The San Francisco 49ers find themselves on an absolute roll as of late, winning four consecutive games. This success has been spearheaded by an elite-level defense that is making opposing offenses look like junior varsity units.
This has Kyle Shanahan’s squad looking like a legitimate Super Bowl favorite heading into a huge Week 13 home matchup with the first-place Miami Dolphins.
While San Francisco’s defense will face a tall task against the Fins’ high-flying offense, nothing seems to rattle this unit. Apparently, NFL legend and current ESPN personality Michael Irvin agrees.
Speaking to 95.7 The Game in the Bay Area on Wednesday, Irvin provided a hot take about the 49ers’ defense. In fact, he’s comparing this unit to some of the greatest ever.
“This 49ers defense is comparable to some of the greatest defenses we’ve seen in the history of the game. The Chicago Bears, the Ray Lewis-led Ravens. That’s what San Francisco is doing right now defensively,” Michael Irvin on San Francisco 49ers’ defense.
This is a rather insane comparison given what the Bears did in the 1980s on defense and the Ravens’ performance with the legendary Ray Lewis more recently. But is does it hold ground?
Related: Find out where the San Francisco 49ers defense ranks in 2022
Comparing San Francisco 49ers’ defense to some of the greatest ever
The statistics are staggering. San Francisco has yielded a total of 40 points during its four-game winning streak. It has not given up a second-half point during that span. Heck, opposing offenses have been shut out over the course of the past 93-plus game minutes against the DeMeco Ryans-led defense.
All said, San Francisco heads into Week 13 ranked No. 1 in the NFL in points and total yards allowed. Nick Bosa has been the face of this unit with the likes of Charvarius Ward also showing out in a big way.
Historically speaking, this 49ers defense does in fact stack up well with the previous iterations of the Bears and Ravens mentioned above.
- San Francisco 49ers defense (2022): 15.7 PPG, 222.5 passing yards, 79.5 rushing yards, 281.7 total yards
- Chicago Bears defense (1985): 12.4 PPG, 206.2 passing yards, 82.4 rushing yards, 258.4 total yards
- Baltimore Ravens defense (2000): 10.3 PPG, 187.3 passing yards, 60.6 rushing yards, 247.9 total yards
You have to take into account the era these defenses played in, too. When the Bears’ dominated en route to winning the Super Bowl back in 1985, five offenses averaged 25 points or more. Thus far this season, nearly 30% of the league is averaging at least that much. Back in 2000, that number stood at just four.
Either way we spin it, the San Francisco 49ers’ defense is the best we have seen in the NFL in some time. With games coming up against struggling offenses in that of the Buccaneers, Commanders, Raiders and Cardinals to close up the regular season, this is only going to be magnified further.