Colton McKivitz's debut as the 49ers' starting right tackle was one to forget.
The seven-year pro surrendered three quarterback sacks, one hit and one hurry in the 49ers' 30-7 Week 1 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium.
McKivitz received an abysmal 45.0 Pro Football Focus grade and struggled to contain Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt. He will be tested yet again in Week 2 against a Los Angeles Rams defensive line that features three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald.
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In speaking to reporters after practice on Thursday, 49ers run game coordinator/offensive line coach Chris Foerster expressed his confidence in McKivitz and does not envision any changes to the veteran tackle's preparation for San Francisco's matchup with Los Angeles on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.
“Same things as always. There's no change. Nothing's changed," Foerster told reporters. "So, the same reason you get beat on Sundays, the same reason you get beat in August. The same reason you get beat in April. They're all the same things. There's no, oh gosh, this happened now. We'll fix this. No, it's the same points of emphasis. And during the course of a game, a guy can fall back off and fall back into bad habits. Or a guy can just, in the course of a game, lose sight of it. He needs to set a little bit deeper or set a little bit wider, or he's pulling back his outside hand too quickly.
"There's a hundred different things, but it's no different than you just look at it and go, this is what's wrong. And it's that simple. It's simple, but it's not easy to do and to perform when you're in the heat of battle against a great rush or a silent count, all the things that went into the game, but no excuses, that's what we have to do."
Success in the NFL, especially for an offensive lineman, is not linear and Foerster knows McKivitz never will be perfect.
San Francisco 49ers
"There's nothing like, there's no, 'oh, hey Colton, now we'll go out and now that will never happen again.' Shoot. No, it's going to happen again," Foerster explained. "It's the same things that when Trent [Williams] struggles with something, it's the same stuff. It's all the same. It's very rare that a guy stops having whatever his Achilles heel is, it's going to kind of stick around for his whole career. It's hard to finally put it to bed. You're always going to have something in you that you have to continue to address, and sometimes new things crop up.”
Fortunately for McKivitz and the 49ers, the mistakes he made in Week 1 are easily correctable and Foerster will work to help him make the necessary adjustments before Sunday's game.
“When a guy runs around the corner on you, there's a lot of different reasons for it," Foerster added. "Sometimes it's because you don't sit deep enough. Sometimes it's because you lean at the point of contact. Sometimes it's because you don't use your outside hand properly. Sometimes it's because you do something with your footwork. Sometimes it's you reach across with your inside hand too quick. I mean, I could go down a list of 15 things, 20 things that all of them could lead to a guy turning the corner and spinning at the top and getting the pressures that he got from that, which is how he rushed the passer, which is what you work on, which is really hard to replicate during the week.
"But as the game goes on, you would hope that it would get better. And it just didn't. We just didn't make those steps during the game that you hoped to make. But a great learning experience for him and for our team. And obviously, it has to be better, and we’ll keep working to make it better.”
The NFL's best pass rushers, such as Watt, Donald and 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa, are capable of singlehandedly wreaking havoc on an opposing team's offensive line, and oftentimes fans will jump to point fingers in the aftermath of a stellar defensive performance, as 49ers general manager John Lynch pointed out in an interview with KNBR 680's "Murph & Mac" on Friday.
"We have a lot of faith in Colton ... there's a lot of tackles after they face Nick Bosa, their fanbase is probably wondering 'can this guy play?' T.J. Watt is an unbelievable player and an unbelievable competitor, he put on a show the other day," Lynch explained. "I think Colton will respond. We've got a lot of belief in him, a lot of faith and a lot of faith in our O-line. It was Week 1, these guys will continue to get better. The one thing they can't do is let it hit their confidence, they gotta respond. And we believe Colton has that makeup, as do the other guys on our team."
One game is not indicative of how McKivitz's season will go, and the 27-year-old will be eager to bounce back on Sunday.