Undefeated 49ers acknowledge harsh reality after ugly Week 6 win – NBC Sports Bay Area & California

After his team improved to 6-0 on the season for the first time since 2019, Kyle Shanahan dropped the word “frustrating” several times while speaking to reporters after the game.

The 49ers appeared on track for a flawless start to the season after taking a 20-3 first-half lead against the Washington Commanders on Monday Night Football. But Washington’s 14 unanswered points in the second half completely changed the dynamic of the game.

While San Francisco’s offense only scored three points in the second half, it was the defense — particularly third-year safety Malik Mustapha — that stepped up the game at the line.

But the 49ers, still unfazed by their perfect record each week, know they should never have let things get to this point. For what? Because they hold themselves to different standards.

“The emotions just come from a game like that where I felt like this game should never have gotten to this point, right? That’s how high the standard is for us as a team,” Fred Warner said after the game. So yeah, I mean, of course, 6-0 is fantastic; we can’t describe it better, especially the fight we had there and in defense to be able to finish it. But you know, we’re going to continue to move forward. For example, you don’t just want to be a 6-0 team; you want to be a thriving team, right?

“Because the only thing that matters is being at your best when you need to be later in the season, right? So finding ways to win while finding ways to improve as a team as a whole. That’s the goal. It’s not just about winning.”

The obvious thing to point out for the 49ers’ sleepy offense in the second half was the loss of Mike Evans, who was ruled out with an Achilles injury moments before halftime.

Yet even with a loss as big as Evans, no one made excuses for the flat offense.

And they certainly weren’t going to blame the second half slowdown following their matchup against the lowly Commanders, who fell to 1-4-1 on the season.

“I think when you can win without playing your best, it’s obviously better than losing,” Christian McCaffrey said. “But I know our level is high, especially in attack. My level is high; I can’t put the ball on the ground. But there are a lot of things we have to clean up.

“Winning a game in the NFL is extremely difficult. There’s not a bad team in the league, and it’s a constant game of ebb and flow and momentum here and there. So for us, it’s not a timeout. We just have to go out and execute better, especially on offense, when it’s our job to try to win the game. So we’ll fix it.”

Even George Kittle, one of the most positive and energetic guys on the team, was visibly frustrated after the close victory.

He even went so far as to say that if there had been another team in the visiting locker room, the 49ers might have suffered their first loss of the season.

“I mean, winning in the league is incredibly tough, so I’m always happy to win,” Kittle said. “But when you’re up 20-3 and you can’t close the door on a struggling team – I mean, if we played a super efficient team, I think we’d lose this game pretty easily – and we just can’t have that. We have tougher games in our future. We have to go to Kansas City. We have to play Seattle again. Every time you play the Rams, Matt Stafford is Matt Stafford.

“There are teams that will take advantage of us being there many times, and our offense, whether it’s our players or our game plan, I think it’s too good for us to perform like that.”

Kittle doesn’t think it will take long for Shanahan to relay that message before Week 7.

In fact, the veteran tight end recalled the time the 49ers dominated the Carolina Panthers on the road with a 22-point victory in Week 5 of the 2022 season, and immediately afterward, Shanahan called half the offense out for one-on-one meetings to say they weren’t performing at a high enough level.

“Kyle has been coaching for over 15 years in the NFL. He knows what it takes and you realize how hard it is to win the league,” Kittle said. “So if you overlook certain details, they catch up with you. It’s inevitable that they’ll catch up with you. So you either have to look in the mirror, asking yourself, ‘What can I do to get better?’

“And I hope we have guys who are strong enough not to get hurt. Kyle is a tough coach, and we all deserve to be coached really hard.”

The 49ers had 17 first downs in the first half. The commanders had two.

At the end of the game, the 49ers had 20. The Commanders had 19.

Evans missing the second half didn’t help that cause, but again, no 49er is making excuses. Especially not a team that has relied on its next-man-up mentality all season, as Evans’ status could deprive San Francisco of its top five receivers.

“Mike Evans is an incredible football player. … I don’t think we made three field goals three times in a row because Mike wasn’t there,” Kittle said. Obviously he would have helped, but we just have to execute, and I don’t think we did that. I mean, we made six passes in a row, and I know there were mistakes somewhere in there. So we’re going to watch a movie. We are super happy to win. Winning is very difficult in the NFL, but we should be a lot better than that, a lot more efficient than that as an offense that we’ve been on record so far this year and we certainly haven’t been.

The 49ers improved to 6-0 in their first real primetime game of the season, but judging by the locker room, you wouldn’t be able to tell.

Deebo Samuel said it perfectly: the 49ers have been here before. They rode an impressive winning streak and defied the odds for a season before collapsing in the playoffs.

Their goal is much bigger and brighter than racking up wins. It’s all about getting the one that matters in February. And no one — not a player, coach or front office executive — can be sure that will happen if the 49ers post another performance like Monday’s.

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