Through three weeks of the 2015 NFL season, it's unclear exactly what ails the San Francisco 49ers offensively. Something ails them. That much is certain. Niners quarterback Colin Kaepernick has regressed back to the fetal stages of his football development - his passer rating of 67.7 is 29th out of the league's signal-callers that have started three games - and the unit around him has suffered greatly as a result. Of course, not all of the offensive issues can be blamed on Kaepernick's mammoth step back, which is probably why first-year offensive coordinator Geep Chryst has spent this week implementing some "changes" to the Niners offensive approach as they get set to square off against the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football.
"We made some major changes -- I shouldn't say major -- we've made some changes, some adjustments, that we feel good about going into this game," Chryst said recently, via Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area.
Being the insufferable tease that he is, Chryst unsurprisingly refused to go into specifics on what changes would be seen, but it's fair to guess that the Niners passing game will be shortened up a bit. San Francisco has seen quite a bit of blitzing from opponents this season and Kaepernick has struggled to get the ball out of his hands. Over the last two games, Kaepernick has managed 172-yards passing altogether. Kaepernick's regression in the wake of Jim Harbaugh's departure has been truly astounding to watch as he'snow 29th in passing yards (727), 22nd in completion percentage (62.1) and tied for 30th in touchdown passes (2). In the past two games, Kaepernick's been picked off five times, two of which went the other way for scores.
Of course, the 49ers offensive line hasn't provided their quarterback with much in the way of consistent protection either, but still, the way in which Chryst worded his response when probed further on what changes would be made suggest that he knows the issues start and end with Kaepernick.
"You do it to boost his game and all that entails in a game," he said, via Maiocco. "We're happy with those, and we're excited to go out and test it under game conditions."
It's hard to envision Chryst managing to implement some special change that suddenly make the Niners offense, if not successful, at the very least palatable to watch, but they'll need to fix whatever ails them and fast if they're to save this soon-to-be lost season.
