It has been no secret that the San Francisco 49ers defense has played much better at home than on the road, and facing the Bengals was no different. Although the 49ers recorded another loss, the defense had a much better game, especially against the run. The defense held the Bengals to 242 total offensive yards, only 61 on the ground. Turnovers and a shanked punt gave the Bengals a short field on three possessions at the end of the 2nd quarter, all leading to touchdowns. They started those drives on the San Francisco 11, 36 and 20 yard lines.
The 49ers held the Bengals to a field goal after running seven plays in the red zone at the beginning of the third quarter. When asked about the short yardage and goal line situations, Quinton Dial remarked:
Yeah, there were a lot of positives, but we still have to stop them when they have the short filed advantage. We have to make plays.
The defense adjusted in the second half and recorded 4 sacks as well as holding the Bengals to only 3 points.
The coaches just made some adjustments at half time and told us to come out and shoot our gun and go for him.
Head coach Jim Tomsula also remarked:
I think that entire front seven, they all worked together.
With only four wins on the season there has been much talk regarding Tomsula's tenure in Santa Clara, but this isn't discussed in the locker room. Free safety Eric Reid spoke about this and more.
On Jim Tomsula's future being discussed:
No it hasn't. I mean, if you look at our season, I say it every week, we shoot ourselves in the foot over and over again. We had a couple bobbled balls that if you catch, it's not a turnover, they don't have that good of field position, it's still our ball. I don't think you can put it on Jimmy, a lot of the plays come down to us executing.
Was it surprising that the Bengals went for it on 4th down when they could have kicked a 42 yard field goal?
Yeah, somewhat disrespectful to our defense. When we're on the field and you go for it on a fourth down, so, we stood up, Hodges made a great play on the down block and Bow came through on the side.
On the defense's improved performance after last week's game in Cleveland:
Yeah, I don't know what ibis, we play great at home and we struggle on the road. This week we did our thing, we are on the road again next week and we gotta play like this.
On Jimmie Ward's performance:
He's developing, the kid's come a long way. I mean, he's been battling the foot ever since he got here. If you look at his feet he has this big brace inside his shoe. He's a fighter and he's been developing and helping us out.