There are stark differences between the 49ers team that walked away from Dallas with a win and the one that lost to the Green Bay Packers in Week 3 of the season.
Kyle Shanahan believes that his team has gone through a growing process that has served them well throughout the season. The head coach believes the adversity the club faced in the first half of the season has prepared them for what is to come.
“Yeah, I think we’ve gotten hardened as the year goes,” Shanahan said on Thursday. “Sometimes that can be a good thing, sometimes it can be a bad thing. And I feel like with our guys, it’s been a real good thing.”
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SIGN UP HERE The 49ers started out with two straight wins at the beginning of the season and then went on to lose five of their next six matchups. Since then the club has won eight of their last 10 games.
Shanahan believes the cohesion of the group has improved greatly over the course of the season.
“We came out and we were 2-0 at the time, but we weren’t playing our best ball,” Shanahan said. “When you go back and watch that tape, it’s not a lack of effort or anything. It’s just not the level that we’re moving with as a group, you can see some flashes here and there from individuals, but it’s how a team plays together and it’s how you move together.”
The strength of the team has been the defensive line that has become very successful at stopping the run, only allowing 100 yards rushing in one game since Week 10. The defense as a unit allowed an average of 309.8 yards per game during the regular season, which ranked them third in the league.
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DeMeco Ryans should get a lot of credit for the defense performing as well as it has, especially when taking into consideration what players have missed time due to injury. The first-year coordinator has been without key contributors Javon Kinlaw, Dee Ford and Jason Verrett for most of the season.
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Ryans agrees with his head coach that the club has gone through a transition and found their identity.
“It looks like two completely different defenses,” Ryans said on Wednesday. “Just the way we’re moving, the way we’re swarming now, it just looks different. It feels different on film. Many different guys in, but many different guys are still stepping up and making plays for us.”
While Arik Armstead and Nick Bosa are well-known key contributors on the defensive line, there have been new names on the stat sheet. Key pickups like Arden Key, Charles Omenihu and Samson Ebukam have been very productive along with Kentavius Street and Kevin Givens making the 49ers' front one of the most stout in the league.
Through the 17-game regular season, the 49ers' defense ranked fourth in rushing yards per play (5.1). In the last three regular-season contests, the defense only allowed an average of 75.7 yards on the ground which ranks them second, just behind the Tennessee Titans, the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
The passing defense also has been solid, allowing 9.4 yards per completion during the regular season, which ranks them fifth in the NFL.
“When you’re watching last week’s game versus Dallas and then when we go to relive our Green Bay game from earlier in the year, you can see a drastic difference in how we’re moving as a team,” Shanahan said. “And that’s why we’ve been able to turn this around a bit.”
The 49ers have their biggest task ahead in their rematch with MVP favorite quarterback Aaron Rodgers, receiver Davante Adams and running back Aaron Jones at Lambeau Field.