The offense was not pretty once it crossed the 20-yard line last year

No matter who was playing quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers in 2018, the red zone offense wasn’t pretty. For the entire season, the team finished dead last in red zone touchdown percentage at 41%. When Jimmy Garoppolo was under center, the offense was 5-12, which is also 41%. It wasn’t just one persons fault. I saw everything from penalties to fumbles to guys simply not getting open. I’ll use one example with each QB. That seems fair.

The issue

Have to block somebody

The first game of the season the 49ers offense couldn’t budge the Minnesota Vikings front. Here’s how the sequence went: It’s third down and one. Alfred Morris struggles but gets just enough for a first. It’s now first and goal from the four. Weston Richburg doesn’t block anybody and Mike Person gets beat. Gain of one. Next play, the offense gets bailed out by a defensive holding call after nobody could get open and Jimmy G takes a sack. But it’s now first and goal from the one. Laken Tomlinson pulls but forgets to block the linebacker and Morris is met at the line for no gain. The next play Joshua Garnett gets tossed out of the way like a rag doll and his man hits Morris and he fumbles.

This was one of the ugliest sequences you’ll see from an offense. Up front, the interior offensive line just looked overmatched in each short yardage situation. While this was just the first game, the offense finished 18th in short-yardage run situations on third and fourth down. They were 16th in plays where the running back was tackled either at or the line of scrimmage. A healthy backfield will help. The team has plenty of guys that can create for themselves. They line needs to be tougher and more physical up front.

Go-to Receiver

One thing I saw teams do on third and five or more was flood the middle of the field and make somebody on the perimeter beat them. Take away George Kittle and force someone else to get open, essentially. Check this play out from Week 8 against the Arizona Cardinals.

Starting at the top of the screen, Marquise Goodwin doesn’t even get to the sticks on his route, let alone gets open. The zone the Cardinals are in all but takeaway the other two routes to that side. Because the 49ers needed to gain seven yards, the linebacker to Kittle’s side didn’t have to respect the underneath route out of the backfield by Kyle Juszczyk.

There were plenty of times where Kittle was wide open on third down, but didn’t even get targeted. Check out this play below. It’s third and two:

How do you not even look Kittle’s way!

When Dante Pettis was down, the other receivers really struggled to get open on third down when they weren’t schemed open. That’s likely why we’ll see the 49ers add another target on the perimeter on Day 2 of the draft. Plays like this are likely why the team is interested in strong receivers like N’Keal Harry and Deebo Samuel.

Time to improve the timing

What is pretty clear in these clips and just watching the red zone offense is that the timing was off on a lot of their passing routes. The play above with Marquise Goodwin is a timing issue. He gets jammed at the line, and the timing of the entire play is off. That’s what happens when you have a backup QB playing. Garoppolo was far from perfect, he had some misses and held on to the ball too long. Garoppolo has that gunslinger mentality with a release that is as quick as it gets. Jimmy G knowing where to go with the ball should improve the teams red zone deficiencies.

It’s tough to read too much into the 49ers offense last year with all of the injuries. They But health matters. “Your best ability is your availability.” It’d be nice to see Garoppolo and the receivers build a rapport with each other. The offense was 15th in red zone opportunities per game last year. Kyle Shanahan is a wizard. He’ll need healthy bodies, 11 players on the same page, and a receiver not named Kittle to be a consistent threat if the 49ers are going to take the next step in 2019.