National Football League

The San Francisco 49ers are widely considered an elite franchise, but that might be changing

Updated Oct. 26, 2021 12:16 p.m. ET

Week 7 of the NFL season brought with it a slew of unanswered questions.

Will the Chiefs bounce back? Is Tua Tagovailoa on the trade block? Are the Bengals the real deal? And is it time to stop lumping the San Francisco 49ers in with the league's great organizations?

If you ask Colin Cowherd, it's definitely time for a new perspective on the Niners.

On Monday's "The Herd," Cowherd explained why it's time to question both the 49ers and coach Kyle Shanahan after San Francisco's 30-18 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.

"Whenever we talk about great coaches and great organizations, we always just throw the Niners in there," Cowherd said. "Can we stop doing that? Kyle Shanahan's record now is worse than Mike Singletary's. They're 1-10 at home in the last two years. ‘Well, George Kittle is hurt.’ He's always hurt. ‘Well, Jimmy Garoppolo is coming off an injury.’ He's always coming off an injury. ‘Well, the secondary is beat up and not playing great.’ Yeah, that's who you are. The secondary is always beat up, and it hasn't been great in four years. They can't solve it."

Since winning their first two games of the season, the 49ers have dropped four straight, with their only wins coming against the winless Detroit Lions (0-7) and the 2-5 Philadelphia Eagles. The 49ers have also lost seven straight at home.

"Garoppolo's not good enough? That's the only time Kyle Shanahan wins, that's with Garoppolo. He can't win without him," Cowherd continued. "There was every reason last night for Indianapolis to lay an egg. … They played in a monsoon. They were on the road, West Coast, late night, big TV game. They had major injuries on their offense. They had ugly turnovers early, and yet they played a brilliant second half. They don't coach scared.

"Organizationally, the Niners have had too many whiffs in the draft, haven't hit on all their free agents. We gotta stop lumping them in with the great teams."

Colin Cowherd: Kyle Shanahan coaches scared, this 49ers franchise is not elite I THE HERD

Watch as Colin Cowherd breaks down why he believes the 49ers franchise is not an elite one.

The 49ers' struggles this season reach far and wide. They rank 20th in both scoring offense (20.5 PPG) and scoring defense (allowing 24.8 PPG). Their minus-7 turnover differential ranks 29th in the NFL, and they have only four takeaways this season (tied with the New York Jets for second-fewest in the NFL, ahead of only the Jacksonville Jaguars).

Garoppolo has lost three straight starts for the first time in his career and has thrown an interception in three straight games this season, all of which were losses. He is one of eight quarterbacks who have lost three or more fumbles this season, and his 90.2 passer rating ranks 21st among starting QBs.

Garoppolo & Co. will have a chance to turn things around a bit when they take on the Chicago Bears this week, but it'll take more than a win over a 3-4 team for them to reenter the conversation about the league's greatest teams.