The San Francisco 49ers finally fell from the ranks of the undefeated on Sunday, after losing 29-20 to the Atlanta Falcons on the road in Week 7, improving to 6-1 on the season.
San Francisco entered the game defeated, as they only had four active receivers for the game with Mike Evans out. Still, they entered the game as 2.5-point favorites and had plenty of chances to win this one.
But despite gaining more than 100 yards on the Falcons, they found themselves on the wrong side of the game.
Here are three takeaways from the 49ers’ 29-20 loss to the Falcons on Sunday.
San Francisco’s margin for error was low going into the game, and the 49ers simply had too many self-inflicted wounds on both sides of the ball, which proved costly.
In the second quarter, trailing 14-9 with less than five minutes to play, the 49ers had Atlanta on 4th and 4 at the San Francisco 44-yard line. They gave Atlanta a first down with an Osa Odighizuwa encroachment penalty. As a result, the Falcons’ run continued and they scored a field goal to end the half.
Then, on a crucial drive to end the third and open the fourth quarter, with the 49ers trailing 19-14 needing a stop, they were going that way, as the Falcons had a 2nd and 20 at their own 13 yard line. Well, the 49ers were flagged for both illegal contact and holding the game, granting Atlanta another first down.
Later on that same drive, the Falcons were 3rd and 8 at their own 46 yard line. This time, Jack Jones, who had been flagged for holding on to the previous error, was called for pass interference, once again extending Atlanta’s drive.
The disk errors didn’t stop there. The 49ers put Bijan Robinson on 3rd and 2 from the San Francisco 26, but they had 12 men on the field and were also offsides on the play. Another first down. And on the next play, the 49ers gave up a 21-yard touchdown to Drake London.
What could have been a quick punt ultimately turned into an 11-play, 90-yard touchdown drive lasting more than five and a half minutes from which the 49ers were unable to recover.
Down 12, that forced San Francisco to go for a 4th-and-10 at the Atlanta 23 on the next drive with over 11 minutes left, which ended in a sack.
Late in the game, with the 49ers down six and facing a 3rd-and-4 at the Atlanta 47, Brandin Cooks had a false start, backing up the Niners, and Brock Purdy had an interception on the next play.
Then, perhaps one of the most costly mistakes of the day was Eddy Piniero’s missed extra point on the 49ers’ final touchdown. Hitting that would have caused the Niners to lose eight points on their final possession, but the miss kept the game two scores and highly unlikely for a comeback. Maybe it doesn’t matter anyway with George Kittle’s fumble, but this has been a recurring problem for the 49ers’ special teams unit this year.
San Francisco took seven penalties in this game, and many of them came in costly situations.
Very rarely are you going to win a game when you have four turnovers and the opposing team has none. Well, the 49ers had plenty of chances to win this one, even in the final minutes, but their turnovers were all brutal, which was too much to overcome on top of the self-inflicted wounds.
Leading 14-9 in the second quarter and driving into Arizona territory, the 49ers got lucky when a Jordan James fumble was recovered by Luke Farrell, allowing San Francisco to score a 2nd and one at the Atlanta 28. Well, that didn’t matter as Kaelon Black coughed up the ball on the next play.
San Francisco was within scoring range and finished scoreless. To make matters worse, Atlanta ate up the last 4:20 of the clock, scoring a field goal to end the half and starting the second half with the ball, where they scored a touchdown. Major turnaround there.
The 49ers’ second turnover also occurred as the Niners drove wide into Atlanta territory. On 2nd-and-14 from the Atlanta 25, Brock Purdy escaped the pocket, rolling to his right, and appeared to be trying to hit Jacob Cowing. But Cowing didn’t roll with his quarterback, and Purdy’s pass was intercepted by a diving Jesse Bates, who made a great play.
Should Purdy have thrown this one away. Probably. Did Cowing also make a mistake? It would have said that. It was another scoring opportunity wiped off the board, and Atlanta responded well, driving 11 plays and 90 yards for a touchdown to extend their lead to 26-14. This five-possession swing was the ball game.
In addition to the four turnovers, the 49ers also recorded turnovers on downs, which, once again, occurred on a drive where San Francisco was deep in Atlanta territory. Interestingly enough, the models said to kick 4th and 10 at the Atlanta 23, but with the 49ers down 12 and the defense struggling to get a stop, Kyle Shanahan went for it and Brock Purdy was sacked.
Looking back, the 49ers have a chance if they hit there, but the process also made sense from a player perspective.
Then, San Francisco had a great chance to take the lead with six points after the defense forced three consecutive outs. With just over four minutes left, the 49ers got the ball back at their own 47-yard line. They got to a 3rd and 4, but Brandin Cooks’ false start put them back five, and the defense made a great play on Brock Purdy’s second interception, which essentially sealed the deal.
It was a difficult game to say the least for the 49ers.
Niners’ defense contains damage
The 49ers defense had some backbreaking penalties in this one.
But it was encouraging to see that they held Bijan Robinson to 63 yards on 20 carries, while also having a good game in the red zone. The 49ers forced three red zone field goals in this one, dampening some of the defense, as they gave up just 4.7 yards per play.
There were long drives where penalties hurt and the 49ers couldn’t get off the field. This needs to be cleaned up, as Atlanta ran drives of 10, 14, 10 and 11 plays, resulting in 23 of their points.
But on a day when the offense recorded four turnovers, there were some solid takeaways from Raheem Morris’ unit, as the coordinator tried to create a plan to disrupt Michael Penix’s fast-paced game.
Now the secondary has leaked two weeks in a row. There were way too many penalties from this group, including a few that were deadly during Atlanta’s overtime drive.
But that Atlanta rushing attack has been difficult to stop, and the Falcons have been a top-five team in EPA per game since Penix returned to the starting lineup. So there are some positives to take from a disappointing outing.
Gn sports
