The San Francisco 49ers finally fell from the undefeated ranks on Sunday, as they lost 29-20 to the Atlanta Falcons on the road in Week 7, going to 6-1 on the season.
San Francisco came into the game beaten up, as they had just four receivers active for the game with Mike Evans out. Still, they came into the game as 2.5-point favorites and had plenty of opportunities to win this one.
But despite outgaining the Falcons by over 100 yards, they ended up on the wrong side of the game.
Here are three quick
takeaways from the 49ers 29-20 loss to the Falcons on Sunday.
Self-inflicted wounds
The margin for error for San Francisco was low heading into this game, and the 49ers had just too many self-inflicted wounds on both sides of the ball that proved costly.
In the second quarter, up 14-9 with under five minutes left, the 49ers had Atlanta on 4th & 4 at the San Francisco 44-yard line. They gifted Atlanta a first down with an encroachment penalty from Osa Odighizuwa. As a result, the Falcons drive continued, and they got a field goal to end the half.
Then, on a crucial drive to end the third and open the fourth quarter, with the 49ers down 19-14 needing a stop, they were trending in that direction, as the Falcons had a 2nd & 20 at their own 13-yard line. Well, the 49ers were flagged for both illegal contact and holding on the play, granting Atlanta another first down.
Later on that same drive, the Falcons were on 3rd & 8 at their own 46-yard line. This time, Jack Jones, who was flagged for holding on the previous error, was called for pass interference, once again extending Atlanta’s drive.
The errors on the drive didn’t stop there. The 49ers stuffed Bijan Robinson on 3rd & 2 at 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 following play, the 49ers gave up a 21-yard touchdown to Drake London.
What could’ve been a quick punt ended up being an 11-play, 90-yard touchdown drive lasting over five and a half minutes that the 49ers couldn’t recover from.
Down 12, it forced San Francisco to go for it on 4th & 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 & 4 at the Atlanta 47, Brandin Cooks had a false start, backing the Niners up, and Brock Purdy had an interception on the next play.
Then, perhaps one of the costliest miscues of the day was Eddy Piniero’s missed extra point on the 49ers final touchdown. Hitting that would’ve had the Niners down eight on their final possession, but the miss kept it a two-score game and highly unlikely for a comeback. Maybe it doesn’t matter anyways with George Kittle’s fumble, but that problem has been a recurring one for the 49ers special teams unit this year.
San Francisco had seven penalties in this game, and a lot of them were in costly situations.
Turnovers
You’re very rarely going to win a game when you have four turnovers and the opposing team has zero. Well, the 49ers had a ton 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.
Up 14-9 in the second quarter and driving in Arizona territory, the 49ers got lucky when a Jordan James fumble was recovered by Luke Farrell, setting San Francisco up with a 2nd & 1 at the Atlanta 28. Well, it didn’t matter as Kaelon Black coughed the ball up on the next play.
San Francisco was in scoring range and ended with no points. To make matters worse, Atlanta ate up the final 4:20 of clock, kicking 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 came with the Niners driving well into Atlanta territory. On 2nd & 14 from the Atlanta 25, Brock Purdy escaped the pocket, rolling to his right, and seemed 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? Looked like it. That’s another scoring opportunity wiped off the board, and Atlanta responded well, going 11 plays and 90 yards for a touchdown to extend their lead to 26-14. That five-possession swing was the ballgame.
On top of the four turnovers, the 49ers also had the turnover on downs, which, once again, came on a drive where San Francisco was deep in Atlanta territory. Interestingly enough, the models said to kick on 4th & 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.
In hindsight, the 49ers have a shot if they kicked there, but the process also made sense from a go-for perspective.
Then, San Francisco had a big chance to take the lead down six after the defense forced back-to-back three-and-outs. With just over four minutes left, the 49ers got the ball at their own 47-yard line. They got to a 3rd & 4, but Brandin Cooks’s false start pushed them back five, and the defense made a great play on Brock Purdy’s second interception, which essentially sealed the deal.
It was a rough game for the 49ers, to say the least.
Niners defense contains damage
The 49ers defense had some back-breaking penalties in this one.
But it was encouraging 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 field goals in the red zone in this one, mitigating some of the defense, while they gave up only 4.7 yards per play.
There were some long drives where the penalties hurt, and the 49ers could not get off the field. That needs to be cleaned up, as Atlanta had drives of 10, 14, 10, and 11 plays, resulting in 23 of their points.
But on a day when the offense had four turnovers, there were some solid things to take away from Raheem Morris’s unit, as the coordinator tried to create a plan to disrupt the quick game of Michael Penix.
Now, the secondary has been leaky two weeks in a row. There have been far too many penalties from that group, including a few that were killer in extending Atlanta drives.
But this Atlanta rushing attack has been a hard one to stop, and the Falcons had been a top-five team in EPA per play since Penix returned to the starting lineup. So there were a few positives to take from a disappointing outing.
