What the 49ers need to get over the hump

Since the beginning of the Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch era, the San Francisco 49ers have been to two Super Bowls. They have also been to the NFC Championship game two other times.

In the first Super Bowl, they had a 10-point lead with under ten minutes to go. In the most recent SB, they lost in overtime.

In the first NFC Championship game, they entered the 4th quarter with a 10-point lead. (The most recent is not relevant to this article because the reason for the loss was obviously starting quarterback Brock Purdy's injury, which he incurred on the 49ers' third play from scrimmage.)

A "closer" defense

Unlike many who believe the 49ers need a quarterback like Joe Montana or Steve Young to reach the promised land, I do not.

They need the personnel for the 4th quarter.

In 2019, they were up by ten with 9:53 to go when the Chiefs got the ball. On 3rd-and-15 from the Chiefs' own 35, with barely seven minutes left, Niners defensive tackle DeForest Buckner nearly sacked Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who launched a desperation pass that was completed to wide receiver Tyreek Hill for 44 yards.

The key word is "nearly." Stats gurus talk about pressure rates. Those are meaningless, especially against great quarterbacks. The only way to guarantee a ball is not caught is to get the quarterback on the ground with the ball still in his hands. Buckner did not do that.

The Niners need a closer defense, a unit that slams that door shut. And it wasn't just the near-sack on that play. The secondary suffered a mental lapse, a busted coverage, and Tyreek Hill, the Chiefs' most dangerous threat, was wide open.

But that just put the Chiefs on the Niners' 21. The next two passes were incomplete. On 3rd-and-10, with a chance to at least hold them to a field goal, 49ers defensive back Tarvarius Moore committed pass interference and set up the Chiefs at the 1-yard line. Touchdown.

On the next drive, Niners cornerback Richard Sherman gave up a 38-yard completion to Chiefs receiver Sammy Watkins. The Chiefs scored again three plays later.

People have blamed quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo for the loss. He missed a wide-open Emmanuel Sanders on a deep pass to retake the lead. But even if he had connected with Sanders, there would have been 1:40 left. Does anyone have confidence the defense would have come through?

The Niners need a "closer" defense.

But one game is not a pattern. One game does not define an organization.

Yet, two years later, with a 3-point lead against the Rams, Matthew Stafford went deep from his own 15-yard line. In one of the worst chokes in franchise history, safety Jaquiski Tartt dropped the easiest interception possible on the Niners' 35. The nearest Rams player was behind him. At minimum, he would have been able to run it back to midfield, putting the red and gold almost in field-goal range and in position to run another three minutes or more off the clock.

Instead, on the next play, Stafford hit Odell Beckham, Jr., for 29 yards, and the defense gave them another 15 with an unnecessary roughness penalty.

World Series champions have a closer who ends things. The Niners need a "closer" defense.

In their most recent Super Bowl, Brock Purdy gave the 49ers a 3-point lead with under two minutes remaining. Mahomes drove the Chiefs 64 yards for an easy tying kick. In overtime, Purdy gave the Niners another three-point lead, and Mahomes led the Chiefs 75 yards for a touchdown to end the game. The defense forced two third-down conversions and one fourth-down conversion but could not close the door.

If fans are old enough or like checking out 49ers history, they are familiar with The Stop in Super Bowl XVI. Facing a Cincinnati Bengals team with 1st-and-goal at the 4-yard line, the defense held tight, and keeping the Bengals off the board was the difference in the final score.

And many forget that in the game before, the famous Catch game, when Dwight Clark scored that winning touchdown, there were 51 seconds left. A Dallas field goal would send the Niners home until the next fall, but with 38 seconds left, on the SF 44 (a mere 10 yards from field goal range), Niners defensive lineman Lawrence Pillars strip-sacked Cowboys quarterback Danny White and ended the game.

The defense closed the door. San Francisco needs that "closer" defense.

A 4th quarter offensive line

For years, many of the Faithful have called for general manager John Lynch to invest resources in the offensive line. Lynch believes the O-line is good enough. His offensive line coach, Chris Foerster, bizarrely has told him to ignore that unit: "If they ask me, invest in guys that touch the ball, guys that can touch the ball and score touchdowns. And then there's a range of guys, second, third, fourth round, fifth round even, that we will find starting offensive linemen in."

If one looks at the overall statistics, it might appear that the O-line is doing an adequate job. After all, the Niners are making it to the playoffs regularly.

But that is not the goal. The Jets and Titans would be thrilled to make the playoffs. Their fans would be joyous.

That's not what this organization feels.

But the Niners' offensive lines of the past several years have been adequate. Supposedly.

Adequate against the Cardinals. Against the Browns. Against the poor and average teams, and even occasionally against good teams.

But championship offensive lines have to excel when the game matters most, in the moments that determine that game.

Take that first Chiefs Super Bowl. In the fourth quarter, the offense didn't get the first downs because Jimmy G kept getting hit. Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones batted down two passes, and batted passes are often because a defensive lineman knew how to disengage from the offensive lineman blocking him.

The Niners need a line that owns the 4th quarter.

In the second Chiefs Super Bowl, Purdy would have had an easy pitch-and-catch touchdown to receiver Jauan Jennings, but Chris Jones blew up the play, and Brock had to throw it away, and the offense settled for a field goal.

Jones is a closer. He may well end up in the Hall of Fame.

The Niners have to have a line that owns the big plays, even against top defenders.

On one of the most iconic drives in league history, Joe Montana's 92-yarder to win Super Bowl XXIII, also against the Bengals, Joe Cool went eight for nine. One thing about most every play is remarkable: there is never a Bengals defender even close to him.

And on the Bengals' final drive, 49ers pass rusher Charles Haley sacked Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason to seal the game.

The 49ers teams of the Lynch-Shanahan era have been good. They have been on the edge of greatness. But they need two things, neither of which is a Hall of Fame quarterback. Joe Montana would not have won Super Bowls from his back. He would not have won Super Bowls on the sidelines watching the other team score.

Joe had protection. Joe had defenses that closed the door.

The Niners need that "closer" D. They need 4th-quarter protection.

Let's hope they get it this year.