It may seem like there was nothing good to take away from last weekend's embarrassing 43-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins, but that's not how head coach Kyle Shanahan sees it.
"There was so much stuff that we did bad that is fixable," Shanahan told NBC Sports Bay Area this week. "And surprisingly, there was a number of encouraging things. (I know) that would be hard to believe, and I know people don't totally want to hear that."
An embarrassing defeat like that is challenging for any fan to overlook. This week has seemingly been about placing blame via social media. The 49ers, however, are moving forward. Shanahan didn't review much of that loss with his team this week. He left that to his assistant coaches. But there were encouraging things upon which the team can build.
One of those encouraging things was Raheem Mostert's performance. The running back had missed two games with an MCL sprain and looked like his regular self against the Dolphins.
Once again, Mostert had an absurdly high average yards per carry. He averaged 8.18 yards per attempt on his way to 90 rushing yards on 11 carries.
Mostert also had three receptions for 29 yards, bringing his total yards up to 119. He has racked up over 100 total yards in each of his three game appearances this season.
"He was very impressive," Shanahan said of his featured running back. "He looked like he picked up right where he left off. I mean, he's got a chance to take it the distance every time when we give him a good lane, and he was going for that every time. And he was running physical too, breaking tackles and going. I'm sick that I didn't get him the ball more.
"But yeah, I was happy with our run game. I have our analytics people tell me stuff all the time. They give me a printout. They said, for whatever it's worth, that was the most efficient run stats in situations we've had since like 1980-something. I know we've ran the ball pretty well here in the last few years. So whatever that stands for, I don't know, but it felt that way."
Shanahan didn't have an opportunity to continue his ground assault. By halftime, the 49ers were down 30-7, and the coach had pulled quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who struggled with the ankle injury he sustained weeks earlier.
"I felt like we could run the ball pretty well, and I definitely got away from it for some obvious reasons," Shanahan continued. "I can't do that. We've got to make sure no matter what the score happens (to be), I balance it out, and give us a chance to do what we do best, and also take some of that pressure off the O-line and the quarterback."
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By David Bonilla
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