49ers 5 keys to beating Panthers on Monday night for elusive second straight win

SANTA CLARA On display now at the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a memento from the ers last competition only it s the Arizona Cardinals jersey of Jacoby Brissett who set an NFL record with completions last Sunday Embarrassing as that may be the ers brought home their seventh preeminence of the season Winning by any means realizable is all that matters from here on out to the playoffs and possibly back home to Levi s Stadium for Super Bowl LX in this bizarro-world season That s why the ers - can not overlook the surprisingly upstart Carolina Panthers - in Monday night s matchup It gets more fundamental the later you get in the year especially playing against a gang right now who s in the playoff hunt fighting for first place in their division ers coach Kyle Shanahan revealed So I think we fully understand how critical it is to get a back-to-back win The ers have not done that since their - start instead alternating wins and losses each weekend amid myriad injuries The Panthers had won just twice in road games dating to before winning their past three away from Charlotte They re seeking their first Monday Night Football road win since and almost a decade later this is their first encore away from home since then They re not total strangers out here They were after all the ers NFC West cohort from - They lost Super Bowl here a decade ago And they clobbered Shanahan - in his ers debut in But again all that matters now is who wins Monday night and makes a sizeable step toward the playoffs Here are five keys for the ers to make that happen STOP THE RUN The No task for any defense is stopping the run and Monday night that puts the ers focus on Rico Dowdle His patience style paid off with a -yard season last season as the Dallas Cowboys starter and he s carried that over this season to the Panthers He is averaging yards per carry and he s yards shy of a -yard season Mind you he ran for yards combined in back-to-back games against Miami and Dallas last month Dowdle played a bit role as a Cowboys backup in two previous games against the ers totaling just yards in those and games Spelling him are Chubba Hubbard and rookie Trevor Etienne Curtis Robinson s first career start comes with weighty responsibility as the play-relaying movement-signaling middle linebacker role previously occupied by Fred Warner and Tatum Bethune the latter of whom is out likely these next two games before the Week bye because of last Sunday s high-ankle sprain TIGHTER PASS DEFENSE The ers not only failed to sack Brissett amid his -completion barrage they yielded the fourth-most yards in their history Carolina s Bryce Young almost threw for that a multitude of on Sunday too In beating the Atlanta Falcons - in overtime Young delivered a career-best match yards three touchdowns rating He has a bona fide No target in Tetairoa McMillan who leads all rookies with yards four touchdowns The -foot- McMillan had yards and two touchdowns last Sunday but he s yet to produce a reception longer than yards The ers got interceptions last event from Deommodore Lenoir and Malik Mustapha perhaps signaling a long-awaited launch point for a takeaway trend The ers pass rush led by Bryce Huff and Keion White also could wake up and get to Young who got sacked five times last tournament Pay particular attention to intermediate passes between and yards where McMillan has thrived yards and the ers defense has waned passer rating AN UNWANTED McCAFFREY McCaffrey entered the NFL in with a chip on his shoulder and carried it with him from the Panthers agreement to the ers three years ago Motivation is never a concern But perhaps he should channel his post-trade emotions and lash out for his third -yard tournament in the past six weeks though the ers certainly wouldn t mind another three-touchdown outing like last competition In hindsight I firmly believe it s the best thing that ever happened to me McCaffrey disclosed in May about the bargain But at the time it was bittersweet right You re leaving Carolina In my head I was pissed off and to be frank I felt You guys don t want me anymore I was hungry That was the first emotion I was hungry to get back to the football that I knew I could play Fullback Kyle Juszczyk called it a weird feeling the first time he faced his original squad the Baltimore Ravens and revealed I m sure Christian is going to have selected of that There s going to be guys he played with over there and a scant coaches the medicinal staff I m sure he ll be extra juiced up to go out there and put on a good performance The Panthers struggled last week to slow one of McCaffrey s fellow all-purpose backs in Bijan Robinson who ran for yards and two touchdowns while adding receiving yards RED ZONE EFFICIENCY Often seizing on defensive coverages they ve scouted the ers have scored touchdowns on of their past red-zone drives over the past three games and -of- dating to the Oct win over Atlanta That s pumped them up to the th-best red-zone offense in the league with a conversion rate After a down season this full-strength ers offense could be trending back toward it s league-leading mark in The Panthers defense ranks th in red-zone efficiency yielding touchdowns on of such drives If the ers don t outcome touchdowns they should get points from newly signed kicker Matt Gay who s filling in after Eddy Pi eiro s hamstring strain Sunday Gay has made all field-goal attempts in his career inside yards and on overall field-goal tries though just -of- when attempting from yards and longer WIDE RECEIVER OUTBURST With Brandon Aiyuk s comeback on indefinite hold and a breakup on the horizon the time is ripe for Ricky Pearsall Jauan Jennings and Kendrick Bourne to rise up and link up with Brock Purdy who s right big toe is amenable to a second straight start for the first time this season Purdy may have thrown three touchdown passes last Sunday in his triumphant return from a six-game hiatus but they predictably went to George Kittle two and Christian McCaffrey one Pearsall had one catch for no gain Bourne got shutout to remain yards shy of a bonus and Jennings has just yards in a highly publicized contract year The only ers wide receivers under contract for are Pearsall Demarcus Robinson Jordan Watkins Jacob Cowing and for now Aiyuk pending a likely March exit Related Articles ers Kyle Shanahan reveals Brandon Aiyuk s peculiar plight came via July flashpoint Kurtenbach The superior ers should handle the Panthers But does that sound like the Niners My predictions for Monday Night Football Panthers Bryce Young take a big swing against ers on Monday Night Football How to watch ers vs Panthers on Monday Night Football Brandon Aiyuk s ers future dims while Brock Purdy Ricky Pearsall march into Monday matchup While Purdy will be on the lookout for any open target it s best to avoid Jaycee Horn a fifth-year cornerback who has a team-high three interceptions