49ers Have the Best Home Defense in NFL Since 2014
No team in the NFL since 2014 has boasted a better home defense than the San Francisco 49ers have at Levi’s Stadium. Yes, this is true.
Believe it or not, the San Francisco 49ers have the best home defense in the NFL dating back to 2014.
I was perusing Twitter when I came across KNBR 680’s Kevin Jones‘ assessment of team defenses and home splits and was a little shocked to see the Niners have the league’s best defense dating back to two years ago.
Jones wrote:
Since the 49ers opened Levi’s Stadium in 2014, no NFL team is allowing fewer points at home (15.0). In 17 games played at the futuristic concrete slab, the 49ers are 9-8. That’s not half bad for a team whose been trending in the wrong direction for three straight seasons.
San Francisco is 14-21 overall since moving into Levi’s Stadium. And the team hasn’t exactly fielded the league’s best defenses over that three-year span.
In 2014, the still-Jim Harbaugh-led Niners ranked No. 10 overall on defense, but 2015 saw former head coach Jim Tomsula’s squad finish 18th in this same category.
But I got to thinking about some of the losses San Francisco endured at Levi’s Stadium last year.
The Niners dropped a Week 4 contest versus the Green Bay Packers 17-3. In Week 12 of the same year, San Francisco lost to the Arizona Cardinals 19-13.
Interesting.
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Of course this number is skewed by the Niners’ Week 1 shutout victory over the Los Angeles Rams. Who knows where the team would stand if, let’s say, the same results from San Francisco’s Week 2 46-27 blowout versus the Carolina Panthers occurred in Santa Clara.
Nevertheless, it’s great to see the Niners actually atop one stat line in the league. And one in which they’d want to be No. 1.
All statistics, records and accolades courtesy of ESPN.com, Pro-Football-Reference.com and Sports-Reference.com unless otherwise indicated.