It would appear the injury bug doesn’t just affect the San Francisco 49ers, but also the teams that play in their stadium. The Denver Broncos lost three very integral part of their starting units in this game and two appear to be serious with Pat Surtain (ankle) and Pat Bryant (leg) exiting the game. Riley Moss (ribs) also never returned after halftime.
The injuries mounted and Brock Purdy and the 49ers began finding openings in the defense after those two starters exited. All it took was one very
questionable call to turn the tide. A call that even non-Broncos fans considered highly suspect. Now we need to figure out where the forearm begins and the wrist ends…
It is what it is. They had their chances and couldn’t figure out a way to capitalize. At 2-2, they have a must-win game against the Los Angeles Chargers next week.
Broncos vs. 49ers final score
First Quarter
Denver got the ball first and predictably went three-and-out. In fact, they didn’t even perform a run play until the seventh play of the game. Fortunately, the Broncos defense came to play and stymied Brock Purdy and the 49ers offense in that first quarter.
The first big play came from Bo Nix and Tyler Badie who connected on third down to get their second drive going.
They would get into field goal range, but a Mike McGlinchey holding penalty would knock them back and they’d settle for a 52-yard Wil Lutz field goal after struggling just get those 10 yards back. That would be the only score of the quarter by either team.
Broncos 3, 49ers 0. Full first quarter recap.
Second Quarter
The story of the first half was how Denver’s offense couldn’t get out of his own way. The good news for the team is that the defense was handling the 49ers offense pretty well too. They’d pick up a field goal late to tie it up and had a chance to take a lead over the Broncos at the end of the half, but Zach Allen would block the field goal attempt.
The big story is that Pat Surtain II went down with a non-contact injury on that same drive. The non-contact nature of the injury is very concerning. Losing him for an period of time would be a devastating loss to both the defense and the entire team.
Broncos 3, 49ers 3. Full second quarter recap.
Third Quarter
The entire third quarter was a bad dream for fans. First, this was called a fumble despite Marvin Mims’ forearm being clearly down.
That would give the 49ers the ball at the Broncos’ 28 yard line where they would convert it into a touchdown with both Riley Moss and Pat Surtain ruled out of this game with an injury.
Then on the next drive for Denver they would be driving only to have Pat Bryant make a huge 30 yard catch and run suffer a serious injury and have to be carted off the field. The Broncos would be in field goal range when the quarter ended and would at least get that field goal attempt in early in the fourth quarter.
49ers 10, Broncos 3. Full third quarter recap.
Fourth Quarter
The tide had turned and the 49ers had the momentum to keep grinding away in the fourth quarter. They would get a few no-call holds while the Broncos stacked more and more penalties. It was what it was. I didn’t really expect Denver to win this game, but they had chances.
Down 17-6 with just under nine minutes in the game, there would be no Bo Nix magic left in the tank after the last two weeks. They found their run game on the drive and ate up a lot of time with it, but a dart from Nix to Jaylen Waddle would put the Broncos on the board in the touchdown column with four minutes left in the game.
The two-point conversion was successful to close the game to just three points.
Denver sold out on defense to try to stop the run, and the 49ers called a screen to George Kittle who would house it to ice the game and the win for San Francisco.
49ers 24, Broncos 14.
