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Kyle Shanahan Explains Why the 49ers Run Defense is Struggling

Sounds like a coach who's out of answers.

Grant Cohn

Dec 22, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan stands on the field prior to the game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images
Dec 22, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan stands on the field prior to the game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images / Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images
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For years, the strength of the 49ers was their run defense. Now it stinks.

Until recently, the 49ers had gone 55 games in a row without giving up a 100-yard rusher. Now, four running backs in the past five games have run for more than 100 yards against the 49ers: Josh Jacobs, James Cook, Kyren Williams and Devon Achane.

Suddenly, the 49ers' once-tough run defense is decidedly soft.

On Monday, head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked to account for the run defense's struggles.

“I think it has been different each week," Shanahan said. "I think versus Green Bay and Buffalo, I thought we had some real big injury issues just with missing some guys, which made it extremely tough. And then especially Buffalo getting that big one, I want to say a 64-yarder, which made it that much worse. Last week was that big one at the end that put them over the top. But I don't think we've had the continuity in our defense to play as good as we have in the past just with some of the linebackers that have been in and out, it has not nearly been as consistent. And I think some of our run stoppers that have been big for us on the D-Line hasn't been as consistent, also. And when you add those things all together and gone against some good backs too that when they've got in the right lane, they've got the big ones. It also goes to not getting guys off on third down as well at times. You give them three more plays and that stuff happens. But, we have not been as good in the past and we haven't been able to put out the fire.”

Sounds like a coach who's out of answers.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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