Why the 49ers Benched Ji'Ayir Brown Against Chicago

Head coach Kyle Shanahan explains the 49ers' decision to bench safety Ji'Ayir Brown against the Bears.

Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers safety Ji'Ayir Brown (27) waits for the New York Jets to snap the ball in the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images / David Gonzales-Imagn Images

Safety Ji'Ayir Brown had started for the San Francisco 49ers in every game this season. That ended in Week 14 when the 49ers played the Chicago Bears.

With Talanoa Hufanga activated off of Injured Reserve, the 49ers had to decide who the odd man out would be between Hufanga, Brown, and rookie Malik Mustapha. The 49ers decided to bench Brown in favor of Hufanga and Mustapha.

On a conference call on Monday, head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked why the 49ers benched Brown against Chicago.

“Just how Malik’s been playing. I think he's been playing at a high level. He's been one of the better players on our defense, I think, here over the last month or so. So it's nothing against Tig. We still want Tig to be out there, but when we had to make a decision, we kept Mustapha out there.”

The question posed to Shanahan was why they decided to start Mustapha over Brown, which is ridiculous. Mustapha has clearly been a strong performer this year and arguably one of the best defenders for the 49ers. The real question to ask is why Hufanga started over Brown.

He hasn't played in a month and had to play with a club on one hand. Not to mention that he's a free agent after this season. Yet, he saw 39 snaps to Brown's 15. That is a clear message sent to Brown that he hasn't been performing as they'd like, which is true. Brown has been mediocre this season.

He was supposed to take a leap in his second year. Instead, he's become a liability on defense and proved it again when he allowed the last touchdown against the Bears. The funny thing is Shanahan doesn't see a difference from Brown this year compared to when he was a rookie last year.

"I think it's the same as last year. I think Tig’s playing like a good starting safety," said Shanahan. "We just, Huf's been our guy there and has done some big things when he’s been healthy, as everyone knows with Huf. And Huf had a great week of practice and we wanted to get him on the field and we had to choose one guy to come off. So, we thought Mustapha had earned that over his play the last month to stay out there and we're good with our decision."

You've got to credit Shanahan in his response. He could've easily told the truth on how they felt about Brown's performance this year. Instead, he steers it towards Mustapha who has been playing incredible to cover up having to answer truthfully on Brown.

It doesn't matter what Shanahan says anyway. The 49ers told us how they feel about Brown the moment they benched and it's that they'd rather play an injured Hufanga who hasn't seen action in a month over him. Expect this to be the scenario for the rest of the season.