The 49ers offense continued to roll against the Bears in Week 17
The San Francisco 49ers have scored over 40 times in three of their previous six games, and they scored 37 in one of those games. The offense is operating at a level that rivals its 2023 second-half performance. The quarterback is healthy and using his entire skill set. The running game has finally caught up to the passing game, and the situational football the offense has been playing is better than that of anyone in the NFL.
And then there’s the 49ers defense. There’s bend but don’t break, and then there’s what we’re watching. The poor showings have been amplified against two of the brightest offensive minds in the game, Shane Steichen and Ben Johnson, in recent weeks, but the defense can’t expect the offense to score on every possession if this team is going to make a playoff run.
Let’s get into the winners and losers from Week 17.
Winners
Brock Purdy
You can tell who has been watching the 49ers lately and who hasn’t. As Brock Purdy was making the same plays he’s been making since Week 13 in the first half, you’d see big names on social media say, “Maybe Brock Purdy is actually good?!”
Purdy’s .33 EPA per dropback in this game was MVP-esque. Completing over 72 percent of your passes with 11 passes over 10 yards and four over 20 is why you’re seeing more and more Drew Brees comps. Against the Blitz, Purdy was 6-for-9 for 104 yards and five first downs.
Numbers aside, when the 49ers needed their quarterback to come through, he did time and time again.
He completed an 18-yard pass on the first 3rd & 7 of the game. On the next third down, Purdy found Demarcus Robinson for 25 yards. Purdy’s legs have been the ultimate cheat code for the offense. 1st & goal from the 10 is not where you want to be, but Purdy didn’t waste time and ran for a 10-yard touchdown.
Second and 10? 30 yards to Ricky Pearsall. 4th & 3? 14 yards to Pearsall. Double coverage against McCaffrey on third down? No problem. Purdy goes to the second level and hits Jake Tonges for a first down.
In the fourth quarter, Purdy completed six of his nine passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. Whether the team needed to increase the lead or come from behind, Purdy executed. Kyle Shanahan agrees:
“I thought Brock had a hell of a game, again. Brock’s been playing his ass off, made some huge plays in this game, kept some drives alive with his legs, made some off-schedule plays, and was an assassin out there throughout the whole day.”
Purdy is operating like a top-5 quarterback, and has been for a month now. The offense is reaping the rewards of their quarterback being decisive and aggressive. His scrambling ability makes them borderline unfair. If Purdy continues to streak like this, there is no ceiling for the 49ers in the playoffs.
Offensive line
The 49ers were without their two best players up front after the first play of the game. Trent Williams left with a hamstring injury, and George Kittle was in street clothes.
Despite that, Purdy was only sacked once — and that was on a long-developing play-action shot down the field — while being pressured on 23.7 percent of his dropbacks. Purdy’s 3.24 seconds to throw was the third-highest in Week 17 among all quarterbacks. The sack was the only time Purdy was hit.
It was another game where the offensive line provided plenty of push, giving the running backs 1.05 yards before contact and ranking third in Week 17 success rate at 52.9 percent. Slowly but surely, the offensive line has found its groove.
Christian McCaffrey
McCaffrey’s workload was always going to be sky-high without Kittle and with the Bears offense on the other side. He rushed for 140 yards on 23 carries, forced five missed tackles, had three rushes of at least 15 yards, and picked up eight first downs on the ground. McCaffrey also caught four of his five targets, including one key 18-yarder on a screen.
McCaffrey looks fresh. He can see that he has more juice than ever when he’s making a defender miss in the backfield or running away from defenders in tight quarters. The offensive line deserves plenty of credit, but McCaffrey isn’t far behind when it comes to the running game’s resurgence.
Keion White
White drew a holding penalty and had three pressures on the night. Each one of those pressures impacted the quarterback. White also had a run stop. There weren’t many promising performances on defense, but White was the lone player who stood out in a positive light.
Losers
The secondary
Darrell Luter was the best player in the secondary. That cannot happen. It wasn’t as if the cornerbacks were getting torched in coverage.
But the Bears isolated Deommodore Lenoir in the running game on a couple of instances, and he flat-out whiffed. Lenoir was only targeted three times. But one of those ended up being a 19-yarder to an undrafted rookie free agent for a first down on 3rd & 14 when he should have drifted back and forced a tighter window.
PFF has Malik Mustapha down as zero missed tackles; that’s because he ran right by the running back on a touchdown and didn’t make any contact.
Ji’Ayir Brown made a play in coverage early in the game, but that was quickly erased after giving up a 36-yard touchdown to Luther Burden. Brown also missed a tackle for good measure. Brown allowed four first downs on seven targets.
Poor Upton Stout fell victim to a lack of pass rush. He gave up a 27-yard reception on a play that felt like it took six seconds.
Once Stout left, the Bears targeted Chase Lucas early and often. Despite playing 25 of the 66 snaps, Lucas was targeted five times. He gave up three receptions, allowed 31 yards — 20 after the catch — and a first down. It would have been multiple had Burden not dropped a pass.
Jason Pinnock had one target. He took the cheese and let Burden cross his face, giving up 24 yards and a first down.
It had gotten to the point where you were surprised if Caleb Williams threw an incomplete pass.
The linebackers in coverage
At this point, a team sees Luke Gifford on the field, and there’s an auto check to a pass, right? The Bears got Gifford matched up against Colston Loveland for a 32-yard gain.
Tatum Bethune couldn’t stick with Loveland on a free play that resulted in a 36-yard touchdown. Bethune also gave up two other first downs in coverage.
Dee Winters allowed three first downs on seven targets, which is not wrong. However, it looked like he short-circuited on one play when Winters turned the wrong way on a third down, leaving Loveland wide open.
Bryce Huff
Williams was only pressured on 21.7 percent of his dropbacks. He had 3.18 seconds to throw. This was the first game I watched where I saw Bryce Huff truly get locked up as a pass rusher. Darnell Wright routinely had Huff hemmed up.
There aren’t many reliable pass rushers on the roster, but Huff is the ace. He had more opportunities to rush the passer in Week 17 than he had since Week 11. Yet, the only pressure Huff generated came on the final play of the game when he was unblocked.
Aside from the secondary, linebackers, and the best pass rusher putting up a donut, the 49ers’ defense performed well!
Winners
Jake Tonges
Tonges might be the most impressive player, given what he’s gone through this season. He played 50 snaps against the Bears—Tonges combined to play 52 snaps from Weeks 7 to 16.
Tonges caught seven passes for 60 yards. Five of those were first downs, and he caught a touchdown. More importantly, three of Tonges’s receptions gave on third down and moved the chains.
Does Kyle Shanahan know he’s allowed to use Tonges when Kittle is active? That would give the Niners a potent 1-2 punch with 12 personnel and force a linebacker to guard Tonges. The matchup advantage is there.
Ricky Pearsall
Shanahan didn’t think Pearsall would play on Saturday morning:
“I’m so proud of Ricky. It didn’t seem like he was going to play Saturday morning, just talking to him and stuff, and he’s been battling through some stuff here since he’s come back. And for him to find a way to be able to play today, I could tell he zinged it early in the game, I think on his first catch, or maybe it was a screen. I can’t remember. But, you could tell he zinged it again, but didn’t disappear, kept battling through it, and came up huge for us.”
Pearsall caught five of his eight targets for 85 yards, and four of those were first downs. The 49ers needed one of their wideouts to beat man coverage, and Pearsall came through when Shanahan dialed up a man-beater. Pearsall quickly reminded everybody that he can be a go-to guy in this offense.
Category: General Sports
