When the 49ers lose, they generally lose close games that they probably should have won.
So far this season, they've blown fourth-quarter leads to the Rams, the Cardinals and the Seahawks and lost to all three teams. In each game, the 49ers defense had a chance to close out the victory at the end and failed.
Same thing happened in the Super Bowl. The 49ers defense had opportunities to end the game in regulation and overtime and couldn't get the job done. Of course, I'm not blaming the defense solely for these losses -- the offense struggled in these games, too. But the 49ers used to have an identity, a particular way they closed out games. From 2019 to 2023, no matter how good their offense was, their defense was the closer. The offense played complementary football, which means it ran the football and won the time of possession battle so that the defense was fresh enough to put away the game in the fourth quarter.
Which means the 49ers offense never had the pressure of winning games. That's why they kicked field goals at the end of regulation and in overtime of the Super Bowl. They're accustomed to their defense being even better than their offense.The 49ers defense isn't great anymore. It's Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Deommodore Lenoir and a bunch of guys plus a rookie defensive coordinator. Nobody is scared of them. And when Nick Bosa isn't on the field, they're extremely vulnerable.
The 49ers have to understand that their offense is the best unit on the team and needs to step up in crunch time. The defense can't do the heavy lifting anymore.Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis.
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