49ers’ Bosa, Warner take responsibility for defense’s failings in Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS – Nick Bosa, clad only in a white towel around his waist, made an important stop on his way to the 49ers’ showers after Monday night’s 22-17 defeat to the Vikings.
Bosa stood next to Fred Warner’s locker and had a 5-minute, state-of-the-defense chat, while Warner sat glumly in his full uniform in front of his locker.
Their words were hushed, their body language minimal, and yet their intention was obvious: Fix this defense before things snowball beyond a two-game skid.
“I think me and him try to take as much of the brunt of failure, being who we are, the leaders that we try to be,” Bosa said at the media podium. “We were just kind of talking about that.”
Bosa and Warner are the homegrown All-Pros who are supposed to lead the 49ers’ defense and franchise into Super Bowl contention. Bosa is to produce sacks as the NFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback, and Warner is to quarterback a unit beyond just hyping up their huddle.
They both know this, and that is why they had an impromptu man-to-man summit postgame, just as reporters were entering the U.S. Bank Stadium’s visiting locker room.
“Just kind of debriefing,” Bosa described it. “Both of us had our moments, had some good drives, had some bad ones, had some missed tackles between me and him.”
Warner took a while longer to change and address the media before delivering a similar message, about “finding a way to win, no matter what. Me and (Bosa) obviously just have got to be better for the team and find ways to make more plays.”
Bosa did not produce a sack for the fourth game this season. He wasn’t alone in that regard. The 49ers did not sack Kirk Cousins all night, and he diced up the defense for 378 yards on 35-of-45 passing.
Some of those successful passes came Warner’s way into the middle of the field. Some cleverly combated blitz calls from first-year defensive coordinator Steve Wilks.
This much is clear through seven games (and two defeats): The 49ers’ defense is regressing rather than impressing.
“We’ve shown obviously what we’re capable of, like our best version of ourselves,” Warner said. “But at the end of the day, I want our mental toughness to go up.
“I want to win in any form or fashion,” Warner added. “I don’t care if it’s ugly. Like, ‘All right, we’ll figure it out later on, but let’s find a way to get this done.’ ”
The most criticized blitz came on Jordan Addison’s 60-yard touchdown reception against Charvarius Ward’s single coverage (and no safety help) seven seconds before halftime for a 16-7 Vikings’ lead. Another bad blitz came nine minutes earlier, when two extra defenders rushed in and Cousins lobbed a screen pass that panned out for a 30-yard catch-and-run to the 2-yard line.
Bosa said of the blitzes: “It definitely works out sometimes. I’m not used to it. We’re usually a rush-four kind of team and it’s a little different this year.”
When Wilks was hired, the perception was that the 49ers would blitz more, so this is not alarming. What is troubling is how exposed, inefficient and vulnerable that defense becomes with every blown assignment or missed tackle.
While Bosa hasn’t racked up sacks like last season, when he led the NFL with 18 ½, the 49ers’ other defensive ends have been more futile, with a still-in-flux combination of Clelin Ferrell, Drake Jackson and Randy Gregory.
Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell rightfully praised his offensive tackles, Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill, for their work against the 49ers’ vaunted pass rush: “If you’re not locked in in one moment it can be catastrophically bad. Tackles have been really, really good all year for us, but to answer the bell like they did tonight, I can’t say enough about CD and Brian O’Neill for what they mean to this team.”
The 49ers’ defenders were aghast at their own play but also very respectful of Cousins.
“Cousins is a really good quarterback,” Bosa said. “He was making some good checks against our looks.”
Defensive tackle Arik Armstead, the 49ers’ longest-tenured player in Year 9, said: “This isn’t our standard. We expect to dominate games, and be able to put our team on our back in certain situations, and get off the field, and we didn’t do that.”
The 49ers have a short week now to prepare for Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals (3-3) and quarterback Joe Burrow.
“We have a great opponent coming into town, and if you let things dwell, they can spiral,” Armstead said. “So we have to learn from it, flush it, then move on to Cincinnati.”
On to Cincinnati, indeed.
“Obviously we have a big game coming up against the Bengals at home,” Warner added. “We’ve got to get this must-win.”