49ers DC Steve Wilks moving from booth to field amid struggles - ESPN

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Amidst a surge of defensive struggles over their past three games, the San Francisco 49ers have been searching for answers to get back to the dominant unit that spearheaded a 5-0 start.

The Niners made their biggest move last week, trading a compensatory third-round pick to the Washington Commanders for defensive end Chase Young. They're making another, much smaller move this week in the form of an elevator ride.

San Francisco defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, who is in his first year with the team, will move from the coach's booth upstairs to field level to call Sunday's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, coach Kyle Shanahan announced Wednesday.

«We're going to put him on the field this week,» Shanahan said. "[It's] something we've talked about for a little bit… There are pluses to it and minuses to it, but we'll see what we like about this week."

The move comes after the Niners' three-game losing streak in which the defense has dropped from one of the best in the league to one of the worst.

Through the first five games, San Francisco was first in the NFL in points allowed per game (13.6), third in yards allowed (266.8 per game), fifth in defensive expected points added (33.98) and sixth in takeaways (9). Over the ensuing three weeks, the Niners dropped to 24th (24), 30th (395.3), 31st (-5.5) and tied for 13th (4), respectively.

Not coincidentally, the Niners lost all three of those games. They've struggled to stop the run, haven't consistently pressured or sacked the quarterback and have failed to tackle consistently.

After a 31-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 29, Niners linebacker Fred Warner shrugged off the idea that the blame should fall at Wilks' feet for those issues, noting