Ive been saying it for awhile. We lack a stud 1 tech. And with oliver out, we are down to depth at the 3 tech. I also have to note that I feel like its been 2 weeks straight that we are playing some of our big boys at end (TJ Sanders and DQ Jones). This may be due to injury (Bosa has been nursing a hand and AJE was out last week).
We cant ignore that we are light at LB. Bernard is good when he shoots a gap properly and forcing the play back inside, but if the OL gets to the second level, he gets taken out of the play more times then not. Milano, as much as I love him has been injured and is aging.
I think McD has been trying to impliment more 4-3 base, but the injury to Shaq Thompson has killed that plan since hes been out. When we are in 4-3 and either Dorian or Thompson are in, we fare better against the run game.
Now to explain our issues on 3rd and long. This appears to be an issue thats been around for years under McD. Im not sure if teams are just successfully finding the soft spot in the zone and McD is relying too much on only sending 4 in the pass rush. Or if our pressure packages are just not up to snuff. Is it a personnel issue? Guys not winning there 1v1 at the LOS? Im not sure, but boy is it frustrating.
Just my 2 cents.