49ers vs. Rams: San Francisco Grades, Notes and Quotes

The embarrassment that has been the 2015 San Francisco 49ers season continued as the 49ers dropped another ugly loss at the hands of the St. Louis Rams in Week 8 by a score of 27-6.

Both teams entered the fray with bottom-dwelling offenses, and the first quarter of play suggested this would be a factor. But the Rams eventually started their breakaway thanks to a 71-yard touchdown run by rookie running back Todd Gurley.

San Francisco's ongoing anemic, absent offense never stood a chance to come back as the 49ers defense found itself worn down and vulnerable in the second half.

The 49ers were dealt a tough hand with running back Carlos Hyde (foot) and wide receiver Anquan Boldin (hamstring)—the offense's best two weapons—were ruled out for the contest. San Francisco's injury woes continued throughout the contest.

Minus these offensive threats, the 49ers offense was able to muster a mere 189 yards of total offense and just six points, which will fuel their last-place offensive ranking through eight weeks.

Something, many things, are clearly not right in San Francisco.

Whatever the game plan is for offensive coordinator Geep Chryst's unit has been over the last two weeks, it isn't working. 

Starting up front with another poor effort from a permeable offensive line, including some awful plays from center Marcus Martin and right guard Jordan Devey, the 49ers were not able to win the offensive battles at the line of scrimmage. 

Combine that with injuries to running backs Carlos Hyde and Reggie Bush, and the 49ers weren't able to establish anything on the ground.

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick finished the contest 20-of-41 for 162 yards and a 59.2 passer rating—numbers that resemble his ugly efforts against the Seattle Seahawks on Oct. 22. The missed opportunity backed up against his own end zone will only fuel the criticism Kaepernick will endure from this point forward as well.

Seriously, go check it out.

Defensively, the 49ers did a commendable job at first and eventually held the Rams to one third-down conversion on 12 attempts. Yet it was only a matter of time before Rams running back Todd Gurley broke out, and his 71-yard touchdown run turned out to be the game-winner.

The Rams would methodically pile on more as San Francisco's beleaguered defense was worn down over the remaining frames.

In addition to the offensive coaching woes, the 49ers were completely undisciplined with 13 accepted penalties for 93 yards.

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick has now gone through back-to-back weeks in which the signal-caller's offensive abilities have been held in check by a stronger, more capable pass defense.

Kaepernick's continued ugly statistics will only reinforce thoughts behind him not returning to San Francisco this offseason. It's clear the quarterback isn't capable of picking up an offense and putting it on his shoulders.

He isn't alone in bearing all of the 49ers' woes this year, however. 

San Francisco's offensive line is problematic, a number of his receivers dropped passes and the play-calling from offensive coordinator Geep Chryst is suspect at best.

But this is a statistics-driven league. And, for whatever the context, Kaepernick will continue to be the focal point within the weakest NFL offense in 2015.

Aside from their victories in Weeks 1 and 6 over the Minnesota Vikings and Baltimore Ravens, respectively, the 49ers have been soundly beaten by teams that have, largely, been able to take away everything San Francisco's offense has tried to do.

This trend continued with six points and 189 total yards in Week 8.

Along with the 10 penalties and general lack of adjustment on the offensive side of the ball, the 49ers appear to be a team without any sort of direction. Head coach Jim Tomsula and his staff appear to have zero in-game answers when the context of the game changes from their favor.

Jeff Deeney of Pro Football Focus pointed out what San Francisco's offensive changes have been through eight weeks by writing, "The 49ers are 2-6 and have been beaten soundly five times, and the biggest personnel move they've made is to have a platoon at right guard."

Deeney is speaking of the in-game switches between right guards Jordan Devey and Andrew Tiller.

That's been about it.

Unless the coaching staff decides upon some wholesale changes and a plethora of in-game adjustments with an all-or-none approach, it's likely the 49ers offense won't be getting better for a long, long time.

Running back Reggie Bush, safety L.J. McCray, cornerback Kenneth Acker and punter Bradley Pinion were just some of the injured players San Francisco lost for various times over the course of Sunday's contest. 

Fellow RB Mike Davis, cornerback Keith Reaser and tight end Garrett Celek also left with injuries, per the team's website.

"We'll figure out the severity tomorrow after getting pictures on it," Bush later said via 49ers.com. "Uncertain at this point."

The 49ers currently are concerned about whether Bush has a torn ACL, per Fox Sports' Mike Garafolo.

San Francisco was already thin offensively entering the contest after running back Carlos Hyde and Anquan Boldin were listed as inactive. 

The running back position, already thin prior to the game, will get thinner after this contest. It's feasible San Francisco would consider adding return man Jarryd Hayne back to the roster if he clears waivers.

49ers fans are likely getting sick of hearing the same responses from head coach Jim Tomsula following each and every loss this season.

Answers like, "I know everything that’s getting called in those games. It starts and stop with me," which was said via Chris Biderman of Scout.com.

Tomsula has valiantly tried to absorb the ugliness of his offense's performance through eight weeks, and a lot of the frustrations should also be directed at offensive coordinator Geep Chryst. Tomsula won't call out his coordinator though, so one should expect even more of these types of answers in subsequent losses.

The head coach may not be entirely responsible for the play-calling on offense, but he does have some accountability when it comes to the personnel on the field. As noted previously, the only significant roster change for the starting lineup has been a rotation at right guard.

Could there be more?

"We have to evaluate everyone on the field," Tomsula said via Taylor Price of 49ers.com. "I’ll get into that after we watch the tape.

"This where we are. This who we are. And we need to get better. Period."

Tomsula's statements tell us what we already know. And it's not very good.

Linebacker NaVorro Bowman led the 49ers with 13 tackles in Week 8 and continues to make strides in his comeback season despite all the problems associated with the team in 2015.

Bowman admitted, via Mindi Bach of CSN Bay Area, the work put in and the end results have been more than frustrating through this point of the season.

"We come to work every single day and we put the hours in," he said. "It sucks."

The reality is this 49ers team isn't very good right now. Given the current coaching staff and roster, the results aren't going to be changing any time soon.

"It's hard to deal with, but there's 16 games on the schedule," Bowman continued via the team's website. "We've got to go to work and see if we can get this thing right."

San Francisco's efforts on getting "this thing right" haven't worked so far. It's hard to imagine any major differences barring wholesale changes within the organization and player roster.

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick has had just three games this season in which his passer rating was above 100: Weeks 2, 5 and 6 vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants and Baltimore Ravens, respectively.

The offensive woes go far beyond Kaepernick's inconsistencies and slumps.

As Eric Branch of SFGate.com points out, the 49ers offense has endured four games in which they've scored fewer than eight points and less than 200 offensive yards this season.

That's bad. Really bad.

"The bottom line is our performance hasn't been good enough," Kaepernick said via 49ers.com. "We had too many penalties today. This falls on our team."

Even if San Francisco's 10 penalties weren't a factor (they were), the 49ers' offensive efforts are clearly the worst in the league. So is there any reality for Kaepernick and the 49ers to remain optimistic within the NFC West and in the general outcome of the 2015 season?

"We have to be able to come out and win the next three times that we face these teams" Kaepernick continued when asked about the team's woes within the division.

In all reality, San Francisco is no match for either the Rams, Seattle Seahawks or Arizona Cardinals this season.

The 49ers aren't much of a match for most other NFL teams either right now.

All statistics, records and accolades courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com and ESPN.com unless otherwise indicated.

Peter Panacy is a Featured Columnist covering the San Francisco 49ers for Bleacher Report. Follow him @PeterPanacy on Twitter.