49ers head for playoffs with inexperienced defensive starters
SANTA CLARA – Two games until the playoffs. The 49ers know what’s coming. Or so they’ve heard.
Their young, patchwork defense so glaringly lacks playoff experience that defensive coordinator Robert Saleh recently summoned a couple of veterans to explain the playoff mindset that’s required going forth.
Safety Ji’Ayir Brown spoke up, having intercepted Patrick Mahomes as a rookie in the Super Bowl two seasons ago (spoiler alert: the 49ers lost).
Veteran Clelin Ferrell also talked, having reached last season’s NFC Championship Game with Washington but also having missed the 2023 49ers’ postseason because of a knee injury in the regular-season finale.
The only active 49ers defenders to ever start a playoff game in their careers are Brown and cornerback Deommodore Lenoir. Disclaimer: Fred Warner has started 12, and no one is officially ruling out a comeback next month while he rehabilitates from October’s right-ankle surgery.
“I’m really just stressing to the guys we have to be desperate, because in the playoffs, ain’t nobody going to lay down for us,” Lenoir said. “We can’t make the small mistakes. Everything has to be on point. We have to hit the ground running.”
The 49ers clinched a playoff berth nearly 24 hours before kickoff of their Monday night visit to Indianapolis by virtue of the Detroit Lions’ Sunday night loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But once they allowed touchdowns on the Indianapolis Colts’ first two possessions Monday night, Saleh intervened to mentor his unit, a role Warner likely would have done if healthy and playing.
“Saleh brought us to the sideline and was saying, ‘Stop panicking,’” linebacker Dee Winters said. “We are a young defense. We have all the confidence in the world, so Saleh just pulled us aside and kind of told us to play our brand of football. Once we got settled in and the three-and-out, we built some momentum and won the game.”
Winters iced the 48-27 win in Indy with his first career interception, returning it 74 yards for a touchdown.
He is among the few 49ers defenders who have appeared in playoff games. None have started a postseason game outside of Lenoir and Brown. A few are rookies who are reminded to appreciate this possibly rare opportunity.
Playoff-like intensity will engulf the 49ers’ remaining regular-season games: Sunday night against the Chicago Bears, then the grand finale the next weekend against the Seattle Seahawks before the playoffs.
Safety Jason Pinnock played two playoff games two years ago with the Giants, so he’s emphasizing to teammates “just the seriousness of it, and this may be the last time this team is here together.”
This is not the 49ers defense of past playoff runs.
Their pass rush has been the NFL’s worst after starting defensive ends Nick Bosa and Mykel Williams were lost to ACL tears in Weeks 3 and 9, respectively. Their best pass rusher, Bryce Huff, was on the Eagles’ Super Bowl-winning team last season, only he was inactive that game and played just 12 snaps in their NFC Championship win.
Warner’s fractured ankle in Week 6 essentially could have collapsed Saleh’s unit. Instead, the 49ers have persevered, to the delight of those heading to their first playoffs.
“Playing for something extra, and playing in the playoffs, there’s nothing like it in the NFL,” defensive lineman Keion White said. “You see it when you’re growing up, and actually almost being there and sniffing it, you have something more to play for, and them as well.”
White never went to the postseason in three previous years with New England, nor in his five collegiate years between Old Dominion and Georgia Tech. Getting traded in October to the 49ers led to his first winning season since high school in Garner, North Carolina.
No one has appeared in more playoff games than Kevin Givens, a backup defensive tackle who played in nine games since his 2019 arrival as an undrafted free agent.
“Mindset and tempo, it’s playoff football. Everybody is on point with everything,” Givens said. “There’s not a lot of mistakes that happen in those games. Definitely more physicality, too. And you’re playing better teams. You basically have to be on your point.”
Givens said his rookie year’s team in 2019 boasted more veterans, such as Dee Ford and Richard Sherman.
“We’re pretty young this year,” Givens said.
Givens’ favorite playoff memory came four years in Dallas, where he made four tackles and shared a fourth-quarter sack in a 23-17 wild-card upset in January 2022.
Linebacker Luke Gifford was on that third-seeded Cowboys’ team, and he was part of the next year’s fifth-seeded squad that was eliminated at Levi’s Stadium in a 19-12 divisional-round win by the 49ers.
“Every game we played against the Niners, I always knew it was going to be a bloodbath, whether on defense or special teams,” Gifford said.
“I remember watching film of them in ’23 and being, ‘Oh my lord.’ Trent is one of those few guys you see on tape and you’re like, ‘What am I going to do about that?’ Same with Christian (McCaffrey) and Deebo (Samuel). Even that game I thought we’d roll them.”
Gifford defected this past offseason as a free agent coveted for his special teams ability. And he quickly embraced the 49ers’ aura.
“When I got here, I was amazed at how great the culture was and the foundation of everything,” Gifford said. “Then it was, ‘Ah, makes sense.’”
Here is a breakdown of each 49ers defender’s playoff history:
Defensive line
Kevin Givens: 9 games
Bryce Huff: 2 games (12 plays in NFC Championship Game win over Washington; inactive for Super Bowl win over Kansas City)
Clelin Ferrell: 4 games
Robert Beal Jr.: 3 games
Jordan Elliott: 3 games (Browns)
Sam Okuayinonu: 0
Keion White: 0
Yetur Gross-Matos: 0
Kalia Davis: 0 (2023 injured reserve)
Alfred Collins: 0
C.J. West: 0
Linebackers
Dee Winters: 3 (2023 49ers)
Tatum Bethune: 0
Curtis Robinson: 0
Luke Gifford: 2 (Cowboys)
Nick Martin: 0
*Eric Kendricks: 6 games, 6 starts (Vikings)
Defensive backs
Deommodore Lenoir: 6 games, 6 starts
Ji’Ayir Brown: 3 games, 2 starts
Renardo Green: 0
Malik Mustapha: 0
Jason Pinnock: 2 games (Giants)
Darrell Luter Jr.: 3
Chase Lucas: 3 (Lions)
Upton Stout: 0
Marques Sigle: 0
Eli Apple: 12 games, 11 starts (Giants, Saints, Bengals, Dolphins, Chargers)
*Practice squad