Well the San Francisco 49ers have all sorts of problems right now. Injuries keep piling up, they can’t win even when they dominate every stat, and now they head to Lambeau Field next week.
Everyone will get to see the 49ers play Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football, unless the NFL decides to flex this game. I, for one, wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case because of how the 49ers have been playing recently.
Yeah, Jimmy Garoppolo going down “doomed” the season. But how do you lead the Cardinals in plays, yards, time of possession, first downs, etc., and still end up losing? They had five turnovers that gifted Arizona the win and to no surprise, Levi’s Stadium was empty.
After the 49ers easily went down the field to score a touchdown on the opening drive, rookie quarterback Josh Rosen threw a 75-yard bomb to Christian Kirk for their opening touchdown. Then it all went south. Matt Breida got injured and never came back after a hot first quarter.
San Francisco couldn’t generate anything on offense except punts, fumbles and interceptions. They had a chance for a game-winning drive again, but like last week, it resulted in a turnover and a touchdown for Arizona. Then Beathard threw another interception on the next drive, which the Cardinals would later score a touchdown on, sealing the game.
Offensive Notes
With Breida going down early on, the 49ers relied heavily on Beathard to lead them as shown by his 54 pass attempts. Beathard threw for 349 yards and two touchdowns but also had two interceptions (one that was tipped). He also had a rushing touchdown late in the game.
The wide receivers were another non-factor for most of the game until the fourth quarter. Trent Taylor had seven catches for 61 yards and one touchdown but most of his catches came late in the game. Pierre Garcon had five catches for 47 yards and Kendrick Bourne had four catches for 33 yards.
George Kittle led the 49ers with 83 receiving yards on five catches, including a 45-yard catch and run on a screen. Kyle Juszczyk had six catches for 75 yards and came up with some big catches.
The running game stalled after Breida’s departure. Alfred Morris gained 61 yards on 18 carries and Raheem Mostert gained 11 on five carries, including a fumble.
The offense dominated the Cardinals defense on most aspects of the game, but just couldn’t overcome the ridiculous amount of turnovers.
Defense
Other than Rosen’s first touchdown pass, the whole Cardinals offense was terrible. David Johnson also did nothing until the touchdown at the end of the game. I think the Cardinals offense was more terrible than the 49ers defense in this one.
Fred Warner and Reuben Foster combined for six tackles. Cassius Marsh, Jaquiski Tartt, DeForest Buckner and Malcolm Smith all tied for the lead with four tackles.
The pass rush was non-existent, again. Marsh was the only one who got to Rosen but mainly because he handled the snap badly.
Larry Fitzgerald was held to two catches for 35 yards.
The defense couldn’t force any turnovers and that’s going to continue to be a problem, especially when they face Rodgers next week.
Special Teams
Robbie Gould missed a field goal. That accurately sums this game up.
Nothing happened on the punt/kickoff returns.
– Sanjesh Singh is the managing editor for the San Francisco 49ers on Full Press Coverage He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @TheSanjeshSingh Follow @FPC_49ers and Facebook.
