Week 4: Best and Worst Case Scenarios

The 49ers Faithful have been in a frenzy following the team’s first loss of the season. They're looking for answers and for someone to blame.

The San Francisco 49ers suffered a heartbreaking loss in the final seconds to the Green Bay Packers in Week 3. The 49ers Faithful have been in a frenzy following the team’s first loss of the season and are looking for answers and for someone to blame. The 49ers loss does come to a team that’s coming off back to back NFC Championship appearances and still has a future HOF quarterback, so the fact that the contest came down to the final seconds shouldn’t leave the fans in a panic. But then again, this is the 49ers Faithful we’re referring to and even wins leave them unsatisfied, so take it for its worth. Here’s what to look forward to in Week 4.

Best Case Scenario: The 49ers offense will feast on a Seahawks defense that is ranked dead last in yards and plays allowed. They will control the time of possession and Seattle won’t have enough time with the football to overcome their defensive deficiencies.

Kyle Shanahan will continue to open up the playbook after realizing his conservative play calling is hindering the 49ers offense more than Jimmy Garoppolo’s play. The Seahawks rank 30th in rush yards allowed this season, expect a heavy dose of the creative run game we saw in the second half against the Packers. Running Back Elijah Mitchell should be healthy enough to play and give the 49ers a much needed boost running the football with the outside zone. Shanahan will try to keep him fresh and mix in a good dose of Juszczyk, Kittle and Samuel to mix in different looks out of the backfield. The Seahawks linebackers have also struggled to cover passes over the middle of the field and that fits right into Garoppolo’s comfort zone.

The 49ers defense will have a tough task trying to contain a high flying offense led by Russell Wilson. The 49ers defense stands no chance to match up against the Seattle receivers one on one, so expect a lot of 2-deep coverage and safety help to try to slow Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf down. Fortunately for the 49ers, the Seattle run game is average and they will have the luxury of playing a lot of nickel coverage in this contest and will succeed in slowing down the Seahawks offense just enough.

Worst Case Scenario: The 49ers offensive woes will continue and they will fall behind early again. Russell Wilson will exploit a weak 49ers secondary and will go off for 3 or 4 passing touchdowns and scorch the 49ers defense.

Garoppolo and the 49ers offense is coming off back to back weeks of slow starts and this will continue against a tough division rival. The 49ers have failed to establish an identity offensively and look totally out of sync. Expect Garoppolo to struggle and have a few costly turnovers as a result of having no run game for the third consecutive week. Once the 49ers fall behind early they will go into full panic mode and Russell Wilson will build an insurmountable lead. This could be the game where Trey Lance supplants Jimmy Garoppolo in order to try and find a spark on offense.

The 49ers defense isn’t very good, they have an underperforming interior defensive line and a terrible cornerback group. The Seahawks are not a running football team but expect Chris Carson to gash the 49ers defense up the middle as teams have been doing all season. Once the 49ers are forced to drop a safety in the box, Russell Wilson will go to work against a weak CB group and Lockett and/or Metcalf will have their way. It will get out of hand in the second half.

Chuy’s Prediction: The 49ers offense will finally get rolling this week and win a shootout 46-41.

This 49ers offensive production will be dependent on how creative Shanahan can be in manufacturing big plays. The Seahawks defense is the worst at disguising coverages in the NFL and hasn’t done so on 92 percent of snaps this season. Garoppolo will make several explosive plays in the middle of the field and look for George Kittle to have a monster game and find the end zone twice.

The Seattle passing game will be unstoppable and exploit the 49ers lack of cornerback depth and both Seahawks starting wide receivers will have big games. I do expect the 49ers to present some different fronts and limit their success on the ground but Seattle will score a lot of points.

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