I just rewatched the game and to be honest I have to say that RW played a hell of a game. 4 or 5 bad plays that were on him, 4 or 5 more where the O line broke down in pass protection and he was unable to make anything happen. He made some good throws and the wideouts made some good plays. We were pretty conservative in the red zone and were unable to convert 3 out of 4 times (to the best of my recollection). We still came away with points. He's a rookie, he's not perfect, but despite the highlights we get to see of the greats (Brady, Peyton, Rodgers, Brees etc) neither are they. That truth gets lost sometimes because of our perspective. Throw in a couple interesting play calls, a few mental mistakes & penalties, and a few great plays by the Panthers D and you have your reasons we didn't put up 40 points. Overall I saw marked improvement by RW and the offense compared to the last couple weeks.
We may not have a bonafide #1 but we have a couple of 1.5's in Tate and Rice and if and when this offense starts clicking them plus Doug, Ben, Zach, Beast and Turbin should be more than enough to get the job done.
Our biggest problem right now, IMO, is not that we're not a good/borderline great team, but that the 49ers look to be dynasty good. We're going to have to play out of our minds to overcome that particular bump in the road.