Has your confidence in Nick Sorensen dipped after the Seahawks loss?

The defense wasn’t the problem, but that Geno Smith touchdown run is concerning.

Before we talk any further about San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen, it’s important to discuss how the defense was not the reason they lost to the Seattle Seahawks Sunday 20-17. The defense showed some progress most of the game. If you are looking for a lion’s share of the blame, this one falls on the offense’s shoulders. How often can you cross midfield with so many superstars on that side of the ball and get only 17 points?

Is George Kittle’s absence really that crippling? Not having George Kittle doesn’t cause false starts. Not having George Kittle doesn’t cause holding penalties. Not having George Kittle means you lose a red-zone target.

Oh, and Christian McCaffrey is back. That was supposed to fix everything (surprise! It didn’t). It might help if Jordan Mason is used for more than two carries. 17 points, and this isn’t the Kansas City Chiefs defense here.

So the defense isn’t why the 49ers were sitting there with under a minute left, hoping Geno Smith wouldn’t waltz into the end zone. It never should have gotten to that point.

OK, now that that is said, they are the reason the game ended like this:

Yes, they didn’t have Nick Bosa. Yes, they were the recipients of an awful catch out of bounds. But how does the 49ers defense not have a better play in mind than to open everything up so Smith can strut in?

Maybe it’s communication issues; perhaps it’s personnel/injuries—there are probably a lot of things involved. Nick Sorensen will most likely answer questions about it during his press conference on Thursday.

Does losing Nick Bosa open things up that much for that to happen? A DK Metcalf catch in sticky coverage within the end zone is understandable. Letting Kenneth Walker III have his way against the 49ers’ run defense is not exactly ideal, but OK, given the circumstances. After all, the defense was gassed.

There are a million reasons why the 49ers defense could have given things up, and maybe some of the criticism would have mellowed.

But that? And I thought the play that cost the 49ers the Super Bowl was ridiculous.

This isn’t prime Russell Wilson we’re talking about here. It’s Geno Smith with the game on the line, 13 yards away. While he wants to act like he’s gotten a monkey off his back, this is a team he’s lost five straight to.

It’s hard to blame any of this on players. It’s easy to look at Nick Sorensen and wonder what any of that was.

So it’s time for us to revive the Heat-O-Meter (I suggest you have that song playing in the background before you take the poll).

Nick Sorensen’s defense showed us some progress on Sunday. I was going to say “good stuff,” but “progress” seems a better fit here. There was the fourth down stop that should have won the game. But then, they couldn’t provide us an encore when the offense sputtered again. That’s asking a lot, but occasionally, you have to do a lot.

It’s time for the poll. Many of you will say the defense wasn’t the problem Sunday, and I have no argument. Games never go the way you want to. So, are we seeing progress, or have we seen enough?