Bo Nix is ‘100 percent’ responsible for the 49ers loss, says Mark Schlereth

Mark Schlereth says the Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix passed up five or six wide-open chunk plays in the first half of the 24-14 loss, including throws that were his first read.

Mark Schlereth has spent much of this season defending Bo Nix. He has blamed the play calling, the penalties, and the drops for the Broncos’ offensive struggles. After rewatching Sunday’s 24-14 loss in San Francisco, he put the blame on the quarterback.

On a recent edition of “Stokley and Evans, with Mark Schlereth” on 104.3 The Fan, Schlereth went through the film and listed the plays Bo Nix left on the field.

“Bo missed so many day one installation plays where, I mean, he’s got a dagger, and he’s got the in-cutting route on the dig, it’s wide open and you choose not to throw it,” Schlereth said.

He meant “day one” literally. These are the basic concepts an offense installs on the first day of camp. They aren’t complicated reads, and every quarterback in the league is expected to make them.

Schlereth then pointed to the play that bothered him most.

“You’ve got the over route, off the post over, off of play pass 19, and it’s wide open to Engram. And it’s probably gonna score, at least it’s gonna be 40 or 50 yards, and you choose not to throw it,” he said.

Denver’s longest play of the day was a 30-yard catch by Pat Bryant, and Bo Nix completed just 1 of 9 throws of 10 or more air yards. According to Schlereth, the explosive plays were there. Nix didn’t throw them.

“There were probably 5 or 6 plays in that first half where you had wide open guys in the middle of the football field, that were chunk plays, 25 plus yard plays, and you just chose not to throw them. And I have no idea what you were looking at, but they are the first read in your progression, and you said, ‘Nope. I’m not gonna. I’m just gonna check it down,'” Schlereth said.

That detail makes it hard to blame anyone else. Missing a third or fourth option under pressure is understandable. Passing up an open first read means the scheme did its job and the quarterback didn’t trust it.

Mike Evans asked whether Schlereth was sticking with what he said a day earlier.

“And you said yesterday that in your opinion, 100%, this loss was on Bo. You still feel that way?” Evans asked.

“100%. It was horrible,” Schlereth said.

At 2-2, with the Chargers and Seahawks next, the Broncos can’t keep leaving open plays on the field. Webb’s scheme is creating opportunities, and Schlereth says it’s on Bo Nix to take them.

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