Injuries, penalties thwart 49ers’ second-half comeback vs. Chiefs

The San Francisco 49ers made the second half of their Week 3 road bout with the Kansas City Chiefs interesting. But penalties and a swarm of injuries, including one to Jimmy Garoppolo, ultimately led to the Niners' 38-27 defeat.

Almost before one could blink, the Kansas City Chiefs were up 14-0 over the visiting San Francisco 49ers at Arrowhead Stadium in Week 3.

Picking up where he had left off the previous two weeks, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes remained red-hot early in the contest, sparking the NFL's No. 1-ranked offense to the quick lead, which grew to 35-10 by the end of the first half. And while Kansas City running back Kareem Hunt rushed in the Chiefs' first two touchdowns on the day, Mahomes' electrifying play made easy work of the Niners defense early.

The Chiefs found the end zone every time on their first five offensive possessions.

Falling behind early wasn't going to be a part of head coach Kyle Shanahan's game plan to win this game. While the 49ers were able to manage 406 yards and the 27 points in the game -- all against one of the league's worst defenses -- the Chiefs offense has far more weapons than those at Shanahan's disposal.

Especially with Mahomes making plays like this:

And with Mahomes -- who was 24-of-38 for 314 yards and three touchdowns on the game -- continuing his hot streak to start the season, the 49ers could ill afford to make more mistakes.

But they did.

Missed tackles and poor routes continued to be problematic for defensive coordinator Robert Saleh's unit. It's been a theme this season, and one could wonder what the 49ers' record would be through three weeks if this was shored up. Yet the bigger issue for San Francisco, and not just on defense, was the number of penalties taken.

In total, the 49ers were flagged 14 times for a whopping 147 yards. Again, not a formula for beating the league's best offense in its home stadium.

After mostly being stagnant the first half, Shanahan's offense picked things up in the third quarter and racked up 14 points during the frame to make it a game.

Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was 20-of-30 on the game for 251 yards, two touchdowns against zero interceptions and for a 114.7 passer rating. He looked far more effective than the previous two weeks, especially finding fullback Kyle Juszczyk and wide receiver Marquise Goodwin for touchdown passes on the game.

Meanwhile, running back Matt Breida continued his hot start to 2018 with 90 rushing yards on 90 carries despite suffering a minor leg injury halfway through the game.

San Francisco managed to close the gap, thanks to this third-quarter comeback, to 35-24.

Garoppolo was leading a promising fourth-quarter drive, which ended up in the red zone. But after being sacked and moving in the wrong direction, Garoppolo attempted to scramble up the left side but was hit hard by Chiefs cornerback Steven Nelson. Garoppolo came out of the game with an apparent knee injury, which gave way to No. 2 quarterback C.J. Beathard finding tight end George Kittle for a would-be touchdown.

Only to be negated by a very questionable push off by Juszczyk, which was called for an offensive pass-interference penalty. You be the judge:

The 49ers settled for a field goal, and the Chiefs were able to run out the clock on their subsequent drive. Now, all attention turns to Garoppolo's health, as well as the numerous other players beset by injury in the game as the Niners fall to 1-2 on the season.

• Written by:
  Peter Panacy
  Peter Panacy has been writing about the 49ers since 2011 for outlets like Bleacher Report, Niner Noise, 49ers Webzone, and is occasionally heard as a guest on San Francisco's 95.7 FM The Game and the Niners' flagship station, KNBR 680. Feel free to follow him, or direct any inquiries to his Twitter account.
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