The 49ers' Biggest Matchup Disadvantage Against the Lions

The Lions clearly aren't good, the 49ers certainly could beat themselves.

Grant Cohn | Sep 9, 2021

SANTA CLARA -- Sure, the 49ers should cream the Lions.

But funny things happen Week 1. And although the Lions clearly aren't good, the 49ers certainly could beat themselves. The special teams could allow a long punt return, or Jimmy Garoppolo could throw an interception, or Mike McGlinchey could give up a sack that leads to a fumble that gets returned for a touchdown.

Granted, the Lions have a terrible pass rush. Last season, they recorded only 24 sacks -- seventh fewest in the NFL -- but their edge rusher Romeo Okwara had 10 sacks, which means he's a threat. And if the 49ers call lots of passes and give Okwara opportunity after opportunity to rush against McGlinchey, Okwara could flip the game in favor of Detroit.

McGlinchey is the 49ers player the Lions want to isolate and exploit.

That doesn't mean McGlinchey is all bad. He's a good run blocker. And if the 49ers run the ball more than they throw it against Detroit, as they should, then Good McGlinchey could be a reason the 49ers win the game.

But McGlinchey is a bad pass blocker, because he's slow, weak and soft. So if the 49ers have a pass-first game plan, Bad McGlinchey will be their biggest weakness and they'll have to win in spite of him.

The 49ers are built to run the ball. McGlinchey is built to run block. As long as the 49ers stick to their strengths on offense, they should win by two touchdowns.

Don't let Bad McGlinchey lose it.

Published Sep 9, 2021

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.