The loss of Joe Staley supersedes the 49ers win over the Bengals

The San Francisco 49ers easily handled the Cincinnati Bengals 41-17, but their victory is to be short lived due to the unfortunate injury to offensive tackle Joe Staley.

As much as I want to talk about how fantastic and dominant of a win the San Francisco 49ers had over the Cincinnati Bengals. It's now a moot point with the injury to left tackle Joe Staley. Multiple confirmed reports have indicated that Staley broke his fibula, which will cause him to miss around eight weeks of game play. His loss insanely supersedes the 49ers win over the Bengals.

No matter what year or player it is, the 49ers will always have a key player injured for the long-term. The bright side to this is that they will not place Staley on injured reserve. You never know, he could be healing ahead of schedule and return sooner. He is that much of a key player that he is worth to keep on the active man roster.

49ers’ OT Joe Staley broke his fibula and is expected to be out eight weeks.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 15, 2019

The 49ers offensive line had been performing stupendously. Pro Football Focus grade the offensive line as the best performers after week one and once again gave them a strong grade this week.

Without Joe Staley, how much will the offensive line drop off?

Well it shouldn't necessarily heavily dictate most of the line since he anchors the left side. What's obvious now is that defenses will look to attack the left side of the offensive line. They are going to want to test Staley's backup, rookie Justin Skule, to see if he is up for the task. Now I know there is a potentially available left tackle in Washington with Trent Williams, but that is not a path the 49ers should take. You can't just grab players so suddenly at this point, especially since the cost for Williams will be very high.

San Francisco is just going to have to duke it out with Skule at left tackle and give him aid where they see fit. I sincerely doubt he will be able to hold his own consistently. Kyle Shanahan is going to have to load up the left side more often with George Kittle and even fullback Kyle Juszcsyk.

He's going to have to dip into his bag of his tricks and figure out ways to keep Jimmy Garoppolo protected. In terms of the running game, this shouldn't impact it too much. Shanahan's system when it comes to running plays essentially makes it a plug and play style. Pass protection is going to be the big drop off and it'll be felt next week against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The 49ers are on a roll right now with their undefeated 2-0 record.

People across the leauge are starting to recognize them and see what they are doing. Because of that, their weakest link at left tackle is going to see multiple looks. If the 49ers can overcome this somewhat, then they will be able to fare strongly without Staley. Still, his loss impacts a good chunk of the offense. Mike McGlinchey is now the lead man on the right side, so he should see lighter fronts. All eyes will be on Justin Skule at left tackle as he is responsible for Garoppolo's blindside.