For NFL coaches, the bye week is an opportunity to monitor where the team is as they head into the second half of the regular season. For Chip Kelly, it was a good chance to see where a young football team could improve with nine regular-season games to go.
It is clear that the 49ers head coach has seen inconsistencies from his young squad during the first half of the season. More consistency is something that the rest of the coaching staff will be looking for in the second half.
“Really, the consistency is the entire group, so that everybody is playing their best at the same time,” Kelly said.
The 49ers defense have also shown a lack of fundamentals tackling. San Francisco’s missed tackles have given opposing teams an upper hand too many times this season. Coaches no longer have the same amount of practices as years past, but Kelly believes the 49ers can still get better on tackling fundamentals.
“There’s still fundamentals that can be executed when you’re not in full pads, you’re not tackling to the ground but are you in the proper position, are you in an athletic position, are you tagging off on the hips so to speak as we talk about when we don’t have full pads on,” Kelly said
The second half of the season will be crucial for setting up a foundation for next season. It will be interesting to see if San Francisco shows any signs of adjusting and improving in the last nine games of their season.