Sorensen owns 49ers’ defensive struggles, shares how unit can improve originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Nick Sorensen knows the 49ers’ defense needs to fix its mistakes and improve its performance after a rough start to the 2024 NFL season.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, the San Francisco defensive coordinator answered questions about the unit’s recent struggles against the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams.
“It hasn’t really ever been one thing or one coverage,” Sorensen said. “It’s kind of been a culmination of things, and it just hasn’t been good enough overall. It’s not one person or one coverage, like I said, it’s just kind of been, we would be a little better here, a little better there.
“As always, I look at myself first. And I should. It’s my defense, I’m the coordinator, but I take responsibility of that. I think we just all feel that way. That’s a cool thing. All us coaches, we’ve got to coach better, and players feel that challenge as well for themselves.”
The vaunted 49ers defense got shredded for the greater parts of the last two games, both losses, giving up huge plays and missing coverages. For Sorensen, it is a frustrating situation for such a talented squad, something he will look to fix in the coming weeks
“Like I said, it’s not one thing,” Sorensen told reporters. “It’s been tough. It is frustrating at times because sometimes it’s really good. I think stuff’s been kind of inconsistent all around. Sometime the run game, we hit it up really good or we get pressure.
“I think overall, we have high expectations. We all do. The players, the coaches, myself, we all understand how it’s supposed to look here. And I think it’s not one thing, we’ve just consistently got to get better.”
The defensive struggles became particularly evident during last Sunday’s fourth-quarter collapse against the Rams. San Francisco could not contain Los Angeles quarterback Matthew Stafford as he drove down the field in the closing seconds, completing a series of big passes to set up the game-winning field goal.
Now at 1-2 on the season, the 49ers’ defense will look to rebound against the New England Patriots on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
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