The San Francisco 49ers led the Arizona Cardinals 23-10 at halftime in Week 5. Despite maintaining their edge through much of the second half, head coach Kyle Shanahan’s crew was unable to claim victory, falling 24-23 after failing to score in the third and fourth quarters.
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With the defeat, the 49ers stand at 2-3 through five weeks but are 0-2 against NFC West foes and 0-3 versus NFC opponents. The team’s early-season struggles have Sports Illustrated’s Grant Cohn fed up with nearly every big-name member of San Francisco’s offense, including their play-caller:
“Jordan Mason fumbled. Deebo Samuel did nothing. George Kittle dropped a pass. Brock Purdy was not good; he turned the ball over twice. And Kyle Shanahan was worse…Kyle Shanahan, your play designs suck. Brock Purdy, your arm is weak…Are the 49ers good? Not particularly.”
The 49ers have played two divisional games so far in 2024. In both today’s defeat to the Cardinals and their Week 3 slip-up against the Los Angeles Rams, they led by 10-plus points in the fourth quarter.
Even worse, this marked the sixth time that the 49ers have squandered a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter (both during the regular season and playoffs) under Shanahan — the most such losses by any coach in the NFL since he took over in 2017.
The team let go of several chances to take back control in the second half, but the defense sputtered, and the offense couldn’t finish drives or protect the ball.
San Francisco’s odds of winning diminished when kicker Jake Moody left the game due to a high ankle sprain. Moody suffered the injury while making a tackle on a kickoff.
Moody’s absence forced the 49ers to try to convert a 4th-and-23 from the Cardinals’ 27-yard line late in the third quarter. Had Moody been available, San Francisco likely would have attempted to extend their advantage on a 44-yard field goal instead.
Kyle Shanahan is “extremely frustrated” with the 49ers loss
Shanahan lamented letting history repeat itself this Sunday and attributed the result to the team’s giveaways:
“We had a 13-point [lead in one game] and a [14-point lead] in the other. By no means should we be able to give that away. Always will come back to turnovers… we thought a key to this game would be turnovers, and that’s exactly what the first half was. [They] gave us a huge advantage and then it flipped in the second half.”
San Francisco coughed up the football three times versus Arizona. Jordan Mason’s fumble came at the Cardinals’ 9-yard line, which was two yards behind where punter Mitch Wishnowsky attempted and made a 26-yard field goal in place of Moody to end the first half.
You might want to chalk the 49ers’ losses up to bad luck, but history suggests otherwise. Since 2017, the 49ers have lost a league-worst six games when leading by double-digits. Only the Baltimore Ravens (6) have performed as poorly in those situations.
San Francisco gets the chance to right their wrongs in short order. They battle their third division rival – the Seattle Seahawks – on Thursday Night Football in Week 6.
