The San Francsico 49ers were in prime position to become the seventh seed in the NFC after the Minnesota Vikings overtime loss earlier. Yet it became another home loss this time due to unforced errors that led to two turnovers fumbles by George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk. There was also one terrible personal foul call on Arik Armstead.
Kittle and Aiyuk both tried to do too much. For Armstead, quaterback Colt McCoy sold the call which led to the flag. It took away a defensive stop by the 49ers as well.
Late in the second quarter the 49ers missed out on an opportunity to push the Arizona Cardinals back to a much longer attempt. Yet, Josh Norman inexplicably got called for taunting D.J. Humphries, Tavon Austin to settle him down.
Norman got benched and deservedly so, as it became a first down for the Cardinals. On the next play the 49ers missed out on an opportunity on recovering a fumble, yet Fred Warner let the ball slip out of his grasp. Ultimately it led to a field goal and a 17-0 deficit.
Fortunately Garoppolo did a great job of reading the defense by Arizona. Moving the football down the field and eventually finding Kittle for his first touchdown of the year. Momentum seemed to shift towards San Francisco.
Still any thoughts of that were soon silenced by McCoy as the Cardinals offense needed only three plays to go 72 yards to push the lead to 31-7.
The 49ers offense continue to move the football. Aiyuk came down with an impressive touchdown catch, yet inexplicably Kyle Shanahan elected to kick the extra point instead of going for two. Meaning that it was still a three score game instead of two.
San Francisco’s defense finally got three stops and punter Andy Lee finally got his opportunities. Yet, the offense only managed three points. With that drive aided by a 28 yard punt return by Aiyuk.
Garoppolo did end up throwing a pick late in the fourth and by that time the game was pretty much out of reach for the 49ers.
Today’s loss by the 49ers illustrated how Shanahan has an overall record of 32-40 as head coach. The two unforced turnovers, penalties even though it was ticky-tack, defense not tackling and not taking advantage of their opponents mistakes (Warner not coming up with the fumble recovery).
So for general manager John Lynch a change needs to get made now. Trade him in the offseason and get some picks.