Before their Week 9 bye, the 49ers are now in desperate need of some answers.
Three weeks after declaring themselves to be early favorites and leading the league at 5-0 after trouncing the Dallas Cowboys 42-10, San Francisco once again displayed shoddy, inconsistent play, losing 31-17 to the Cincinnati Bengals to drop to 5-3 overall.
Some people may be experiencing a panic attack, particularly since Tuesday is the league’s trading deadline. That being said, head coach Kyle Shanahan is unfazed by his team’s recent struggles.
He replied, according to Media, “No, none of this changes anything with the trade deadline,” after the defeat. “The way we performed today or during the previous three weeks…We definitely have the solutions in our facility, I think. We have good players, in my opinion. We have good coaches, in my opinion. My job is to motivate them to do better.
One issue that has been obvious to see is Brock Purdy’s seeming decline as a quarterback. He’s still developing, having made only 12 starts in the regular season until this past Sunday, but his recent play has dulled some of the shine that came with starting his career with 10 straight wins.
A known ball handler, Purdy had nine touchdown passes and no interceptions during San Francisco’s winning run to start the season. However, during this losing streak, he has thrown five interceptions (two on Sunday) to just three touchdowns. In addition, he lost a fumble against a tough Cincinnati defense that outplayed San Francisco’s D.
With 365 passing yards, Purdy did have his greatest passing yardage day of the season. nonetheless, a large portion of that was brought on by playing the second half entirely from behind in order to chase points.
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel has been out with a hairline shoulder fracture, which has contributed to some of Purdy’s troubles. However, Samuel is set to return shortly, and as Shanahan noted, both sides of the Niners’ operation still have plenty of weapons.
With nine catches for 149 yards versus Cincy, tight end George Kittle established a new season record, while wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk reached 100 yards receiving for the third time this year.
On defence, Arik Armstead twice got to Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, while Nick Bosa showed signs of maturing with 12 pressures.