5 NFL teams that need to embrace tanking for the rest of 2020

3. San Francisco 49ers

The Super Bowl-loser hangover hit the San Francisco 49ers like a ton of bricks in the form of brutal injuries to key players on both sides of the ball. Superstar defensive end Nick Bosa was placed on IR back in September along with Solomon Thomas and the hits kept coming for the 49ers.

Most recently, All-Pro tight end George Kittle broke his ankle and will be out at least eight weeks, effectively ending his season, and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is scheduled to miss some time with a high-ankle sprain. The Niners are still 4-4 despite all the injuries but are in last place in arguably the best division in football, the NFC West.

With key players out all over the field, the Niners are at a crossroads and they need to embrace their reload rather than a rebuild, the way they did in 2018 after losing Garoppolo early in the season. They may not end up picking second overall like in 2019 but they can make their way to the top 10 and either get themselves a new quarterback or sign one in the offseason and draft some weapons.

The defense has plenty of young talent and players like Bosa and Thomas should recover fully for the 2021 season, but they can address questions on offense with a big offseason. The last time the Niners tanked they added players that helped them win the NFC and come up just short in the Super Bowl so they need to take that path once again and hope history repeats itself in 2021.