute consistently in the passing game has been somewhat minimized by the performances of San Francisco's deep receiver corps.

Anquan Boldin is again showing little signs of aging, while Michael Crabtree along with new acquisitions Stevie Johnson and Brandon Lloyd have put up decent numbers through the first seven games. 

Lloyd's ability to stretch defenses vertically has proved particularly useful given Davis' struggles during the campaign. However, Davis—despite the good play of the Niners' wideouts—remains an extremely important part of a San Francisco offense that has continued to endure difficulties in the red zone.

The 49ers are No. 30 in the NFL in red-zone touchdown scoring, punching the ball in for six just 43 percent of the time from inside the opponents 20-yard line.

A reinvigorated Davis, with his size and potential to create mismatches, could come as a significant boost to the Niners' offense down near the goal line and the 30-year-old, according to Cam Inman of Bay Area News Group, is determined to make a difference in the second half of 2014:

"

I definitely feel healthy enough to be able to run. It's all about just getting out there and just going, not thinking, just reacting and just playing the game of football. I'll do whatever it takes to help my teammates win: blocking for Frank (Gore), running down field, being a decoy. Whatever it is, I'll do it.

"

If he can deliver on that promise and return to the form that has seen him become one of the better tight ends in the game, then it will be come increasingly difficult for opposing defenses to stop this passing attack down the stretch.

Generate a Consistent Pass Rush

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It was always expected to be tough for the 49ers defense in 2014 due to the absences of linebackers Bowman and Aldon Smith.

Yet Vic Fangio's unit has performed beyond what most anticipated and ranks at No. 2 in the NFL, despite the 42-17 shellacking at the hands of the Denver Broncos in Week 7. 

However, one area in which the defense has had difficulties is in pressuring the quarterback. The Niners have recorded just 12 sacks in seven games, numbers inflated by a five-sack showing in the Week 6 victory against the Rams.

Those figures are unsurprising given Smith's extended stay on the sidelines, but they will need to be dramatically improved in the second half of the campaign as the Niners take on some of the league's top signal-callers in Drew Brees, Russell Wilson, Philip Rivers and a quarterback in Carson Palmer who is defying his age, injuries and a distinct lack of mobility to lead the Arizona Cardinals into playoff contention.

Outside 'backer Smith, who could yet return early from his nine-game suspension, is likely to provide a spark to the Niners pass rush, although there is no guarantee that a player who has not played since preseason will be able to immediately deliver following his enforced exile.

Should it take Smith some time to get back to his best, then the onus to lead the pass rush will fall on impressive rookie Aaron Lynch, who has posted a strong start to his maiden NFL season that has seen the fifth-round pick from South Florida put up 11 hurries and three hits on opposing quarterbacks, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

Lynch, whose first career sack came against Peyton Manning in Denver, has the potential to develop into a fine player at the highest level, but the 21-year-old cannot be expected to carry the pass rush by himself.

Instead, the hope will be that Smith, who is said to be in "great shape" by general manager Trent Baalke, can quickly display the ability that led to him to post 19.5 sacks in 2012. If he does, he could form an exciting tandem with Lynch and galvanize such underperforming members of the pass rush as Ahmad Brooks.

Bowman's comeback, while expected later in the season, will also give the Niners a talented blitzer from the inside. Bowman posted five sacks in 2013.

The pieces are set to fall into place for the 49ers pass rush, which needs to become more potent in order to stifle opposing offenses in the coming weeks.

Keep the Offensive Line Healthy

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The 49ers offensive line has struggled to meet its own extremely high standards so far in 2014.

Through seven games, San Francisco has allowed 19 sacks, with quarterback Colin Kaepernick forced to improvise and extend plays around a collapsing pocket on a consistent basis. Luckily for the Niners, their signal-caller excels in producing the extraordinary, however, his penchant for pulling off the improbable is not something they can afford to rely on.

Kaepernick has shown some development as a decision-maker and a pocket passer in 2014 and, simply put, the 49ers have to get him more time to throw if they are to be successful in the quest to make the postseason.

There has been some poor play from the line this term, particularly in the case of guard Alex Boone, whose holdout during the offseason is looking increasingly unjustified, but the main factor in the unit's failure to keep Kaepernick clean is the injuries it has suffered in 2014.

Starting right tackle Anthony Davis has played in just two games and guard Mike Iupati missed the loss to the Broncos, a game that saw starting center Daniel Kilgore suffer a season-ending broken ankle, due to a concussion.

Iupati has now cleared concussion protocol, meaning that four members of the 2013 starting O-line will be in action against the Rams on Sunday. 

The wild card is new rookie center Marcus Martin, who has taken Kilgore's spot at the head of the line and is to start his first NFL game versus St. Louis.

Martin has the athleticism to perform well in a Niners' run-blocking scheme that relies heavily on pulling linemen but, with a rookie at the head of line now changing protections, it is imperative that the former USC man has a constant veteran presence to guide him through the transition.

Davis, Boone, Iupati and All-Pro left tackle Joe Staley are four of the best and most experienced linemen in the league, and for the good of Martin—and more importantly Kaepernick—they need to stay healthy and restore the solidity to what has looked a shaky group in 2014.

Find Offensive Balance

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Throughout Jim Harbaugh's tenure in San Francisco, the 49ers have been a run-first football team.

In 2014 the Niners appear to have wavered from that philosophy somewhat and have struggled to get Frank Gore and the rushing attack going on a consistent basis.

After running 29 pass attempts and 29 running plays in the Week 1 victory over the Cowboys, per PFF, the Niners have struggled to find the same offensive balance in the subsequent six games.

Defeats to the Chicago Bears and the Arizona Cardinals saw Gore almost completely neglected before a return to a run-dominated game plan helped deliver wins over the Eagles and the Chiefs.

Gore and the ground game were unable to get going versus the Rams, although it mattered not as Kaepernick produced arguably his best performance of 2014 by shredding St. Louis for 343 yards and three touchdowns in a game that saw the 49ers' all-time leading rusher gain just 38 yards on 16 carries.

Kaepernick is evidently progressing as a quarterback and can deliver moments of magic that few players at his position can. However, what was made even clearer in the loss to Denver was that this is a team not built to go toe-to-toe with the league's offensive powerhouses in a shootout.

Again Kaepernick produced a relatively good showing in Week 7, but a fast Broncos start left the Niners unable to establish the ground attack. Gore carried the ball just nine times in an encounter that quickly got out of hand for a depleted and overmatched San Francisco team.

With the 49ers facing similarly high-powered competition down the stretch in the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers, offensive coordinator Greg Roman's only possible solution for overcoming these playoff contenders is to reemphasize the same offensive balance that helped San Francisco control the tempo and the clock against the Cowboys, Eagles and Chiefs.

The offensive line is getting healthy, and Gore has already shown on more than one occasion in 2014 that he can still be a dominant runner despite his advancing years. Meanwhile, Kaepernick is displaying signs of growth and has been able to spread the ball around to an exciting, experienced and extremely gifted group of receivers.

This offense is perfectly set up to dictate games on the ground and put points on the board through the air, but only a reimplementation of a balanced game plan will see the Niners prove successful in their postseason chase.

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.