SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Six days before the San Francisco 49ers opened the 2025 NFL season against the Seattle Seahawks, defensive coordinator Robert Saleh had a disturbing dream.
In it, the Seahawks dropped 37 points on the Niners in his first game back with the 49ers after a stint as the head coach of the New York Jets. Saleh told assistant head coach Gus Bradley about the dream the next day only for Bradley to laugh and say, "only 37?"
While Saleh says it's common for him to imagine the worst early in the week and then feel better as the week goes on, there's no doubt that this edition of the San Francisco defense offered more questions than answers coming into the season.
It's why one could argue that Saleh's favorite saying "All gas, no brake" was often accompanied by "We'll see" this summer as he sifted through a defense that on opening day had eight new starters compared to Week 1 of 2024.
While Saleh wanted to confidently state that his new-look defense -- led by stalwart end Nick Bosa, linebacker Fred Warner and cornerback Deommodore Lenoir -- would quickly return to previous levels of dominance, he couldn't do it.
"Put your seatbelt on, enjoy the ride," Saleh said three days before the opener. "It's going to be a lot of ups and downs, a lot of really cool moments, a lot of hair-pulling moments."
Through two weeks an argument could be made that the early returns are better than most could have expected. That's especially true given the lack of continuity and the reliance on as many three rookie starters (end Mykel Williams, slot cornerback Upton Stout and safety Marques Sigle), among a handful of other key contributors with less than two years of NFL experience under their belts.
On the macro level, the numbers look pretty good. Through two weeks, the Niners are tied for seventh in scoring defense (17 points per game allowed) and defensive expected points added (3.21) and eighth in defensive efficiency (63.71) and yards allowed per game (268.5). Their three takeaways are tied for seventh.
But Saleh's defense has been the unit to close out each of San Francisco's first two wins. While Bosa and Warner have been at the center of the game-changing plays that have preserved those victories, there was defensive end Bryce Huff with the lightning quick sack (2.44 seconds, fastest in the NFL so far this season) of Spencer Rattler to put the Saints away in Week 2.
Saleh refers to players like Bosa, Warner and Huff as "closers," the kind of players who can deliver when the moment calls for it. Of course, even with Bosa and Warner on the roster last year, the Niners struggled to finish out those close games.
All of which makes what's happened the past two weeks -- Bosa's sack, forced fumble and fumble recovery put the Seahawks away in Week 1 -- the most encouraging early sign for Saleh's defense.
"[This year] just feels a lot better," Bosa said. "In the past, it seems like we'd find a way to lose. And two games like this -- dog fights to start the year and just closing it on defense -- there's no better feeling."
Bosa and Warner have looked every bit the dominant players that San Francisco needs them to be.
Through the first two games, Bosa has two sacks, eight pressures, 15 tackles, a 21.9% pass rush win rate (15th among ends) and a 38% run stop win rate (his career best for a full season was 29% each of the past two years).
Warner, meanwhile, has looked right at home after reuniting with Saleh. He has 19 tackles, two for loss, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup while allowing a single 6-yard reception on five times he's been targeted in coverage.
At his current rate, Warner has a chance to continue etching his name into franchise and league history with his 54 passes defended now the most in Niners history for a linebacker and his 16 forced fumbles are tied with Hall of Famer Patrick Willis for the most fumbles caused by a Niner.
"We have got talent all over the field," Warner said. "It's about everybody just doing their 1/11th, dominating their one on one and in those moments, it's just about even moreso being dialed in on your one on one and dominating that ... We're only going to continue to get better."
Indeed, there is still plenty for the 49ers to clean up defensively. It's a point Warner has made repeatedly after each of the first two games: the defense has been far from perfect, but Warner is happy to make those corrections coming off a victory.
San Francisco ranks 23rd in defensive success rate (54.8%) and defensive passer rating allowed (105.7) and 20th in red zone defense, giving up a touchdown on four of six opponent trips inside its 20.
After a solid outing against the run in Seattle, the Niners struggled to get Saints running back Alvin Kamara on the ground, yielding 4.7 yards per carry to him on 21 attempts. Beyond those numbers, Saleh has also mentioned limiting explosive plays, tackling more consistently and being as assignment sound as possible.
They've also tallied some silly penalties, including a trio that kept Saints drives alive Sunday to allow New Orleans an opportunity to steal a victory late.
It is no coincidence that two of those flags came against Stout and Sigle, a pair of rookies who have had plenty of promising moments early -- but a few of those "hair pulling" moments as well.
Those are the moments that leave veterans like Jason Pinnock, himself a new starter but one well versed in Saleh's defense from their year together with the Jets, to provide sage advice to the youngsters in the secondary.
"I live by the quote 'Trust is earned by the drop, but it's lost by the bucket,'" Pinnock said. "That's why I tell [them] you've got to master every play."
Still, it's hard not to take note of how passionately Saleh's players talk about him and what it could yield as the defense's many young players gain valuable reps. Bosa calls Saleh "as good of a defensive coach as there is in the league" and tight end George Kittle has made the case that Saleh is the Niners' "best signing of the offseason."
There is still plenty of football left and the 49ers will face stiffer tests and better offenses, which will undoubtedly bring growing pains. The nightmares likely won't go away anytime soon, but it will be a good sign for the 49ers if Saleh sleeps more soundly as the year goes on.
"When the roster is veteran and it's been together for a while, you just know you're going to kick the living daylights out of people," Saleh said. "When you're young and you've got a bunch of new faces, you have confidence that you will, but you're just excited for the affirmation ... it's going to be exciting to go through the process with them because it's not going to be the same at the end of the year.
"These kids are going to get better, especially with reps, they're only going to get faster. They're only going to get stronger. But, through the whole process, you just don't know until then."