The 49er defensive line’s first game without Nick Bosa following his season-ending ACL injury could hardly have gone any worse.
San Francisco failed to register even a quarterback hit on Trevor Lawrence as the 49ers suffered their first defeat of the 2025 season, going down 26-21 to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Asked about those pass rush struggles in his Monday conference call, head coach Kyle Shanahan essentially summed up the conundrum the 49ers now face with the former Defensive Player of the Year out of the lineup.
Shanahan said:
“We didn’t blitz a ton in the game. When we did, there was pressure and he got rid of it. I would love to have gotten more on him, but I thought they did a good job of getting rid of it quick and when they didn’t I thought we had four-man rushes where they were chipping and had double teams, so depend a little bit more on coverage that way. Always want to get more pass rush, but wasn’t a huge concern of that game.”
Shanahan encapsulated the problem the 49ers have in Bosa’s absence. Their consistency in being able to get home with four pass rushers is severely hampered without Bosa, and there is inherent danger in blitzing quarterbacks who can process quickly and get the ball out in a hurry.
And in their upcoming game against the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday, the 49ers will face a quarterback in Matthew Stafford who has been one of the best against the blitz this season.
Indeed, Stafford has completed 64.4% of his throws against the blitz this season, averaging 9.2 yards per attempt and racking up 412 yards with three touchdowns and one interception, per Pro Football Focus. He ranks tied third among quarterbacks with at least 10 dropbacks against the blitz in big-time throw rate (8.3%) when blitzed.
With Bosa unavailable to them, the 49ers may have no choice than to send extra rushers at Stafford, but the 49ers would be in significant danger of being burned if they do so and line up in man coverage against an offense featuring Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.
There is no easy answer to the issues Bosa’s injury has created for the 49ers. They will hope Week 4 was just a one-off and that the defensive line can get home with four on a consistent basis in the weeks to come. If that doesn’t happen, then the 49ers may be more inclined to pursue a trade for another defensive end, unless they are ready to get a lot more aggressive with their pressure packages.
