[OutsiderFan]

Before the Chase Young trade, I said the answers are on the roster already but that the team could get better by adding someone.

Though I'm not convinced Kyle Shanahan is the genius so many ascribe to him, he's proven enough to give me confidence he will figure out the Offense. The Defense is another story.

After watching some All-22 of the Defense against the Bengals, I'm alternately alarmed and confident. The personnel is not the problem as much as the scheme and execution. Mostly the same - and I would argue lesser personnel - were the #1 Defense in the NFL a year ago. The only real change was DC Steve Wilks who has deviated from what previous DCs Saleh and Ryans did. Jonnydel and Richard Sherman both said Wilks is playing much more man-to-man coverage (and they should be playing more zone) and pointed out how they aren't switching to zone enough after offenses have achieved advantages against expected man coverage looks.

There are technique problems, execution errors, and play calling mistakes. The most insidious thing that can happen to a football team is lack of trust between teammates or guys trying to do more than their assignment.  Run defense is about gap control. Each guy is assigned a gap. When one player abandons his gap to go into another gap he doesn't trust a teammate to fill, wide running lanes open up that good runners take advantage of for big gains. Wilks is also having them play more man-to-man coverage than they ever have before, including in the red zone.

The lack of trust can be in a teammate, but the mindset of feeling you need to do too much can be based on a lack of trust in your DC. When that happens, players like Fred Warner try to do more than his job and the defense breaks down.

Last week, Jonnydel showed how the Niners weren't using a pass rushing scheme that was effective last year with Ryans. Amazingly, the scheme was used agains the Bengals, but it was executed poorly. Fred Warner was lined up in the B gap declaring himself as a possible pass rusher. Last year in this situation, Warner would drop at the snap of the ball, forcing the Guard to account for him as a possible pass rusher, giving a looping DE the split second advantage needed to get past him. Against the Bengals, he dropped off the line before the ball was snapped, allowing the Guard to ignore him and focus on the stunting Bosa right away. If Warner stayed at the LOS until the snap, the Guard wouldn't have had time to get to Bosa. Instead, he did. Burrow had just enough time to avoid the pressure and get the ball off for a first down. On the same play, Hargrave didn't push up field to increase the gap size for Bosa to run through. This isn't personnel. This is technique and execution. Why is Warner dropping before the snap? What makes Fred so special is he can stay at the line until the ball is snapped, and be the best coverage LB in the NFL. The Niners give that advantage away if he drops before the snap.

It looks to me like something has broken the trust between Wilks and the players that has caused the players to not trust their teammates. Fred Warner was the biggest culprit abasing the Bengals. On multiple occasions he overran plays that put two defenders in the same gap or side of a ball carrier. Just very basic stuff. Maybe he isn't trusting the pass D, so he dropped a split second before the snap thinking he needed more time to get into coverage. No Fred, you do your job!

Chase Young will help squeeze the pocket more, and will provide more pass rushing wins on the DL. That in and of itself will improve the defense, but if they don't fix the technique and execution issues, and guys don't start trusting each other to do their jobs, it's not going to be enough to make a difference, and certainly isn't gonna make the Niners a contender.

But, the pieces are absolutely there. The defense - with Hargrave and Young - is now unquestionably more talented than the 2022 version. The issue is coaching pure and simple. Can Kyle Shanahan assess the problems and get Wilks to adopt what worked with his predecessors? Richard Sherman seems confident he knows what to do. Will Kyle ask him to talk with Wilks?  I've never in my life seen a more clear-cut reason for lack of performance in a team than Wilks being the reason the Niners Defense has collapsed, which I believe has impacted the Offense as well. This team is predicated on having a great Defense. If it isn't, the team is not going to achieve its championship aspirations.

[OutsiderFan]

Before the Chase Young trade, I said the answers are on the roster already but that the team could get better by adding someone.

Though I'm not convinced Kyle Shanahan is the genius so many ascribe to him, he's proven enough to give me confidence he will figure out the Offense. The Defense is another story.

After watching some All-22 of the Defense against the Bengals, I'm alternately alarmed and confident. The personnel is not the problem as much as the scheme and execution. Mostly the same - and I would argue lesser personnel - were the #1 Defense in the NFL a year ago. The only real change was DC Steve Wilks who has deviated from what previous DCs Saleh and Ryans did. Jonnydel and Richard Sherman both said Wilks is playing much more man-to-man coverage (and they should be playing more zone) and pointed out how they aren't switching to zone enough after offenses have achieved advantages against expected man coverage looks.

There are technique problems, execution errors, and play calling mistakes. The most insidious thing that can happen to a football team is lack of trust between teammates or guys trying to do more than their assignment.  Run defense is about gap control. Each guy is assigned a gap. When one player abandons his gap to go into another gap he doesn't trust a teammate to fill, wide running lanes open up that good runners take advantage of for big gains. Wilks is also having them play more man-to-man coverage than they ever have before, including in the red zone.

The lack of trust can be in a teammate, but the mindset of feeling you need to do too much can be based on a lack of trust in your DC. When that happens, players like Fred Warner try to do more than his job and the defense breaks down.

Last week, Jonnydel showed how the Niners weren't using a pass rushing scheme that was effective last year with Ryans. Amazingly, the scheme was used agains the Bengals, but it was executed poorly. Fred Warner was lined up in the B gap declaring himself as a possible pass rusher. Last year in this situation, Warner would drop at the snap of the ball, forcing the Guard to account for him as a possible pass rusher, giving a looping DE the split second advantage needed to get past him. Against the Bengals, he dropped off the line before the ball was snapped, allowing the Guard to ignore him and focus on the stunting Bosa right away. If Warner stayed at the LOS until the snap, the Guard wouldn't have had time to get to Bosa. Instead, he did. Burrow had just enough time to avoid the pressure and get the ball off for a first down. On the same play, Hargrave didn't push up field to increase the gap size for Bosa to run through. This isn't personnel. This is technique and execution. Why is Warner dropping before the snap? What makes Fred so special is he can stay at the line until the ball is snapped, and be the best coverage LB in the NFL. The Niners give that advantage away if he drops before the snap.

It looks to me like something has broken the trust between Wilks and the players that has caused the players to not trust their teammates. Fred Warner was the biggest culprit abasing the Bengals. On multiple occasions he overran plays that put two defenders in the same gap or side of a ball carrier. Just very basic stuff. Maybe he isn't trusting the pass D, so he dropped a split second before the snap thinking he needed more time to get into coverage. No Fred, you do your job!

Chase Young will help squeeze the pocket more, and will provide more pass rushing wins on the DL. That in and of itself will improve the defense, but if they don't fix the technique and execution issues, and guys don't start trusting each other to do their jobs, it's not going to be enough to make a difference, and certainly isn't gonna make the Niners a contender.

But, the pieces are absolutely there. The defense - with Hargrave and Young - is now unquestionably more talented than the 2022 version. The issue is coaching pure and simple. Can Kyle Shanahan assess the problems and get Wilks to adopt what worked with his predecessors? Richard Sherman seems confident he knows what to do. Will Kyle ask him to talk with Wilks?  I've never in my life seen a more clear-cut reason for lack of performance in a team than Wilks being the reason the Niners Defense has collapsed, which I believe has impacted the Offense as well. This team is predicated on having a great Defense. If it isn't, the team is not going to achieve its championship aspirations.