49ers fans might think the season is over. Fred Warner disagrees.
After the 49ers’ 34-17 lopsided loss to the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night, Warner was adamant that the 49ers' locker room still is in a good place mentally.
The star linebacker is the engine of the 49ers' defense, his voice can be heard through the thick glass press box windows on every defensive snap.
“That’s just me,” Warner said. “I’m going to be me every single time I’m out there between the white. That’s my job as the one everybody is looking at to bring the energy to the group.”
Warner has been the best performer in a struggling defense that has failed to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks. He has had more put on his plate this season, being asked to excel both in coverage and in blitz packages.
Warner led the team in tackles Thursday with nine solo and four assists. Still, he is self-critical especially after allowing Aaron Rodgers and the Packers' offense to rack up over 400 yards of offense and put 34 points on the board.
"I felt like I could have started faster this game,” Warner said. “Took a little bit to get going as a group. We could have been a lot better tackling wise, we got to start faster.”
The 49ers are lacking speed off the edges with Nick Bosa, Dee Ford, Ezekiel Ansah and Solomon Thomas out with injuries. Ronald Blair still has not returned after tearing his ACL in 2019. In the secondary, Richard Sherman has been out since Week 2.
The 49ers fear they could have lost K’Waun Williams to a high ankle sprain midway through the game and Jaquiski Tartt exited the game prior to halftime with a foot injury and did not return.
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Still, even with a depleted roster, Warner believes his team is competitive.
“It’s all the way there,” Warner said. “I don’t care what the situation is I told the guys after the game that we got to look ourselves in the mirror. It doesn’t matter who’s down, who’s on COVID.
“It’s a wild year, obviously there are a lot of injuries across the entire NFL. But with the guys that we have, I think that we still got a lot of great football players on this team, and I think we just got to get back to work. We’ll make sure that we’re competing at a high level come next game.”