WHAT WE LEARNED: NFL WEEK 8

BY ADAM GREENE

We’ve had a busy week already. Here’s what we’re talking about.

THE TRADE DEADLINE WAS TUESDAY AT 4 PM

Here’s what all went down before the deadline.

The Buffalo Bills acquired cornerback Rasul Douglas from the Green Bay Packers

The Detroit Lions got wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones form the Cleveland Browns

The Washington Commanders traded edge rusher Chase Young to the San Francisco 49ers (and we’ll be talking more about the Niners, later) and traded defensive lineman Montez Sweat to the Chicago Bears

The Vikings acquired Joshua Dobbs from the Arizona Cardinals and traded Ezra Cleveland to the Jacksonville Jaguars

The Philadelphia Eagles traded defensive lineman Kentavius Street to the Atlanta Falcons

The New York Giants traded defensive lineman Leonard Williams to the Seattle Seahawks

Earlier last week, the Tennessee Titans traded safety Kevin Byard to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for safety Terrell Edmunds

THE SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS ARE BROKEN

Ok, here’s where we are. The San Francisco 49ers were widely considered to be one of the two or three best teams in the NFL just a month ago. I was one of those people that wrote, said and thought that. Over the last three weeks, the wheels have completely exited the vehicle.

We’ll get to Brock Purdy in a minute, make no mistake. Unless you’re Brock Purdy, then you’re incapable of not making a mistake, but I digress. The biggest issue I see is the budding dysfunction of the 49ers defense, specifically that of defensive coordinator Steve Wilks and his relationship to Kyle Shanahan.

To say that Wilks, who did a fine job in Carolina last season as its interim head coach, has been a let down after the Niners’ last two defensive coordinators — Robert Saleh and DeMeco Ryans, is an understatement. But this problem has only shown up in their three consecutive losses. Whatever Shanahan didn’t like as San Fran opened 5-0, he kept it to himself. Now, he’s just talking publicly about forcing Wilks out of the coaches’ box, a place where the defensive coordinator prefers to call a defense, albeit this season, apparently poorly.

“It just takes the emotion out of the game for me, where I can always try to stay ahead of the down,” Wilks said in back in August. “I prefer in the box. And another reason why I prefer to be in the box is because of the level of coaching on the field. I have a great level of trust that things are getting done down there.”

Of course, if Wilks was doing the job Shanahan wanted, the job that Saleh and Ryans did (who both coached from the sidelines), then this would not have come up publicly. And Shanahan wouldn’t have made it clear, in the media, that he wants Wilks down with him and the players on the field. In their 5-0 start, the Niners allowed 267 yards per game. Over their three losses, 395.3 yards per game.

“I think all that stuff’s a little bit overrated,” Shanahan told KNBR. “There’s pluses and minuses to both. I was a coordinator for a long time, and I was on the field for eight of my nine years calling plays, and I was in the box one year. And I loved being in the box for that one year. And the reason was, I enjoyed having a chair and a desk, because you’re thinking so much, you’re writing stuff down, and, man, is it nice to have a table there, to have everyone away, and kind of always organizing your thoughts and writing stuff, and it can help you call a game better. There’s also times that, man, I need to talk to this dude, and I don’t feel like talking to him on the phone. I need to look him in his eyes and have a conversation with him. There’s stuff about that I missed. So, I don’t ever think that’s the answer or what’s wrong.”

Shanahan backed off his comments so as not to treat it like a criticism, but it’s crazy to think that Wilks’ seat isn’t getting a little hot.

“Now, I have talked to Steve about possibly coming down,” Shanahan said. “One thing I do love about Steve is I think he’s a man, he’s a leader of men. And I would love, in some instances, to have him down there, to be able to address some guys certain ways, and things like that. And when you do that, there are always stuff you lose from being up top. So there are pluses and minuses to both.”

Calls to fire Wilks are already starting. Sports Illustrated ’s Grant Cohn penned an editorial calling for it Monday and former 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman said that the team should strip Wilks of his play calling job.

Wilks and his inability to implement the Niners Wide 9 defense is only part of this team’s sudden fall. The other is none other than Mr. Irrelevant himself and he guy San Francisco faithful were ready to declare the next Joe Montana, Brock “not so Purdy anymore” himself.

The end of Purdy’s Cinderella story began in the Niners’ first loss to the Cleveland Browns, 19-17,a team they are significantly more talented than and one that was, at the time (and still is) quarterbacked by PJ Walker. Purdy was terrible, completing 37 percent of his passes and throwing a pick, but, hey, everybody can have a bad day.

The next week, Purdy tossed two interceptions in a 22-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Last week, it was another two picks against the Cincinnati Bengals in a 31-17 blowout loss. Teams are loading up to stop the run, so McCaffrey isn’t getting loose. Brandon Aiyuk remains uncoverable and George Kittle is, at worst, the second best tight end in the league. Against the Bengals, both Kittle and Aiyuk were over 100 yards and McCaffrey, though bottled up in the run game, still caught six passes for 64 yards and a touchdown.

So, what’s the problem? Is an injured Deebo Samuel, a guy that last had a 100-yard game on Sep. 21, that important that he’s caused Purdy’s glass slipper to shatter and put everyone’s eye out within a 15-foot radius?

Samuel is a multipurpose weapon, but the dude has never been a monster part of the pass game. In his entire career, regardless of the quarterback throwing the ball, he has a total of 11 100-yard games in the last five seasons. Last season, once Purdy took over, Samuel had zero 100-yard games. The only time he crossed the century mark in 2022 was with Jimmy Garoppolo in a 24-9 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Oct. 3.

Back in the preseason I “boldly” predicted that Purdy would be benched by Thanksgiving and for those first five weeks, it looked like I was way off. Now, not so much.

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter @TheFirstMan.

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