After a loss, nobody feels great about their team. After a loss to an inferior team, you feel even worse. Clearly, the biggest issue facing the squad right now is the inability to put points on the board. On today’s Oh, Hey There! podcast, Jason Aponte and Leo Luna disagreed about whether Kyle Shanahan and company will get back on track in time to save the season.
“We’re six weeks in. We saw what happened last year,” Luna said, “When you have guys like Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle. They’re going to get Trent Williams back. What does that do for the offense? They’ll put it together. I think they’re going to get it together eventually. It may not be at the time that we want it to be - in terms of against the Chiefs or the Rams the week after - but they’ll get it together. Eventually, they’ll make a run.”
We have seen the 49ers turn it on offensively with their backs up against the wall. Over their final nine games last season, San Francisco averaged almost 27 points per game. That was up from 23 points per game over their first eight contests.
Another thing to remember is that the 49ers aren’t the only team that’s having trouble scoring. Going into last week’s games, teams were averaging 21.8 points per game. If that continues, it will be only the second season in the last 12 years in which teams averaged less than 22.0 points per game.
That said, Jason Aponte wasn’t quite so positive.
“It feels stale right now. It does. They are very close, but it’s been six weeks now. How much longer can you go through this? We can’t keep having these same conversations about being close, shooting yourself in the foot, or whatever cliché you want to use.
Forget explosive plays, forget points per game - throw all that out. Here’s what I want to see: consistency. Consistency not only through one game but also week to week. Just some sort of consistency. The only thing this offense has been consistently doing is consistently underperforming.”
Last season the team jump-started the offense by using Deebo Samuel in the backfield. This year that’s not an option, as teams have largely adjusted to 19 being lined up as a running back. The burden now rests on Kyle Shanahan’s shoulders to come up with another innovation that catches teams off guard.
Considering the strength of the defense, it might not take much of an offensive improvement to get the 49ers back to the playoffs. The top ten teams in the league are scoring at least 24 points per game. If the 49ers can get to that level, they’ll be one of the top seven team in the NFC.
Can Kyle Shanahan and company figure out a way to flip the switch and bring the offense to where we all think it should be? Vote in our poll and leave a comment below.
Poll
Will the 49ers figure it out offensively?
Other topics in today’s show
Mercedes Benz Stadium is awesome (1:22)
The injuries are having a huge impact (3:03)
Arthur Smith is using Shanahan’s concepts against him (6:12)
The 49ers have no plan when things don’t go according to plan (8:42)
Does Kyle Shanahan hold players accountable equally? (11:45)
The offense just a tad off, the problem is that it’s Week 7! (13:05)
Why wasn’t there any urgency from the offense? (18:25)
There aren’t any explosive plays (25:36)
Other teams are having success running the same offense (32:34)
Iced or Hot: The offense will hold the 49ers back from being a true contender in the NFC (33:21)
How Charvarius Ward will help this week (41:22)
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