24 hours. That's how long the San Francisco 49ers have to hold onto the frustration of Sunday's loss to the Los Angeles Chargers at the StubHub Center. After that, it's on to the Arizona Cardinals. That has been the mentality of the team, win or lose. You have 24 hours to enjoy a victory and the same amount of time to agonize over a defeat. You focus on the next opponent after that.
Although, it sounds like the 49ers will carry over one thing from Sunday's loss into the next week — anger.
One player who was especially angry after Sunday's disappointing 29-27 defeat was quarterback C.J. Beathard, who during the loss put his toughness on display after taking a big hit in the fourth quarter from cornerback Casey Hayward and finishing the game.
"He's pissed right now," tight end George Kittle told Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area after the loss. "He hates losing more than anybody I know, so you're going to get an even better C.J. next week. He's going to grind, and he's going to give us all he can next week and the week after that. This one's kind of eating at everyone."
The 49ers will prepare to face another quarterback who hates to lose in rookie Josh Rosen. His Arizona Cardinals are San Francisco's next opponent, and they are coming off of a 20-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Said Rosen of the defeat: "I think the relief on that is we played a very substandard game to all of our expectations, and we were still right there at the end. Imagine what happens when that clicks."
San Francisco is hoping Arizona doesn't begin to click on Sunday. Very early odds have the 49ers as 3- to 4.5-point favorites over the visiting Cardinals.
Beathard already had the respect of his teammates, but Sunday's performance only exemplified their belief in the second-year quarterback.
"You see a guy like that putting his life on the line and trying to get the first down every time or touchdown, it makes you want to do it too," running back Matt Breida said.
"He'll never quit on us," Kittle added. "He's got the respect of everybody, so we'll never quit on him."
What can the winless Cardinals expect out of the 1-3 49ers when the two teams kick off at Levi's Stadium on Sunday?
"We're going to be angry, very angry, because this one (against the Chargers) got away from us and we're all pretty upset," Kittle said. "You're going to get an angry team."
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