Tatum Bethune stepped into an impossible situation on Sunday.
The 49ers’ linebacker was tasked with doing something few people could claim to be able to do: step in for the game’s best player at the position, Fred Warner, following his season-ending fractured and dislocated ankle.
Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t pretty for the 49ers after Warner left the game. Bethune is a player the 49ers like who has shown promise in the preseason and in brief regular-season action since being drafted in the seventh round in 2024, but it was always going to be a tall order to ask him to effectively replace Warner at middle linebacker at a moment’s notice.
Warner is the best linebacker in the game, not just because of his incredible athletic ability and his extraordinary play in pass coverage, but also because he possesses an acute understanding of where he and his teammates need to be on each play and how the rules and responsibilities change when the offense gives the 49er defense a different look pre-snap.
And his absence was most apparent on a touchdown for the Buccaneers with 50 seconds left in the second quarter, which saw Kameron Johnson left wide open down the right sideline for an easy 34-yard touchdown.
It came after Johnson had gone in pre-snap motion that changed the strength of the Tampa Bay formation to the right side, with the failure of the 49ers to adjust giving Johnson a walk-in score.
San Francisco, which dropped defensive end Bryce Huff into coverage on a look that had Upton Stout pass rush from the secondary, ended up with doubles on the running back and the tight end, but nobody on Johnson, a breakdown CBS color commentator Tony Romo attributed to the devastating blow of losing Warner.
Asked about that assessment, head coach Kyle Shanahan accepted it, but expressed confidence Bethune will be in a better place to make those adjustments as he steps in for Warner the rest of the way.
“Yeah, I think that’s fair on that one. You have a change of strength motion and someone’s peeling for a back and it’s a real tough one that a bunch of different things to go through it, but it’s something like, Tatum had a lot on his plate. He came in and I thought he did a lot of good things getting us lined up, but I think that’s something he’ll be a lot more ready for next week getting all the reps and things like that. No one can be as good as Fred at those types of things, but that’s something I expect Tatum to be able to handle in the future.”
It is a big-time vote of confidence for Bethune from Shanahan. The 49ers aren’t about to parachute another veteran linebacker in to take on the mental load; they are going to stick with Bethune and WILL linebacker Dee Winters and trust them to take positive strides not only in how they diagnose the play as it is happening, but in how they read what is happening in front of them pre-snap.
While the Niners may yet trade for a pass rusher to help take some of the pressure off the back seven by creating more disruption up front, there is a lot riding on Bethune vindicating Shanahan’s faith.
For a 4-2 team that has a legitimate shot at the playoffs, given the talent the 49ers have on offense, sticking with an inexperienced pair of starting linebackers is a gamble. They will soon gain an idea as to the likely results of that bet in Week 7 when they face a team in the Atlanta Falcons that ranks fifth in the use of pre-snap motion (37.8%) this season, per Sumer Sports.
Yet the 49ers have made no secret of their desire to have a younger roster. As such, they were never likely to compromise their future by throwing draft picks at this new problem. For better or for worse, the 49ers are sticking with what they’ve got, and how Bethune fares in learning from his biggest Week 6 miscue will reveal a lot about what the 49ers have at linebacker behind the best in the business.
About the Author: Insidethe49
