The San Francisco 49ers are a triumph of coaching. Few expected them to be playing in Super Bowl 54, but here they are, days away from playing the Kansas City Chiefs for the Lombardi Trophy.
There’s two types of coaching to be lauded here, though. Head coach Kyle Shanahan uses a smart, dynamic scheme to create mismatches. He finds ways to get his players the space they need.
Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, meanwhile, hardly makes adjustments. He figured out how his defense, led by a ferocious line, should play and lets them go.
Shanahan has blossomed as a head coach and his scheme took a step forward this year with the addition of a few talented wide receivers that allowed him to show defenses different looks and get matchups he wanted. We wanted to explain how that offense works — while also taking a look and what has made the defense so good.
(All statistics from Sports Info Solutions unless otherwise noted.)
49ERS OFFENSE
A year after playing more 21 personnel (2 RBs, 1 TE, 2 WRs) than any NFL team, the 49ers joined the rest of the league in basing out of 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WRs.) Drafting Deebo Samuel and trading for Emmanuel Sanders gave Kyle Shanahan more talent to work at receiver and he has responded by putting more pass catchers on the field. Still, the 49ers are at their best when FB Kyle Juszczyk is out there with George Kittle, the best blocking tight end in the NFL.
The 49ers passing game is well designed but there isn’t a whole lot going on here after the snap. If Jimmy Garoppolo isn’t taking a deep drop off play-action, he’s mostly likely throwing a quick pass after a short, three-step drop. No full-time starter threw fewer non-play-action passes on five- and seven-step drops. The numbers suggest that’s a wise strategy, as Garoppolo is averaging -0.14 Expected Points Added per dropback on those plays.
Garoppolo is at his best when he can get the ball out of his hand quickly, and that usually requires a good pre-snap read. Shanahan will give his quarterback coverage indicators with motion and formations, and have a man-beating concept to one side and a zone-beating concept to the other. His favorite man-beater is the slant-flat concept, or as Shanahan calls it “Dragon,” which sounds so much cooler.
When the 49ers want to take a shot downfield, that’s when Shanahan will dust off his trusted three-level concepts off of play-action. The offensive line will block as if it’s executing one of the 49ers’ various run concepts, meanwhile, there will be one receiver running deep to occupy the deep defenders and one running to the flat to draw the second-level of the defense. All of that clears out space for a receiver to run an intermediate crossing route. Shanahan has several different variations of this same concept. This one is particularly crafty with George Kittle sneaking through the pass blockers before running his route.
The Shanahans have been torching the league with this concept for decades now.
On designed rollouts off play-action, meanwhile, Garoppolo averaged a ridiculous 0.76 EPA per dropback and produced a success rate of 69%. Both of those numbers led the NFL in 2019.
The Shanahans are known for their love of outside zone — or “wide zone” in their terminology — but Kyle’s run game has grown more diverse over the years. In the NFC title game alone, I charted 13 different concepts.
Now, outside zone is still the foundation of this entire offense, but the 49ers run several different variations. Against the Packers, the variation du jour was the outside zone toss, which allowed RB Raheem Mostert to get downhill quicker. With Kittle and Juszczyk sealing the edge, the 49ers’ speedy group of running backs have no problem getting to the edge.
Teams can’t just gear up to stop outside zone, however. If they do, Shanahan has plenty of counters on his call sheet. One of those counters is a trap play the 49ers have been using more often later in the season. The offensive line will down block and leave the edge defender to the backside unblocked initially before the guard from the opposite side pulls around to block him, which creates a running lane for the back.
The 49ers will also run counter and windback zone against overeager defenses. The goal of every run call Shanahan makes is to create advantageous blocking angles for his offensive line.
You wouldn’t know it by looking at the sack or run numbers, but the 49ers offensive line has not played all that well this season. Missing stalwart LT Joe Staley for a significant chunk of the season contributed to the poor performance, but even when at full strength, none of the five players has looked all that dominant. Luckily, the 49ers have a wizard designing their offense, and Shanahan’s play designs have made his line’s job so much easier. The weak link is clearly RG Mike Person, who struggles to make blocks on the move. C Ben Garland has been solid after replacing the injured Weston Richburg, and he needed to be with how big a role the center plays in Shanahan’s scheme.
49ERS DEFENSE
In terms of personnel usage, the 49ers might be the most uninteresting team in the league. If an offense is playing with only two receivers, defensive coordinator Robert Saleh is going to match with base defense. If the offense adds a third receiver, Saleh will sub out LB Dre Greenlaw, who is more of a gap plugger, and replace him with standout slot corner K’Waun Williams. The 49ers only went to their dime package in the most obvious of passing situations.
The perception of Saleh’s defense is that it’s a clone of Pete Carroll’s scheme during the height of the Legion of Boom. But that’s not necessarily true. Yes, the 49ers play A LOT of zone coverage, but they’re not sitting in Cover 3 all day like those Seahawks teams at the start of the decade. San Francisco is playing a lot of quarters concepts, and they are quite good at them, surrendering -0.66 EPA per dropback. Cover 3 is still Saleh’s favorite coverage, but he’s not using it nearly as much as he has in past years.
The back end of the 49ers defense is stagnant. Richard Sherman is always going to line up on the left, Emmanuel Moseley will man the right side, K’Waun William takes the slot while Jimmie Ward patrols the deep middle and Jaquiski Tartt drops into the box when San Francisco goes single high. Fred Warner and Kwon Alexander occupy the middle of the field. Ward and Tartt will switch responsibilities from time-to-time based on matchup. Ward is better in coverage while Tartt is a harder hitter. The weak link in coverage — relatively speaking, of course, is Moseley. It had been Ahkello Witherspoon, but he lost his starting job to the undrafted free agent.
You’re looking at the deepest defensive line in football. The 49ers have five first-round picks on their defensive line alone, and two of them don’t even start! Rookie DE Nick Bosa is the best pass rusher of the bunch. Dee Ford, who is working his way back from injury, is not far behind but he mostly plays on passing downs. Arik Armstead starts opposite of Bosa as a heavy defensive end whose priority is to stop the run. He’ll move inside next to DeForest Buckner when Ford comes on the field and nose tackle Sheldon Day will go to the sideline.