Seahawks week 10: 6 questions about the 49ers with Niner Noise
By Lee Vowell
What makes the 49ers so good?
12th Man Rising: The 49ers are the last undefeated team in the NFL. What has made this team so special this season and can the team hold up well against some tough games left on its schedule?
Peter Panacy: There’s no shortage of content out there suggesting the 49ers “haven’t beaten anybody.” But aside from a couple of narrow wins, the Niners have largely pummeled their opponents. All one needs to do is look at the Weeks 5 and 6 games against the Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Rams, respectively, to learn that.
It’s impossible to overlook the defensive line, which boasts five first-round NFL Draft picks — Nick Bosa, Dee Ford, DeForest Buckner, Arik Armstead and Solomon Thomas — all playing in a rotation. This has kept them mostly fresh, highly effective against the pass, which has alleviated a lot of pressure on the secondary. And this wasn’t the case at all last year.
Flipping the script, head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense is still a run-first scheme, and that attack has worked wonderfully well this season. You can see the 49ers take control of games in the second half, thanks largely to the run game wearing down opponents’ defenses. Like the defensive line, the Niners have kept their runners fresh, splitting time between running backs Matt Breida, Tevin Coleman and even Raheem Mostert. It seems as if, almost every week, one of those three ends up having a huge game.