Last month, 49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio saw no reason why the team’s defense shouldn’t improve in 2012. Based on the preseason opener, he seems less optimistic.
Fangio fears that his players are letting the praise go to their heads, which resulted in less-than-acceptable performance by the rest of their bodies on Friday night against the Vikings.
“I think it’s a little bit of all the nice things that’s been said about them for their play last year,” Fangio said Monday, via the San Francisco Chronicle. “They started off camp very well, pretty much dominating out here on the practice field, and I think we just got a little full of ourselves.”
Making the performance by the San Fran first-team defense against the Minnesota first-team offense is that Fangio was forced to watch it on video.
“I don’t like looking at it,” Fangio said.
The good news is that Fangio now has the ammunition necessary to get the attention of a defense that returns 10 of 11 starters, with rookie-year backup Aldon Smith replacing Parys Haralson at outside linebacker.