The lack of pressure might be the biggest reason the San Francisco 49ers lost to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. It was their first loss of the 2026 season, and Raheem Morris’ defense has to own a big chunk of it.

The numbers back that up. Nick Wagoner shared that the 49ers pressured Falcons quarterback Michael Penix on only three of his 34 dropbacks. That is a 9% pressure rate, San Francisco’s lowest since Week 16 of 2024 against the Dolphins, which also checked in at 9%.

You aren’t going to beat many NFL teams when the opposing quarterback can stand in the pocket all afternoon. Penix had a field day throwing the football, and the Niners never made him uncomfortable.

The 49ers pass rush is better, but not consistent enough

Now, let’s be fair here. The overall picture under Morris is an improvement over last year.

The 49ers came into this game with 15 sacks on the season. Under Robert Saleh in 2025, San Francisco finished with a league-low 20 sacks. Morris’ unit is on a much better pace when it comes to getting home, and that matters for a defense that struggled to create havoc last season.

The problem is inconsistency. The 49ers have three games with four or more sacks in 2026, which tells you what this group is capable of when it’s rolling. Those came against the Dolphins, Commanders, and Seahawks for reference.

Then you get games like Sunday’s, where the pass rush is a total stinker and the quarterback barely gets touched. The 49ers have also now had three games with zero sacks forced. 

A defense can’t swing that wildly from week to week and expect to contend. The good days show the ceiling. The bad days are costing them games.

Injuries have gutted the defensive line

Obviously, the 49ers have dealt with real adversity up front. The defensive line is another position group decimated by injuries.

San Francisco is still without Nick Bosa, and there is a clear need for him to get back on the field soon. Bosa is the engine of this pass rush, and the drop-off without him showed up in a big way against Atlanta.

The 49ers also spent a good amount of time without Mykel Williams. On top of that, Alfred Collins got hurt leading up to the season opener and will miss the remainder of the year.

That is a lot of talent to lose in one unit. With that being said, the injuries explain some of the inconsistency, but they don’t explain a 9% pressure rate against a Falcons offensive line that San Francisco should be able to win against.

Why the secondary needs the pass rush to get home

Here is the bigger concern for me. I don’t think the 49ers secondary is that great.

Look, you could say most secondaries look better with a good pass rush in front of them. That’s true across the league. But San Francisco relies on its defensive line more than most to make the back end look respectable.

The 49ers corners, and sometimes their safeties, can’t hold up in coverage for long stretches. When a quarterback has time to go through his progressions, the coverage eventually breaks down. That is exactly what happened with Penix on Sunday.

So when the pass rush disappears, the entire defense can fall apart with it. The front has to win quickly, or opposing quarterbacks are going to keep picking this secondary apart. And that’s a big deal for a team with Super Bowl expectations.

What needs to change after the bye

The timing of the bye week couldn’t be much better for San Francisco. The coaching staff gets a chance to take a hard look at what went wrong up front and figure out how to manufacture pressure without Bosa.

Maybe that means more blitzing. Maybe it means moving pieces around on the line to create better matchups. Either way, Morris has to find answers.

The 49ers defense is not broken, even if it looked like it against the Falcons. Morris has this group getting to the quarterback far more often than Saleh did last year, and the high numbers at times prove the talent is there.

But one loss can turn into three or four in a hurry if the pass rush keeps disappearing. The 49ers need it to become a consistent staple of the defense coming out of the bye, and I think it will once Bosa is back in the lineup.