49ers handed another ugly loss: Rapid reactions

How many ways can you find to lose a game? The San Francisco 49ers are trying to uncover as many as they can. On Sunday, they found new ways to self-destruct, falling 29-17 to the Miami Dolphins.

With two games remaining, we'll see what this team is made of and how much fight they still have left in them. The 2024 season has been a mess, but I'm not one of the ones ready to fire Kyle Shanahan. Many fans are, like the one who reached out to me on social media and said the 49ers need to fire Shanahan and bring back Jim Tomsula. I assumed he was joking. He wasn't.

Someone wasn't paying attention in 2015, or even 2016 when Chip Kelly was the team's coach. If you'd rather have Jim Harbaugh than Shanahan, that's another discussion, but get out of here with the Tomsula over Shanahan takes. That's crazy talk.

Here are my rapid reactions. These are my live observations as the game unfolded.

• How do you not challenge that third-down spot? It looked like Patrick Taylor had the first down. There's nothing to lose, so go for it.
• The 49ers run defense has come to play. At least early on.
• Deebo Samuel finally looks like himself on a nice run, but it's called back because of holding. That's 2024.
• They follow the holding penalty with a false start. That's how you kill drives.
• And then a sack. This season is drunk.
• Jordan Elliott is getting a lot of push upfront in the early part of this game.
• Dre Greenlaw is out of the game with what looks like another injury. Maybe they should just shut him down for the season.
• How good is Deommodore Lenoir? Good enough that the 49ers let him guard Tyreek Hill one-on-one.

• Jake Brendel is getting pushed five yards into the backfield. I hope they can upgrade from him. It seems like he's gotten worse each week.
• Throwing the ball to Taylor may not be a good idea. He is a mess as a receiver.
• Samuel looks like a much better player today than he has lately. He's actually breaking tackles, which he hasn't done in the past several weeks.
• Taylor looks fine running the ball, but I want to see what Israel Abanikanda can do.
• I'm glad Aaron Banks is a free agent. He stinks.
• Samuel with the impressive touchdown. I'm not sure who stole him for most of the season, but thank you for returning him.

• Now the bad run defense is back.
• Malik Mustapha has missed a couple of tackles on this drive. He doesn't miss many of those.
• Fred Warner doesn't miss many tackles. That guy is everywhere.
• Yetur Gross-Matos has been great lately. Too bad he was out for much of the season.
• This offensive line is pitiful. Purdy should repossess those pickup trucks he gifted them.
• I dislike Brendel a little more with each game.
• Nothing good happens when Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles is in the game. Unless you're the opposing offense.
• More red zone woes. That's been one of the main reasons this team has struggled in 2024.
• Talanoa Hufanga getting called for a personal foul is not the way you want to start the second half.
• Why can't the 49ers defense stop screen passes?
• George Kittle always shows up. He's an easy Hall of Famer.

• Someone teach Ricky Pearsall where to line up. He's killing the offense on this drive.

• Once again, mistakes halt another promising drive. This team is maddening.
• And Jake Moody just missed a field goal. It may be time to move on from him. His replacements were better than him this season.

• Renardo Green has had a nice game.

• Samuel is a beast today.
• Wow, I didn't know Eric Saubert could catch. Nice work!

• That was a stupid penalty by Elliott on that late hit.
• The 49ers still have a chance to win this one. Can they pull it off?
• I guess not. Purdy's offensive line lets him down again. This group is horrible. Especially Brendel.
• The offensive line can't block and the defense can't stop the run. That's a recipe for bad football.
• The fact that the Dolphins, who haven't been able to run the ball this season, ran the ball on the 49ers in the second half, tells you all you need to know about this season.
• Why does Purdy refuse to throw the ball away?

The 49ers fell to 6-9 on the season and are officially eliminated from any hopes of making the postseason. And it won't get any easier next week when they host the Detroit Lions. It's now draft season for 49ers fans.