SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Thursday games are considered a burden in the NFL, a taxing turnaround teams would rather avoid.
For the San Francisco 49ers, however, a short week is exactly what they want.
“I think it’s kind of a blessing in disguise that we’re playing on Thursday,” Nick Bosa said, a theme every player in the locker room struck after their 24-23 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
After all, the game was one that called for a quick flush.
It was the second time in two weeks San Francisco had built a big lead over a division opponent only to see it disappear under a cascade of mistakes. In Week 3, they led the Los Angeles Rams by 14 points in the third quarter. On Sunday, they were up by 13 at halftime.
They built that lead with the help of a rare big-play contribution from their embattled special teams when, in the second quarter, Jordan Elliott blocked a field goal and Deommodore Lenoir returned the ball 61 yards for a touchdown.
Birthday behavior, @Dmo_lenoir!
📺 #AZvsSF on FOX
NFL+ // https://t.co/KTh0i4oaLh pic.twitter.com/SCSuJ1K7CU— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) October 6, 2024
During the ensuing defensive series, Bosa picked off a screen pass and returned it 30 yards, setting up a short field goal. That stretched the lead to 23-10 at halftime, and with the temperature rising past 100 degrees — and the Cardinals stuck in the sun in the second half — it seemed the 49ers were in a perfect position to pounce.
“We had every opportunity to blow that one out and we didn’t do that,” George Kittle said afterward.
All three phases had a hand in the loss.
On special teams, the 49ers followed Lenoir’s touchdown with a short kickoff that Cardinals returner DeeJay Dallas, a 214-pound running back, brought back 39 yards. Along the way, kicker Jake Moody tried to stop Dallas, pinning Moody’s right, kicking leg awkwardly against the turf. He was diagnosed with a high-ankle sprain that left him in a walking boot and that will force the 49ers to find a new kicker for the foreseeable future.
#49ers Kicker Jake Moody was able to walk off the field on his own after suffering an apparent injury on the previous play 🙏 pic.twitter.com/cpPgW1NRU2
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 6, 2024
“Going into the wind in that direction, I kind of got under it a little bit,” Moody said of the kickoff. “It’s not deep enough for them to let it go for a touchback and they brought that one out. Sucks how it ended up.”
Moody’s absence affected the 49ers the rest of the way. His temporary replacement, punter Mitch Wishnowsky, converted a 26-yard field goal just before halftime, but the 49ers knew he was only good for short attempts. Kyle Shanahan said the 49ers needed to get to at least the 15-yard line to give Wishnowsky a chance.
“Make it like an extra point,” Shanahan said.
The 49ers defense, meanwhile, did a great job containing running back James Conner early on, limiting him to 9 yards on six carries at halftime. In the second half, however, the 230-pound Conner grew stronger and the 49ers seemed to wilt. He routinely broke through their arm tackles for 77 yards in the second half, including a critical two-point conversion in the fourth quarter that cut San Francisco’s lead to 23-21.
“I think they had 234 yards rushing last time in their dome,” Shanahan said. “So I’m not chalking anything up to heat. I think it evened out. I think it makes it so that both sides have to deal with the same stuff. You could feel it on long drives. But James Conner does that a lot and that’s why he’s a challenge, and we gave him too many opportunities.”
The biggest blunders, however, belonged to the 49ers offense.
Though Brock Purdy and company rolled up 384 yards, including a break-out 147-yard receiving effort from Brandon Aiyuk, their unit managed just one touchdown in six trips into the red zone, continuing a dubious theme for the 2024 squad.
One of those opportunities was impacted by Moody’s absence. Late in the third quarter, the 49ers drove to Arizona’s 13-yard line — within Wishnowsky’s range. But a false start on second down by Jauan Jennings backed them up 5 yards while a sack — Purdy scrambled for 10 seconds but never found an open target — pushed them backward another 9 yards to Arizona’s 27-yard line. An incompletion on third down meant the 49ers had to try to convert on fourth-and-23 rather than attempt a field goal. They failed.
Other red-zone opportunities were thwarted by a Purdy interception when his pass was tipped and grabbed out of the air by Mack Wilson Sr. and by a Jordan Mason fumble at the 8-yard line with a little more than six minutes to play.
“We haven’t won those gritty little games yet,” Kittle lamented afterward. “We haven’t done that. And that’s something we need to get better at. It’s something that we have to get done.”
The quote was reminiscent of something linebacker Fred Warner said last season when the 49ers were in the midst of a soul-searching three-game losing streak — that they had to find ways of winning “grimy games.”
The 2023 49ers did. They ended their skid with a six-game winning streak that went a long way toward them securing a division title and getting a first-round playoff bye.
The difference is that, despite last year’s losing streak, the 49ers never had a losing record at any point in the season. The current 49ers do. They’re 2-3 with a road game against the division-leading Seattle Seahawks (3-2) on Thursday and a date with their nemesis, the Kansas City Chiefs, in Week 7.
Their attitude: Thursday can’t get here fast enough.
“We’d love to sit here and get pissed,” Shanahan said. “We’d love to be able to do something about that, what just happened. But you can’t do anything about these games once they end. I told the guys the next time we’ll be able to do something is Thursday and it’s better to only have to wait until Thursday than to have to wait until next Sunday.”
(Photo of Brock Purdy’s final interception: Kelley L Cox / Imagn Images)
