The San Francisco 49ers, vanguards of the outside zone run game, cannot run the ball.

Not outside zone, not inside zone, and not even the basic gap-scheme runs they tried this past week.

What in the name of Gary Kubiak is going on here?

Because if this season — which looked so promising only a few days ago — is to amount to anything of worth for San Francisco, that has to change.

Don’t get me wrong, the Niners are trying to run the ball. It’s just not going anywhere.

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Through six games, the 49ers are last in the NFL in yards per rush at 3.1 per carry. Christian McCaffrey hasn’t come close to rushing for 100 yards in a game this season, despite toting the rock 108 times. In fact, he hasn’t even hit 70 yards in a game yet. (And the closest he came was in Week 1 against Seattle.)

It’s not all CMC’s fault. In fact, he might carry the least of the blame for the Niners’ run-game struggles.

He is running behind an offensive line that is being manhandled on the interior week-in, week-out, as Connor Colby and Dominic Puni’s injuries leave the guards on bad footing play after play, with undersized and struggling center Jake Brendel attempting to clean up the mess.

Pair that huge problem with eligible receivers who simply have not blocked this season — either because they’re fifth-stringers (Kendrick Bourne, Jake Tonges) or because they lost whatever steps they once had (Kyle Jusczcek, Luke Farrell) — and you have a run game that cannot win at the point of attack, and certainly can’t sequence together enough blocks to free up a running back who might have lost a step from his prime.

Yes, McCaffrey carries some blame here: He is last in the NFL in rushing yards over expectation, after all, at minus-105, twice as bad as the next-worst runner in that category. CMC also has the worst rushing Expected Points Added number this season.

The longer that trend continues, the more questions that will have to be asked. It could prove to be terribly reminiscent of the end of Deebo Samuel’s tenure with the Niners.

But we’re not at that point yet.

So, what’s the solution for the here and now?

Well, you’ve stumped me.

But that’s easy to do.

The real issue is that this issue has also seemingly stumped Kyle Shanahan — son of Mike, scion of the scheme.

Every week, he’s asked about what it will take to get the running game going. Every week, it’s the same spiel: two-high safeties make it hard to break a big one (how about a medium one to start?), and wide fronts make it harder to run the ball if everyone isn’t in sync.

I get that no coach is going to throw his players to the hyenas in the media, but two-high safeties, really? That’s why McCaffrey is no longer taking the time to read his blocks and instead just barreling forward because a two-yard gain is better than the likely four-yard loss?

I’ll agree the Niners have faced some tough defenses against the run (Tampa Bay, New Orleans, Arizona, Seattle) this season. Still, they’ve played middling operations in Jacksonville (3.5 yards per rush in that game) and the Rams (2.2).

There’s no obvious answer here, so I guess the Niners should keep doing what they’ve been doing — battering McCaffrey into the back of his lineman’s legs (or, worse yet, a linebacker’s arms), hoping that the next play is the one where it clicks for this run game.

Maybe the power of positive thinking will work.

And who knows, maybe George Kittle, the best tight end in the game, was truly the key to the run game all along — McCaffrey did look great when Kittle played in Seattle in Week 1.

Perhaps the Niners can swap in a backup for Puni or Colby, as both are only going to deteriorate further the more they play. (Puni is doing snow angels on too many plays to count, and his critical false-start against the Bucs is a clear byproduct of an offensive lineman who knows he needs to cheat to win.)

Or maybe they just need the right matchup. Atlanta and Houston, the next two weeks’ opponents, look pretty juicy.

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But it does not matter what means justify the ends — the ends have to change in this new, strange place San Francisco inhabits in the NFL landscape. The Niners are still minus-290 (that’s bet $290 to win $100) to make the playoffs, and they’re even favored to win against Atlanta on this upcoming Sunday, but they’re also a one-dimensional team, and those don’t get very far in this league.

We know the second dimension of this team won’t come from the defensive side, so it’s on a Shanahan team to start running the ball, or this season will go bust.

What a weird thing to type.