It’s been a continuing downside for the 49ers beneath Kyle Shanahan, and it’s one which’s rearing its ugly head once more in 2022.
The 49ers proceed to have a turnover downside.
San Francisco dedicated three extra on Sunday in its 28-14 loss in Atlanta, sending them again to .500 after two promising wins.
The primary turnover of the day proved significantly pricey, as Jeff Wilson’s fumble was returned for a landing by the Falcons. It put the 49ers in an early 14-point gap, and compelled them to start out working by the air.
“He’s gotta be higher with the ball proper there,” Shanahan stated of Wilson, who solely had seven carries for 25 yards. “We didn’t give him a ton of alternatives. I really like a number of the issues Jeff did, simply gotta defend the ball higher.”
Some turnovers are excusable, like Garoppolo’s first interception — a Hail Mary move supposed for Deebo Samuel on the ultimate play of the primary half. However the second Garoppolo threw stayed with him.
With the 49ers dealing with second-and-10 close to midfield early within the fourth quarter, Garoppolo tried to hit Samuel 15 yards down the sphere. Atlanta cornerback Darren Corridor crashed on the wideout onerous, inflicting the move to bounce off Samuel’s palms and letting Cal alum Jaylinn Hawkins catch the deflected ball for an interception.
The play was initially flagged for what was regarded as move interference, however the officers picked up the flag and let the interception depend. Garoppolo stated he was anticipating it to be PI.
“Yeah, I believe the ref did too,” Garoppolo stated. “However I don’t name the penalties. He threw the flag. I don’t know why he picked it up. That was an unlucky one. We have been in a great place, driving a bit bit. You'll be able to’t have that.”
Between the fumble that was returned for a rating and the early fourth-quarter interception, the 49ers needed to principally abandon the working sport to attempt to come again — one thing that hasn’t labored nicely for the 49ers, usually.
“They ended up with 40 runs and we had 16. We had three turnovers. I believe it’s fairly self-explanatory,” Shanahan stated of the loss.
Since Shanahan took over as head coach in 2017, the 49ers’ offense has turned the ball over 149 instances (142 in 87 common season video games, plus seven in six playoff video games). It’s the second-most of the 32 NFL groups in that point, trailing solely Tampa Bay’s 151.
The common of 1.6 turnovers per sport is a fairly clear line of demarcation for the workforce’s success, too. In video games the place Shanahan’s offense has one or no turnovers, the 49ers are 31-12.
Once they commit two or extra? They’re 10-34.
Document by variety of turnovers in a sport since 2017:
- 0 — 16-4
- 1 — 15-8
- 2 — 8-15
- 3 — 2-11
- 4 — 0-6
- 5 — 0-2
This season alone, eight of the 9 turnovers have come of their three losses, and so they match the development: two in Chicago, three in Denver (and Garoppolo’s foot-fault security prevented a fourth, too) and three in Atlanta.
And it’s not a problem that has solely plagued the 49ers of their dropping seasons beneath Shanahan, both. They’ve dedicated at the least 20 turnovers in all 5 full seasons to date, and so they’re on tempo for 25.5 for this season, too.
On a Sunday the place their protection was lacking six starters (and misplaced a seventh mid-game), their offensive line was down a number of starters (and misplaced one other mid-game) and the Falcons managed the tempo and physicality of the sport, this sport was gettable for the 49ers.
They only wanted to not make main errors, like turnovers. A primary-half fumble returned for a landing and with a fourth-quarter interception — when there was nonetheless a shot to make it a one-score sport — have been these main errors.
“It was self-inflicted wounds, actually,” Garoppolo stated. “Guys have been making errors. It wasn’t one man or one place. It begins with myself. We, one after one other, saved making errors. If you try this, it provides as much as a sport like this.”