The San Francisco 49ers have ruled the NFC West for the past two years, winning 11 out of 12 games and taking home two division titles. This season, however, has not been as successful.
On Sunday, the Niners lost to the Arizona Cardinals, giving up a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter due to poor play in the red zone and a defense that was running out of steam, resulting in a 24-23 defeat.
This loss follows another heartbreaking game two weeks ago, where San Francisco (2-3) lost to the Los Angeles Rams after also blowing a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. Now, they must quickly prepare for a game against first-place Seattle on Thursday night.
“We don’t have time to sit here and have a pity party,” said All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams. “We’ve got another really good football team, another division opponent. Short week, so got to go.”
With such a short week, there won’t be much time to review all the mistakes from Sunday’s game, but there were many. San Francisco didn’t score at all in the second half, turning the ball over three times on four drives and only managing one touchdown on six trips to the red zone.
The defense allowed the Cardinals to have two long drives in the fourth quarter, letting Kyler Murray lead the team from a 23-13 deficit to a 24-23 win. This marks the third time in their last six games, starting from last season’s Super Bowl, that the 49ers have lost after leading by double digits.
Since coach Kyle Shanahan took over in 2017, they have an NFL-high 18 losses under similar circumstances, including six games where they led by at least 10 points in the fourth quarter.
Despite these challenges, the Niners believe they are close to returning to the level that took them to the NFC title games in 2021 and 2022 and the Super Bowl last season.
