The 49ers' Biggest Concerns Heading into the Playoffs

Eventually they'll face a team that can stand up to them and expose some weaknesses.
In this story:

The 49ers have fewer concerns than most teams.

They're loaded, they're in the NFC which stinks and they should cruise to the Super Bowl. But eventually they'll face a team that can stand up to them and expose some weaknesses -- the Ravens and Browns already did that to the 49ers.

Here are the 49ers' five biggest concerns in no particular order.

1. Jake Moody

He was excellent most of the season, but he didn't have to kick many field goals under pressure, and the few he attempted, he missed. He missed what would have been a game-winning field goal against the Browns, and this past Sunday he missed a 38-yarder and an extra point both wide right. Can he handle the pressure of the postseason? We'll find out.

2. The Run Defense

The 49ers don't commit to it anymore. Steve Wilks prefers to play light boxes with two deep safeties to prevent the deep pass. This leaves the 49ers vulnerable on the ground. And while the return of Arik Armstead will help the interior run defense, the loss of Clelin Ferrell will hurt the perimeter run defense.

3. The Offensive Line

The right side simply isn't good, and the 49ers have to work around it when they face a dominant defensive line. Meaning they have to abandon their run-first identity and instead throw quick, short, horizontal passes from the shotgun before the offensive linemen get beaten. That strategy worked against the Eagles but failed miserably against the Ravens.

4. Brock Purdy

He's an excellent quarterback when everything goes according to plan. But when he falls behind, sometimes he melts down and takes the 49ers down with him. He's on a personal mission to prove he's more than a game manager, and this mission sometimes leads him to take chances he shouldn't. The 49ers are undefeated this season when he throws no interceptions, so that should be his goal. Throw no picks. Manage the game. Serve the team, not your ego.

5. Kyle Shanahan

He's the one on the 49ers with the pattern of choking in big games. He can coach well for months at a time and save his worst for the biggest moments. He has lost not one but two Super Bowls in which he was leading by double digits in the fourth quarter. That's hard to do. Everyone knows his history and pattern, including him. Can he break it this year?


Published
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.