SANTA CLARA – Here is how the 49ers (2-3) graded in Sunday’s 24-23 home loss to the Arizona Cardinals (2-3):
PASS OFFENSE: F
Two interceptions off deflected passes proved extremely costly after halftime, from Brock Purdy’s late throw to George Kittle on their first series (at the 49ers’ 25-yard line) to a Cardinals blitz that redirected his last throw. Purdy produced his third-worst passer rating in a start (62.1) and his second-worst completion percentage (54.3%), the latter of which nudged out the previous game’s mark of 55.6% against New England. A much-needed confidence boost came with Aiyuk’s revival, but he had a drop and did not score on any of his eight catches for 147 yards, the third-highest total of his career. Kittle (eight catches, 64 yards) overcame injured ribs and had back-to-back catches in the red zone before Jordan Mason’s fumble. “We just need to play better and that starts with myself,” Purdy said. “When we get down to the red zone, we need to execute and score touchdowns.” And not fumble.
RUN OFFENSE: D
It’s tempting to assign an ‘F’ grade simply for Mason’s fumble — on a poorly blocked play — at the 12-yard line with 6:11 remaining. As teammates testified in his defense, Mason was largely effective with a season-low 14 carries, including a 20-yard run to spark that penultimate series. It was Mason’s first lost fumble of his career. Without him, and without Christian McCaffrey for who knows how many weeks if not months longer, the 49ers’ rushing attack would be much more suspect, all due respect to Purdy’s increased penchant for scrambling (four carries, 33 yards). Deebo Samuel had three carries for nine yards, while catching just 1-of-3 targets for 11 yards in his lackluster day. Rookie Isaac Guerendo got five carries (22 yards) but broke none longer than 5 yards.
PASS DEFENSE: D+
De’Vondre Campbell, victimized early in the game, broke up Kyler Murray’s third-and-5 pass and the 49ers defense had a win in sight. So did Murray. He converted a fourth-and-5 throw to rookie Marvin Harrison Jr. at midfield to keep alive their go-ahead drive. Murray (19-of-35, 195 yards, one touchdown, one interception) did not attempt another throw as the Cardinals easily ran into field-goal range. The 49ers needed a timely sack or an interception, the latter of which came too soon via Nick Bosa’s savvy second-quarter pick of Murray at the 49ers’ 30-yard line. The 49ers did not get beat by a deep ball, for a change. But with only one sack (by Leonard Floyd) and one takeaway (Bosa’s interception), this unit wasn’t effective enough. Not to be overlooked: Murray’s lone touchdown pass, a 2-yard throw early in the fourth quarter to tight end Elijah Higgins, who slipped out wide open as the 49ers bit on a quarterback run.
RUN DEFENSE: F
Amid record heat near 100 degrees, the 49ers’ defense wilted at the end with missed tackles and blown assignments. Then again, poor tactics from the start allowed Murray to jet 50 yards for a touchdown on the opening series (at 21.27 mph, the quickest by a quarterback over the last eight seasons, per NextGen Stats.) It’s the end that ruined them. After the fourth-down completion to Harrison, the Cardinals ran on the next five snaps, with Murray’s 13-yard run and James Conner’s 10-yarder putting them in field-goal range. Conner was contained to nine first-half yards, then added 26 in the third quarter before a 51-yard whipping of the 49ers’ defense in the fourth quarter. Conner finished with 86 yards, Murray with 83. Take away Murray’s 50-yard scoring sprint and they still combined to average 4.8 yards per carry. The Cards, you may recall, ran for 234 yards (30 carries) in their last meeting with the 49ers, who won that Dec. 17, 2023 shootout 45-29.
SPECIAL TEAMS: C
Losing kicker Jake Moody to an injury was more than unfortunate. It was inexcusable to force him to make a tackle on a kickoff – a kickoff that was fielded only a yard deep in the end zone and returned 39 yards. Kudos to Mitch Wishnowsky for banging in his first career field goal; it was only from 26 yards and the 49ers did not want to risk having him try anything beyond point-after range. Guerendo fielded the final kickoff five yards deep and made it only to the 27-yard line, costing the 49ers five seconds (With 1:32 remaining) and three yards shy of a could-have-been touchback. Trent Taylor’s debut was a dud as a punt returner (one fair catch). All that overshadowed this unit’s early-season highlight: birthday boy Deommodore Lenoir’s 61-yard touchdown return of a field-goal attempt blocked by Jordan Elliott in the second quarter.
COACHING: F
A 10-point fourth-quarter lead is the bane of Kyle Shanahan’s existence, be it Super Bowls or NFC West losses. So much goes into those collapses beyond any play call or time management. This is a systemic issue that’s infiltrated players somehow in which mistakes get piled upon mistakes down the stretch, to say nothing of the repeated red-zone failures that can’t simply be dismissed with Christian McCaffrey’s absence. As for the defense, Nick Bosa said: “In all of our losses, the preparation we’ve had has been great, but teams are playing us different and doing things differently and we have to adjust better.”
