Disappointment was in the air Sunday after the San Francisco 49ers blew a 13-point halftime lead in their 24-23 loss to the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium, and even though the team needed to put it behind them quickly with a game against the Seattle Seahawks coming in four days, there was still plenty of head-scratching to go around following the game.
Turnovers in the second half (two interceptions, one fumble, one turnover on downs) played the biggest role in the loss as the 49ers managed to go scoreless in the third and fourth quarters without being forced to punt. The 49ers couldn't cash in on opportunities to seal the game and in turn left the door wide open for the Cardinals to steal a victory on a late field goal.
"We had the game won, and we gave it away," linebacker Fred Warner told reporters Sunday. "But you've got to kind of wipe it and get on to the next. There's really not any time to sulk or feel sorry for yourself. You've got to move on."
The loss left room to wonder if this 49ers team is still searching for an identity, and why they had issues in the red zone on Sunday and at other times this season. Those are among the topics we'll get into in this version of 49ers Notebook, as well as if Sunday's scorching weather played a role and more. Let's get started...
Still putting the pieces together
Five games into the 2024 season, the 49ers still seem to be finding their identity, at least in some ways.
As is the case every season, there are a number of new players the 49ers have added to their roster who are trying to fit into key roles, while this year's team is continuing to deal with injuries to significant players such as running back Christian McCaffrey and linebacker Dre Greenlaw. 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy said after the loss on Sunday that the team is getting close to bringing everything together chemistry-wise, but there's still some progress that needs to be made.
"The standard here is excellence, and what we've proven in the last couple years of the standard of what we can play at, that's what we're trying to get to," Purdy said. "But every year is different with just the team, the chemistry and getting guys together. You got new guys, some guys leave. And so I think all throughout this, it's early in the season, and we're still trying to find our true identity as a team, and we're getting there."
"And it's a couple plays away and a couple drives away from gelling and gluing together, but I'm confident that we'll find it. We just got to get into a rhythm and play complimentary team football. Got a Thursday night game coming up, so we'll have another chance at it."
The loss to the Cardinals was the second time the 49ers blew a double-digit lead this season after letting a 21-7 third quarter lead slip away in a Week 3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Winning these types of games, tight end George Kittle says, will go a long way in forging the identity that the 49ers want to have.
"The identity of the 49ers has always been that we're a hard-nosed team that's very physical," Kittle said. "But ...we haven't won those gritty little games yet, we just haven't done that. And that's something that we need to get better at. That's something that we have to get done and the only way to prove that is to do it on the football field on a Thursday night or on a Sunday. So we're just going to try our best to do that."
Warner pointed out that adversity helps build a team's identity, which is what the 49ers have experienced on more than one occasion in recent weeks.
"It's a constant evolution throughout a season," Warner said. "I don't think you find exactly who you are until you go through hard times. And we're obviously going through the hardest time right now, and we'll see how we respond."
The road only gets harder from here, as after Thursday's road game in Seattle, the 49ers will have a stretch that includes home games against Kansas City, Dallas and the Seahawks with away games against Tampa Bay, Green Bay, and Buffalo. There doesn't seem to be any doubt creeping in at this point around the team, but the time is now for the 49ers to starting winning the types of games they lost on Sunday.
"As a whole, as a team, we've always been an organization and a team that finds ways to win," defensive end Nick Bosa told NBC Sports Bay Area. "We're kind of doing the opposite so far. We're finding ways to lose. It doesn't matter how good players are. It doesn't matter how explosive the offense is. If you let teams hang around and not play your best ball later in the game, then you're going to find yourself in these situations."
Purdy on red zone woes
The 49ers entered Sunday's game with a 50 percent rate of scoring touchdowns in the red zone and didn't help themselves in that regard, coming away with one touchdown, two field goals and a fumble in four trips. Purdy put much of the blame on his own shoulders when discussing the issue on Sunday.
"Everything's pretty tight. It's close, and we just got to be aggressive. And obviously it starts with me," Purdy said. "I'm the guy with the ball, being aggressive to certain guys and matchups and giving guys chances, and so I just gotta be hard on myself with that. Obviously, you want to be smart and protect the ball, but, you know, when we got a matchup and a good look, we gotta rip it.
"So, I just gotta be better and more aggressive down there and then just collectively as a unit, offensive unit, once we get down there, like all of us, our mindset has to be, 'We gotta punch this in.' Obviously, we know we can settle for field goal. We've got to hold ourselves to a higher standard and cross the goal line."
Not helping the 49ers this season has been the absence of McCaffrey, who has been a go-to player in the red zone since his arrival in the Bay Area in 2022. But Purdy thinks the 49ers have more than enough tools to improve their performance.
"Obviously you can do so much with Christian out of the backfield, line him up as a receiver and stuff like that, and defenses have to account and have a plan for that. So, I mean, it is a little different," Purdy said. "But regardless, man, I think we have, you know, the players and the talent to still make it, make it happen. And we got some -- obviously got George with his size, Deebo (wide receiver Deebo Samuel), BA (wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk) with their hands, JJ (wide receiver Jauan Jenkins), so we've just got to put it together and get some rhythm within it down there."
Not the weather's fault
Did the 49ers wear down in the second half due to the high temperatures, which surpassed 95 degrees during the game? It might have seemed that way due to the second half success of the Cardinals and the increase in production of running back James Conner, who wasn't much of a factor in the first half before finishing the game with 86 yards on 19 carries.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan didn't feel the heat worked in the Cardinals' favor, however, telling reporters he felt both teams were affected equally.
"I think both ways," Shanahan said. "I think they had 234 yards rushing last time in their dome. So, I'm not chalking anything up to heat. I think it evened out. I think it makes that both sides have to deal with the same stuff. You could feel it on long drives, thought we could feel it once we got the run game going too. But James Conner does that a lot and that's why he's a challenge and gave him too many opportunities."
Cornerback Deommodore Lenoir was a bit more direct when talking about whether or not the heat was a factor.
"Ain't no such thing as bad weather, just soft people," Lenoir said. "And nobody here is soft. So we ain't going to blame it on the weather. They lucked up and got one, so congratulations to them."
An adjustment problem?
Bosa was also asked about the weather and if it played a role in some of the missed tackles from the defense in the second half. He gave credit to Connor instead, later adding that the Cardinals were showing them new looks that the defense needed to do a better job of adjusting to.
"They were giving us a different look on the zone read," Bosa said. "I think in all of our losses, the preparation we've had has been great, but teams are playing us different and doing things differently, and we need to adjust a little better, just showing different looks and kind of than what we were looking at on tape. So, just got to adjust and get them down."
Wishnowsky's field goal range
When the 49ers lost kicker Jake Moody due to an ankle injury in the first half of Sunday's game, they had to turn to punter Mitch Wishnowsky to handle their placekicking. Wishnowsky was able to connect on a short field goal late in the first half and would have been called upon again if the 49ers got into range to do so on their final possession.
An interception from Purdy killed any chances of the 49ers getting into field goal range on that possession, but Shanahan was asked Sunday how far the team would have had to drive before giving Wishnowsky a chance.
"We were trying to get to the 15," Shanahan said. "Yeah, make it like an extra point."
The 49ers had no timeouts remaining on their final possession but did have time on the clock to make a run at the 15-yard line before Purdy's interception, which took place at midfield with 52 seconds remaining.