The 49ers dropped another game by one score late in the fourth quarter after leading before their opponent's final drive. It was the third such game since week six at Green Bay that the 49ers defense has given up the go-ahead score to lose the game after leading. Yet again the defense was the victim of its own mistakes, giving up two big conversions due to coverage miscues as the Giants were driving with fewer than three minutes to play. While the 49ers offense threw two interceptions of its own, the defense failed to cause any turnovers. It was unable to get any pressure on Giants quarterback Eli Manning, racking up just one sack, highlighting the need this off-season to build a solid pass rush. It held rookie sensation Saquon Barkley to under 100 yards rushing (67) but gave...

The San Francisco 49ers hosted the New York Giants in a battle of last-place teams on Monday Night Football in Week 10, losing 27-23 in the prime-time bout amid yet another fourth-quarter collapse. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Nick Mullens went through his expected regression on Monday Night Football against the New York Giants, not quite having the same kind of easy success he enjoyed during his NFL debut against the Oakland Raiders in Week 9. Yet Mullens isn't entirely to blame for the Niners' fourth-quarter collapse to the previously one-win Giants, who used a confused and penalty-riddled San Francisco defensive stand late in the fourth quarter to take a 27-23 lead over the 49ers. And despite a desperate comeback attempt by Mullens, head coach...

The San Francisco 49ers host the one-win New York Giants on Monday Night Football in Week 10, and the first possible Niners winning streak this season could happen based off these three X-factors in the contest. It's hard to think the San Francisco 49ers are actually in a position to pull off back-to-back wins for the first time in 2018. And given their opponent for Week 10 on Monday Night Football, the one-win New York Giants, there's a real possibility that happens for head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. Coming off an impressive, one-sided 34-3 win over the Oakland Raiders well over a week ago, the Niners should be pretty rested and prepared for the contest. Granted, New York is coming off its own bye. But the Giants traveled out west, while San...

Eighteenth and nineteenth-century sailors setting forth on a global voyage faced plenty of peril: scurvy, pirates and mythical sea monsters. But getting stuck in the doldrums, where the trade winds die, left boats floating aimlessly under a scorching sun and cloudless sky. After days or weeks of a slow meander, the breeze would finally return and filled the sail with enough air to push the men back on course. Last week, the Bay Area wind blew into Santa Clara, and riding its back was an undrafted quarterback from Southern Mississippi. Some may discount quarterback Nick Mullens' huge victory because the Oakland Raiders currently reign atop a mountain of industrial waste, but that's a hollow argument. Mullens' leadership reenergized a...

San Francisco 49ers running back Matt Breida could be in for a leading role on the NFL's biggest stage this Monday. The 49ers are set to play the New York Giants on Monday Night Football and the matchup is a good one for the 49ers' leading rusher to get back on track. Breida has been playing hurt in recent weeks. This has lead to a falling off of sorts. In the past three games Breida has just 33 carries for 101 yards. The 3.06 yards per carry he's averaged in those games is far below the 5.53 he's averaged on the season. Breida began the season on a high note. He was named the the NFL's FedEx Ground Player of the Week in Week Two when he ran for 135 yards. Thanks to the big performance, he was the league's leading rusher following Week Two. Injuries have robbed...

The 49ers are not scheduled to be one of the NFL franchises with a scout in attendance when Mississippi State becomes the latest team to try to stop the Alabama juggernaut, but San Francisco's talent evaluators should still have a close eye on the performance of one Bulldog player in Tuscaloosa. Last Thursday's victory over the Oakland Raiders and a softer schedule over the coming weeks could see the Niners out of the Nick Bosa sweepstakes, with Nick Mullens providing renewed hope of some further wins that would move San Francisco away from the top pick in next year's draft. If Bosa is out of their reach, the 49ers will need to look to the other edge rushers in a loaded class, and Mississippi State's Montez Sweat is a member of that class who many believe to be...

Hot take alert: George Kittle is having a break out year and is one of the best tight ends in the league, maybe even the best. He's currently the seventh ranked run blocker among tight ends and the fifth ranked receiving tight end per Pro Football Focus' grades. He's already surpassed his rookie season totals in receiving yards, touchdowns, and yards per game. The underrated aspect of Kittle's game is his ability to run block, a skill set that doesn't necessarily show up in game day broadcasts due to the camera angle and the nature of the audience to follow the ball carrier rather than individual blocking assignments. While...

The San Francisco 49ers are coming off their most dominating win this season over a completely dismantled and broken Raiders squad, led by an inspiring performance from Nick "BDN" Mullens and a successfully aggressive pass rush. The Niners will look to keep the momentum going against another bottom dwelling team in the New York Giants under the bright lights of Monday Night Football. Here we discuss the odds and analysis from a betting perspective. When: Monday November 12, 2018 at 5:15 PM PST (ESPN) Where: Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California Line: 49ers -3, total at...

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Marquise Goodwin was expected by many to have his first 1,000 yard season this year. Due to injuries, that is very unlikely to happen. Through nine games, Goodwin has just 13 receptions and 270 yards but that doesn't mean he hasn't had his bright spots. For starters, he's only played in seven of those games and has missed large portions of others. Even in the games he has played, he's been limited by hamstring and quad injuries. Despite being hampered, he is seventh in the league in average target yards (minimum 23 targets) according to the NFL's Next Gen Stats. With 15.6 yards, Goodwin's average target distance falls just behind the Los Angeles Chargers' Tyrell Williams and just in front of the Detroit Lions' Marvin Jones. There...

The 49ers won the final Battle of the Bay series against the Oakland Raiders in a Thursday Night Football prime time matchup by a final score of 34-3. The final nail in the coffin came at the hands of Nick Mullens, the 49ers third string quarterback and regular member of the practice squad. Raiders head coach John Gruden was less than thrilled as he could be seen on the sideline with many of his signature "Chucky" facial expressions. Mullens got the start in place of injured quarterback C.J. Beathard after it was revealed that he injured his throwing hand last Sunday in the loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Throughout the short practice week he was unable to grip and throw a football until Thursday. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said Beathard's status was truly going to be a last...

San Francisco 49ers second year tight end George Kittle is having one of heck of a season. Going into Sunday's Week 9 games, Kittle leads all tight ends with 692 yards. That puts him on pace to set the franchise record for receiving yards by a tight end and become the first in team history to surpass 1,000 yards in a season. The potential historic significance of his season doesn't end with team records. Kittle is averaging 76.89 yards per game, putting him on pace for 1,230 this season. That would give him the sixth most receiving yards by a tight end in NFL history. The record is within reach if he can do just a bit more. The New England Patriots Rob Gronkowski set the record in 2011 with 1,327 yards. Side note: the second season seems to randomly be the key to big tight...

Like most teams, much of the chatter surrounding the San Francisco 49ers this season has centered on the quarterback position. Unlike most teams, the 49ers discussion involves more than one quarterback. Until Thursday, the conversation was between C.J. Beathard and Jimmy Garoppolo. While Nick Mullens broke out in a big way this week there is not enough info that can be gathered from one game, especially against the Oakland Raiders, to statistically analyze his performance. For Beathard and Garoppolo there is enough data, if only barely. Neither has played enough to get a complete picture but some info can be gleaned by looking at the advanced statistics. The traditional stats don't show much of a difference between Beathard and Garoppolo. Many know...

The San Francisco 49ers took advantage of a lackluster Oakland Raiders defense in Week 9, riding the surprisingly hot hand of quarterback Nick Mullens to a 34-3 lopsided win. Let's grade out the Niners' efforts after a victory for a change. Well, who would have guessed an unproven quarterback like Nick Mullens would end the San Francisco 49ers' losing streak? But that's what happened, as Mullens' three touchdowns on Thursday Night Football against the Oakland Raiders prompted the Niners' 34-3 victory and second win of 2018. Mullens, who was filling in for an injured C.J. Beathard (wrist), wasn't San Francisco's only impressive performance of note, however. The defense, after registering just 16 sacks over the first eight weeks of the...

Preseason is often boring and rarely important, but it can throw up some fun, if completely meaningless, finishes. The 49ers were treated to such not so tense finales as 'Mullens magic' took hold in the exhibition season. It was a more innocent time, with Mullens' comeback against the Dallas Cowboys and almost comebacks against the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Chargers amusing precursors to what was expected to be an intriguing first full season with Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback. It was fun and completely irrelevant and if fans sticking through each game until the end wasn't bonkers, this British writer staying up until 6am to do so certainly was. Expect now we know it wasn't. As it turns out, the time watching Mullens work his magic was time well spent....

The San Francisco 49ers host the Oakland Raiders in Week 9 on Thursday Night Football, and this "epic" battle between two one-win teams still features some notable storylines at the halfway point of the 2018 season. When the NFL schedule makers were drawing up the 2018 NFL calendar, they likely thought both the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders would be trending upwards and vying for playoff berths by the time of their Week 9 prime-time bout on Thursday Night Football kicked off. Well, that's not going to happen. Both teams have managed just one win this season. But as Niners Nation's Akash Anavarathan pointed out,...

The Arizona Cardinals completed the season sweep of the 49ers in Glendale, Arizona on Sunday with an 18-15 win during the final minutes of the Week Eight game. It was yet another loss by one score, the 49ers' fifth such game of the season and 13th such game since last season. It's becoming harder and harder to find the positive amidst the constant stream of consistently negative aspects that befall the team week after week: the turnovers, dropped passes, missed blocks, sacks, interceptions, missed tackles, blown coverages, and injuries. The 49ers have experienced it all in their race toward the number one overall pick. They'll likely be targeting the much-coveted premier pass rusher they desperately need to boost their pass rush against the NFC West. Through...

The San Francisco 49ers gave away a 12-point fourth quarter lead to the worst offense in the NFL, blew their chance to tie with an errant snap and once again lost in excruciating fashion in Arizona on Sunday. Now on a short week, the Niners will continue their part of the schedule against the worst teams in the NFL as they take on the equally hapless Oakland Raiders in the football version of the Battle of the Bay on Thursday. Here we discuss the odds and analysis from a betting perspective. When: Thursday November 1st, 2018 at 5:20pm PST (FOX/NFL) Where: Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California Line: 49ers -3, total at 46.5 Oakland Raiders Since their trade of...

The San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals didn't exactly get out to a high-scoring affair in Week 8, ending in yet another woeful loss and a 18-15 defeat. Let's break down the positional grades for each 49ers unit. If you were looking for an offensive feature, the Week 8 contest between the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals wasn't for you. But if you were looking at yet another Niners fourth-quarter collapse, well... Quarterback C.J. Beathard looked nothing like a signal-caller moderately capable of putting his team in a position to win. Three first-half sacks, of which at least two were on Beathard, indicated his pocket presence hadn't improved at all and the game would be a struggle for him under center over all four quarters. He finished the...

The San Francisco 49ers look to avenge an ugly, turnover-prone loss to the Arizona Cardinals earlier this season when both teams face off again on Oct. 28. For the Niners, chances for a win fall upon these three elements. The San Francisco 49ers should have beat the Arizona Cardinals back in Week 5. Instead, five turnovers ultimately led to the Niners' 28-18 loss to the previously winless Cardinals at Levi's Stadium. And outside that ugly number, which has been a problem for San Francisco all year, head coach Kyle Shanahan's squad absolutely dominated a rebuilding Arizona group. At 1-6, both teams are bad, sure. But the 49ers offense has come nowhere close to experiencing the same kinds of problems as the Cardinals, who fired offensive coordinator Mike McCoy...

It's safe to say that almost no football fan or expert predicted a complete regression of the 2018 San Francisco 49ers. After closing out the 2017 season on a high wave, the expectation for the first .500 season since 2014 felt inevitable. Unfortunately, due to multiple injuries and a roster that lacks depth, the team is plagued with fundamental errors on both sides of the ball. Today, Pro Football Focus ranks the 49ers' defense dead last with a 53.5-grade. Last season, the team finished with an overall 70.9 defensive grade, though it ranked 29th overall. The blowout loss to the Los Angeles Rams added more fuel to an already raging inferno, and lead to more questions about if and when defensive coordinator Robert Saleh would be handed his walking...