It is deja vu for the San Francisco 49ers and not in a good way. For the second consecutive season the team has taken bad losses in the first half of the season.
Last year it was the Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos, and Atlanta Falcons and started 3-4 after seven games. The record is better at 5-2, yet in back-to-back weeks losses to the Cleveland Browns who were without their starting quarterback and running back. Tonight facing the Minnesota Vikings without one of the best wide receivers in the NFL in Justin Jefferson.
While Brock Purdy did struggle against one of the best defenses, Cleveland. He looked a lot better tonight until he was needed for some late game heroics. He ended up throwing two interceptions and the last one made no sense to where he was going with the football. San Francisco had no timeouts, there were 34 seconds left, he took a shot 15-20 yards down the middle of the field. So why wasn’t he throwing to the sideline picking up chunks of yards and letting his receiver go out of bounds instead to preserve the necessary time?
Beyond that the defense could not stop the run or Kirk Cousins who finished 378 yards passing, two touchdowns and an interception.
Once again for a Shanahan led team there were mistakes at every level as well. Jake Moody missed a 40-yard field goal, Christian McCaffrey fumbled the ball back to the Vikings after Charvarius Ward picked Cousins off on the opening possession of the game. Even then the 49ers defense could not get off the field after forcing a 3rd and 12 sitution.
Even though Ward made a great play on his interception, it did not make up for his gaffe late in the first half was the biggest mistake of the game for the 49ers. Defensive Coordinator Steve Wilks called for a blitz, leaving his cornerback with no safety help on Jordan Addison. If he is tackled in-bounds, the half ends, the 49ers trail 10-7 and get the ball back to start the third quarter.
Yet that did not happen. Ward instead of recognizing the situation went for interception no.2 and this time lost the battle for the football with no chance tackling Addison who scored an easy 60-yard touchdown. After a missed extra point by Greg Joseph, San Francisco trailed 16-7 instead.
Also, there was another noteworthy mistake by Shanahan with a little over two minutes left in the first half. He decided to now run a play on a third and one before time ticked off for the two-minute warning. If he had been paying attention, Minnesota had only eight players on the field, which would have easily given the 49ers offense an opportunity to get the first down, there was a much better chance of a touchdown at that point.
The only one who does not get any criticism from tonight is punter Mitch Wishnowsky. He made the most of his only punt of the game, one that went 62 yards.
At the moment the 49ers do not look like anything close to a Super Bowl contender. One has to wonder what moves general manager John Lynch will make via trades and there is a real possibility of losing a third game in-a-row to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.