How the 49ers' defense can reach playoff form

Yes, the 49ers' defense got the stop with everything on the line, but this defensive line needs to improve vastly if the 49ers want a shot at competing for a Super Bowl. 

With Nick Bosa and first-round draft pick out for the season and Fred Warner looking for a late playoff return, the 49ers' defense needs to search for answers within their young defense.

Over the last two weeks, the 49ers have allowed 65 points, revealing weaknesses in both the pass and run defense. During this stretch, the unit has allowed an average of 303 passing yards and 78 rushing yards while forcing two turnovers. 

Having a struggling defense while your offense proves to be elite is a recipe for shootouts as seen in the last couple weeks. This isn’t sustainable heading into the playoffs because you are bound to be on the wrong side of a shootout.  

The 49ers young defense has allowed the offense to overcompensate for it’s weaknesses. 

Earlier this season, after a week 10 loss to the Rams, 49ers' tight end George Kittle noted that the offense needed to be good to have success. 

“Our team is going to have to rely on our really good veteran offense to score a lot of points and not turn the ball over, and we really didn’t do that today,” Kittle said. “That’s going to be the case moving forward. Our offense has to play at an incredibly high level, we have to score a lot of points, we cannot turn the ball over.”

The 49ers are last in the league with 18 sacks — the only team below 25 sacks — and struggle to get pressure. This allows quarterbacks to have all day to pick apart the defense. The 49ers allow 235.6 passing yards per game, which ranks 25th in the NFL. They allow a passer rating of 100.6, which ranks 26th.  

“It could be on my end just trying to find ways to create more pass rush where they can’t bank on the concepts that they’re trying, can’t bank on the coverages.” 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said. “So, it’s not just the pass rush, it’s all of it. And we’ve just got to find a way to put our guys in position to be able to defend all that stuff.”

Although these statistics don’t shape up well, the defense has proven to make game-changing plays during different stretches of games. Defensive consistency is what will take the 49ers to the next level.

The 49ers playoff success depends on their defense being consistently impactful. With the  49ers’ season finale matchup against the Seahawks approaching, you would like to see the defense make it’s mark as the postseason approaches.