The San Francisco 49ers faced an unexpected challenge on Monday in Minnesota wide receiver Jordan Addison. The rookie had seven catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns against a defense that many believe is one of the best in the NFL. Sixty of those yards came on a touchdown right before halftime, on a play in which Addison took the ball away from veteran cornerback Charvarius Ward and ran away from the defense.
And it won't get any easier on Sunday when the 49ers host a trio of talented Cincinnati receivers in Ja'Marr Chase, Tyler Boyd, and Tee Higgins. Chase is tied for the league lead in receptions with 50 and is the brightest star of the Bengals' receivers. Although he primarily lines up outside, Cincinnati has started moving him around more, including in the slot and even in the backfield. How will the 49ers approach stopping this group of playmakers?
Greg Papa caught up with Kyle Shanahan and asked about facing the Bengals' wide receivers, particularly Chase. "It's tough," Shanahan said. "You don't know where he's going to be. I mean you got to play good zone coverage which takes care of a lot of it, but you also got to mix it up. You play too much zone, that quarterback [Joe Burrow] gets comfortable and he's going to know what to do.
"So there's going to be times that we got to man him up and you'd love to put a lot of people over there but they got two other receivers who are pretty dang good and they got a quarterback who can find about anybody. So it's not a surprise that they were in the Super Bowl last year. They've been a good team for a number of years and I know they started off a little bit slow but this is why they're winning a number of games here in a row and they'll be there in the end, but we got to make sure we set them back this week."
Chase is a special player. He's very familiar with Burrow, the two having played together at LSU. He's continued to develop in the NFL and is one of the game's best pass-catchers. But that doesn't mean Shanahan's defense, which has not played its best in recent weeks, won't be up for the challenge.
"I mean that's not too much for our defense. I think that's a little different when you play someone like New England, who's going to match people all the time. Ours is a little bit different, just our scheme and stuff, so that stuff doesn't stress us out too much. But you got to expect that every week. This day and age, if you got a good player, that player is never staying in one spot. Guys are going to move that guy around and everyone's going to have to deal with them."
But Chase isn't the only threat in the Bengals passing game. Boyd is primarily Burrow's slot receiver and he is good at getting separation at the position. But they move him around a lot, as they do Chase. And Higgins is a talented receiver in his own right. This is perhaps the league's top core of wide receivers, and the 49ers can't only focus on Chase.
"No, I thought Boyd and Higgins have had their share where they're some of the two better receivers in this league," said Shanahan. "I think they've been underrated for their whole careers. And then Ja'Marr came, and as a rookie, I mean, everyone knows how good he was, so he gets it. But those other two guys are as good of football players as it gets. They can move the chains, they can go deep, and all three of them can play all those spots."
The 49ers secondary will have their hands full on Sunday. Cornerbacks Ward, Deommondore Lenoir, and Isaiah Oliver weren't at their best on Monday night in Minnesota, but now will be thrown back into the fire, and need to bounce back against maybe their biggest challenge of the season. The 49ers' pass rush can help the secondary by putting a lot of pressure on Burrow. But that won't be easy. The Cincinnati QB gets rid of the ball in only 2.46 seconds, the third fastest in the league.
The 49ers have lost their last two games and look to avoid going into the bye week on a three-game losing streak.