Keys to Sunday's 49ers-Bengals game

Jim Harbaugh helped the 49ers this week.

When he was the 49ers' head coach, he made the team stay in Youngstown, Ohio, twice - once in 2011 and once in 2012. The idea was to keep the players on East Coast time during the week between back- to-back East Coast road games.

The idea worked. Harbaugh's 49ers won both games they played after staying in Youngstown. They beat the Eagles 24-23 in 2011 and blew out the Jets 34-0 in 2012.

Kyle Shanahan borrowed Harbaugh's idea this week and kept the 49ers in Youngstown in preparation for Sunday's game against the Bengals in Cincinnati. Fair is fair - Harbaugh said he borrows Shanahan's play designs all the time.

Thanks in part to Harbaugh, the 49ers have given themselves the best chance to beat the Bengals.

Here are five essential things to look for in the 49ers' game plan.

1. The run game without Tevin Coleman

Coleman suffered a high-ankle sprain on the 49ers' first offensive play last week, played through the injury until halftime, then sat out the rest of the game. He will not play against the Bengals.

The 49ers also won't have running back Jerick McKinnon against the Bengals. McKinnon will miss his second season in a row with a knee injury.

Meaning the 49ers will play their third-string, fourth-string and fifth-string running backs: Matt Breida, Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr., whom the 49ers called up from the practice squad Saturday.

Each of these running backs has had success with the 49ers. Last season, Breida rushed for 814 yards, Wilson Jr. rushed for 266 and Mostert rushed for 261. All three have talent and fit Kyle Shanahan's scheme.

The key to the 49ers' running game may not depend on which running back plays, but which personnel grouping Shanahan uses. Against the Tampa Bay Bucs last week, the 49ers averaged 1.7 yards per carry with three wide receivers on the field, 2.6 yards per carry with two wide receivers on the field and a whopping 8.2 yards per carry with just one wide receiver on the field.

Using just one wide receiver allows the 49ers to play an extra blocker - a tight end or a fullback. The 49ers should use one-receiver formations as much as possible against the Bengals.

2. Shanahan's confidence in Jimmy Garoppolo

Even though the 49ers beat the Bucs, Shanahan's play-calling showed little trust in his starting quarterback, especially after Garoppolo threw a pick-six in the second quarter.

Shanahan mostly called quick, short, easy throws, and Garoppolo completed just one pass that traveled more than eight yards in the air the entire game. Shanahan also called only three play-action rollout passes, an uncharacteristically low number for Shanahan, who builds his offense around play-action rollouts and aggressive downfield passes.

Perhaps Shanahan was protecting Garoppolo and his surgically repaired ACL by putting him in the shotgun, keeping him in the pocket and getting the ball out of his hands as fast as possible. Garoppolo's average release time last week was 2.31 seconds - second-fastest in the league.

Will Shanahan protect Garoppolo again this week, or trust him to run the full, highly complex offense? Until Garoppolo fully recovers from his knee injury and begins to show more self-confidence, the smart move may be to protect him.

3. Richard Sherman's ability to cover fast WRs without holding

Last season, Ahkello Witherspoon was the weak link in the 49ers' secondary.

Last week, the weak link was Richard Sherman.

Witherspoon was fantastic. Sherman struggled big time. Sure, he intercepted a pass which Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston served him on a platter, and Sherman returned the interception for a touchdown. But Sherman also gave up a touchdown catch and committed three penalties.

And he didn't cover anyone fast by NFL standards.

Against the Bengals, Sherman will have to cover John Ross, the fastest player in the NFL. Ross set a record at the combine when he ran a 4.22 40-yard dash in 2017.

Sherman ran a 4.56 in 2011. Now, he's 31 with a surgically repaired Achilles tendon. He probably runs a 4.7. How will he respond to Ross' speed? Will he play off Ross and concede short catches? Or, will Sherman attempt to jam Ross at the line of scrimmage and risk getting burned deep?

Either way, Sherman will have to learn to keep his hands to himself. Because teams can now challenge plays to see if defensive players committed pass interference. Last week, the Bucs challenged a play by Sherman and, after the review, the refs flagged Sherman for pass interference.

Sherman has gotten away with little grabs and holds most of his career. Those days are over.

4. Zac Taylor's plan to attack Robert Saleh's 'D'

Taylor is a first-year head coach who spent the past two seasons with the Rams. He knows Robert Saleh's defense extremely well. Taylor helped Rams head coach Sean McVay game plan for Saleh's defense four times - twice in 2017 and twice in 2018 - and the Rams scored 35.3 points per game in those matchups.

This offseason, Taylor brought McVay's scheme to the Bengals, and the scheme seems to benefit quarterback Andy Dalton. Last week, Dalton threw for 418 yards and two touchdowns during a 21-20 loss to the Seahawks in Seattle. He was much more accurate, confident, decisive and aggressive than Garoppolo was against the Bucs.

Taylor knows exactly how to attack Saleh's typical scheme.

5. Saleh's plan to attack Taylor's version of Sean McVay's offense

McVay's offense is built on the run, the jet sweep and play-action. Three things that make a quarterback's life much easier.

To take away these key elements of McVay's offense, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick used a specialty defensive alignment in the Super Bowl - six defenders on the line of scrimmage and one linebacker. Call this a 6-1 defense instead of a 4-3 or a 3-4.

This 6-1 alignment forced Rams quarterback Jared Goff to drop back and throw with no play-action, no deception. And, as we know, Goff failed. The Rams scored three points and the Patriots won their sixth Super Bowl.

Belichick showed the league how to stop McVay's offense.

Last week, the Seahawks used the Patriots' 6-1 alignment against the Bengals, and it worked. The Bengals rushed for just 34 yards before Taylor completely abandoned the run game.

Saleh uses the same scheme as the Seahawks - he coached for them in 2012. If he uses the 6-1 alignment against Cincinnati, he will make the Bengals' offense one-dimensional, and the 49ers' revitalized pass rush will win the game.

Final score prediction: 49ers 19, Bengals 17.