Grading the 49ers' players and coaches after losing 26-15 to the Texans

Mac Jones' lack of mobility rendered him a checkdown machine against the Texans' great pass rush. Maybe Brock Purdy would have done better than Jones if Purdy were healthy. But Purdy is injured because he's been running for his life and getting hit. And to Jones' credit, he got sacked only twice today despite getting hit six times and facing heavy pressure almost every time he dropped back.

In addition, Jones threw some beautiful passes. His touchdown throw to George Kittle was fit perfectly between two defenders. Jones also threw two beautiful deep passes that were dropped. His interception at the end of the game with a forced deep pass while the team was trailing by 11. Which means the game already was over.

All in all, Jones is a good-not-great quarterback who needs a solid offensive line to be effective. I guess you could say that about most quarterbacks, including Purdy. Neither one is worth $265 million.

RUNNING BACKS: C.

Christian McCaffrey caught three passes and rushed for 25 yards while Jones ran for 23. McCaffrey has been consistently mediocre for the past two seasons. It's incredible that the 49ers don't give the ball to any other running back.

WIDE RECEIVERS: D.

Ever since Jauan Jennings yelled at Kyle Shanahan on the sideline during the loss to the Buccaneers, Kyle Shanahan and Mac Jones have been forcing the ball to Jennings to the detriment of the team.

Today, he dropped a perfectly thrown deep ball that could have changed the momentum of the game. He also committed a facemask penalty that negated the 49ers' first first down. His attitude and effort have been terrible all season. The 49ers need to trade him next week. Kendrick Bourne is simply better than him, and so is Ricky Pearsall when he returns, which could be this week.

TIGHT ENDS: B.

It turns out that George Kittle didn't revive the 49ers' running game last week -- the Atlanta Falcons did because they can't stop the run. Once the 49ers face a run defense that isn't awful, they go back to averaging 3 yards per carry with their running backs.

Fortunately, Kittle still is a great receiver. Today, he caught 4 passes and scored a touchdown. In addition, Jake Tonges caught one pass, and it was a touchdown. The 49ers should give all of Jennings' targets to Tonges from now on. Good things happen when the 49ers throw him the ball.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN: F

Colton McKivitz made Will Anderson look like the best defensive player of all time. To be fair, Anderson is an excellent player. Still, McKivitz is a starting offensive tackle who gets paid $15 million per season. He should be able to hold his own without a chip, but he couldn't. He was a complete turnstile. He makes Mike McGlinchey look like prime Trent Williams.

The 49ers never will win a Super Bowl until they completely revamp their offensive line. It's been the weakest unit on the team for years and it limits what the team can do.

DEFENSIVE LINEMEN: D.

Jordan Elliott and Sam Okuayinonu each left the game with injuries, which means the 49ers currently are down six defensive linemen when you include Nick Bosa, Bryce Huff, CJ West and Yetur Gross-Matos.

The 49ers would be okay without them if Mykel Williams were a stud, but so far, he's not. He's an excellent run-defender, but he's a zero as a pass rusher. Has no moves and sticks to blockers like Velcro. The 49ers compare him to Arik Armstead, who never has been to a Pro Bowl and wasn't the 11th pick in the draft like Williams was.

The 49ers hope that defensive line coach Kris Kocurek can teach Williams how to rush the quarterback, but if Kocurek couldn't do that for Solomon Thomas or Javon Kinlaw, how will he do it for Williams?

LINEBACKERS: D.

Tatum Bethune and Dee Winters both played the run well, but neither could cover, which is a big reason the 49ers' gave up a 50-yard catch to running back Woody Marks and a 12-yard touchdown catch to Jayden Higgins who was wide open.

And this was before Winters left the game with a knee injury. His replacement, Curtis Robinson, was not good. Which means rookie Nick Martin must be truly awful, because he didn't get to play.

DEFENSIVE BACKS: D.

Deommodore Lenoir recorded the 49ers' first interception of the season with 11 seconds left in the first half. But instead of going down and giving his team a chance to kick a field goal, he ran in circles until the first half expired. That's not even a rookie mistake -- that's a freshman mistake. And he's the highest-paid player who's currently healthy on the defense.

Rookie Upton Stout plays hard and is a good tackler, but teams pick on him in coverage every week. He's the biggest liability in the secondary.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A.

Brian Robinson Jr. had a 46-yard kickoff return, which was the 49ers' biggest play of the game. He must be livid that the 49ers give all the carries to McCaffrey even though he's averaging fewer than 4 yards per carry.

COACHES: F.

Robert Saleh's game plan was awful. Granted, he didn't have his pass rushers. Still, he was facing a terrible Texans offense that was missing its one good weapon, wide receiver Nico Collins. And yet, Saleh played soft coverage all game and let C.J. Stroud dink and dunk the 49ers' defense to death. You'd think Saleh would adjust and start calling some two-deep man-under coverages to take away the quick throws to the no-name receivers, but he never did. Strange.

Kyle Shanahan's game plan was equally awful. He was facing DeMeco Ryans, who knows his offense as well as anyone in the world, and presented zero curveballs or changeups. Instead, even down by two scores in the second half, Shanahan kept calling plays that featured multiple presnap motions that never fooled the Texans. At the end of the game, when Shanahan finally let Jones lead a hurry-up offense, the 49ers marched down the field, but it was too late.

But the 49ers didn't lose this game because of their game plans. They lost because they didn't show up until the second half. They were utterly unprepared for a 10:00 a.m. bodyclock game, and that's on the coaches. In retrospect, the 49ers should have practiced at 10:00 a.m. all week to prepare their bodies for this game -- that's what a good coach would have done. Shanahan is a good coach, but today he was terrible. And when he loses, he often loses because he overlooks mundane yet important details such as syncing practice times with game times, or the overtime rules in the Super Bowl.