The San Francisco 49ers played a very ugly game against the Kansas City Chiefs. I imagine there are many more ugly games to come, but hopefully, the 49ers can at least improve in one area: penalties. On Friday, San Francisco committed 17 penalties for 131 yards, a staggering amount.
Kyle Shanahan talked about the penalties following the game, and called it “frustrating.”
“I expected a little bit going into the preseason game, but was definitely disappointed with that much,” Shanahan said. “We have had them in practice too so it is just something to talk to the team about and we definitely have to get better at it and clean up on Monday.”
San Francisco’s penalty total included three 15-yard penalties and three 10-yard penalties. There were another four penalties the team committed that were either declared offsetting or were declined, so it could have been even worse.
“I was frustrated with how we started out, especially the offense,” Shanahan said. “You get that first third down and it is called back because of a penalty and then you are in a non-manageable third down so you end up going three and out.”
Many of the penalties occurred on first down, but the number of penalties the 49ers managed to incur on third and fourth down was disappointing to be sure. The 49ers are a young team with a first-year head coach, and the penalties are troubling. They need to correct those mistakes as soon as possible.
This is especially true given all the reports about penalties in practice throughout training camp. At the very least, though, it’s the preseason, so there is certainly time to make a big change.
Just to illustrate exactly how many penalties the 49ers incurred on Friday, I’ve listed all of them below, in order.
3rd and 7: Eric Reid 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness
3rd and 12: 5-yard penalty for illegal formation on offense
Kickoff: Raheem Mostert 15-yard penalty for face mask
4th and 10: Vinnie Sunseri 3-yard penalty for holding
1st and 8: Aaron Burbridge offensive pass interference (offset)
4th and 1: 5-yard penalty for false start
4th and 14: Jayson DiManche offensive holding (offset)
4th and 14: Dekoda Watson 10-yard penalty for holding
1st and 10: Norman Price 7-yard penalty for holding
1st and 10: 5-yard penalty for illegal formation on offense
1st and 10: 5-yard penalty for 12 men on-field on defense
2nd and 3: Austin Calitro 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness
1st and 10: Tyler McCloskey 10-yard penalty for holding
2nd and 8: Chanceller James 6-yard penalty for pass interference
1st and 10: John Flynn 5-yard penalty for false start
1st and 15: 5-yard penalty for illegal shift
1st and 10: Chanceller James offsides penalty (declined)
2nd and 6: John Flynn 5-yard penalty for false start
Kickoff: Cole Hikutini 5-yard penalty for offsides
4th and 3: Asa Jackson 10-yard penalty for illegal block above the waist
4th and 3: Penalty for illegal substitution (declined)