The obsession with Nick Bosa and the 49ers pass rush is obscuring the writers and fans of pretty much anything else regarding the 49ers team failures and/or weakness this season. Very seldom have I read anything resembling facts, context or supporting statements regarding the quality of the 49ers pass rush. The general statement of "Player X is not getting enough sacks" is usually the justification for the lack of pass rush statements. There are so many things wrong with this sort of statement that it's not funny. Here are a few reasons:

1. That reasoning is only player specific and doesn't speak to the quality of the entire unit

2. It totally ignores the possibilities of other problems even if we determine that there is a "pass rush problem" such as defensive scheme, blitz packages, etc, which player X is not responsible for.

3. It places some sort of arbitrary pre-determined quantitative goal that somehow hasn't been met, let alone identified. Can anyone tell me what is the actual number to consider a pass rush to be effective that each person on the defense should have in order to not be sh*t on like this?

4. It ignores the various offensive schemes employed that pass rush has little to no effect such as the run game.

But is that really the only thing we, or even the top thing, the 49ers should be concerned about? Is it even true that we have a bad pass rush? Have the writers at this blog given anything at all in the way of facts or statistics to prove that our pass rush is somehow so below quality that we need to only discuss it as if nothing else matters? Prove we have a bad pass rush. Give me the numbers. Tell me why player X is entirely responsible for the entire 49ers pass rush. Or for that matter, why is Nick Bosa responsible for it?

The NFL average at Week 14 for sacks was 35.6 sacks. The 49ers defense was just under that average at 34. Does that sound like a lack of pass rush? It's the middle of the 32 teams in the NFL. Adding any quality player at any position will improve that position and yes, that includes pass rush. But there are so many other things to discuss with the 49ers that the obsession with pass rush is unduly overwhelming any other discussion.

4medina9er had a great post this past day or two regarding take-aways. I recommend everyone to read it. It puts in historical perspective just how bad the defense performed regarding take-aways. And this more to do with player technique rather than pass rush. The 49ers are now the historically worse team at take-aways with only 7 after the Bears game.

As of Week 14, here are some other areas I feel are open for discussion rather than turning an obsession into a neurosis of pass rush. They are as follows:

1. The NFL average (Wk 14) for interceptions was 11.6. 49ers had 2.

2. The NFL average on Take-aways was 18.9. 49ers had 5 take-aways and 27 give-aways. That's several things, but each should be discussed.

3. 49ers ranked on penalties for offense and defense were 6th worse and 5th worse, respectively with and over the NFL average of 808 yards with 896 (Offense) and 924 (Defensive) penalties.

4. QB hits allowed by offensive lines (Wk 15) average in the NFL were 84.5 and the niners gave up 116. O-line weakness.

So, as much as I like coming to this blog and reading the posts here, I would encourage the general staff writers to find other areas to write about and stop feeding the obsession beast. Oh, and by the way, we drafted at least two pass rushers in the 2018 draft we haven't even seen perform or have seen very little play time and certainly not enough to even judge the quality of their play. Apologies to Jullian Taylor and Kentavius Street from the mob.