They were just defeated handily by the Kansas City Chiefs at Levi's Stadium, dropping their record to 3-4 overall. However, the building already held the most significant answer to the issues faced by that team. In an unprecedented trade a few days prior, the Niners acquired Christian McCaffrey, a running back, with the hope that he would ignite a second-half comeback. He did, and the Niners ended the season with a 10-game winning streak that put them in the NFC Championship Game.
The Niners have a much better record heading into their bye and Tuesday's NFL trade deadline than they did a little over a year ago, but they still feel pressure to turn things around following their 31-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. San Francisco fell to 5-3 and out of first place in the NFC West division following their third straight loss to the Bengals following a 5-0 start.
Coach Kyle Shanahan made it plain on Sunday afternoon that another McCaffrey isn't coming through that door, even though the Niners are probably going to be actively looking for outside assistance. Therefore, change needs to come mostly from within. To that end, the Niners will engage in a lot of introspection during their bye week before their game against the Jaguars on 12th Nov.
No, Shanahan said, nothing about this affects the trade deadline. "I think our building contains the answers, based on how we played today and the previous three weeks. I think we have some talented players. Our coaches are good, in my opinion. Encouraging them to perform better is my job.
We had a pretty good start, I thought, but we haven't been able to keep a few things hidden these past few weeks, so we need to keep pushing them in every way because some people do go through losing streaks, and when that happens, all you can do is hope.
After winning 15 straight regular-season games (tied for a franchise record) and defeating their first five opponents of the season by an average of 19.8 points per game, the Niners suffered their first three-game losing run since the 2021 campaign.
Shanahan had made repeated references to his team's mistakes early in the season, which they were able to get away with because they had jumped out to big leads. Red zone issues and penalties had been issues, but the Niners made up for them by scoring a lot of points on offense (their 21 plays of 20 yards or more were sixth most in the NFL) and giving up little on defense.
For the most part, those categories have seen a sharp change in the opposite direction during the last three weeks. During that time, the Niners have allowed 15 plays of 20 yards or more, which is the second most in the NFL. They have also been outgained by an average of 62 yards per game and outscored by 7 points on average. Furthermore, during that time, the Niners have turned the ball over seven times (tied for fourth most) and have a minus-3 turnover margin (tied for fourth worst).
Niners quarterback Brock Purdy had not thrown an interception in the previous five weeks, but in the last three games, he has, four of them in opposition territory, one of which occurred on Sunday inside Cincinnati's 10-yard line.
We've lost the turnover battle the last two weeks, and all I know is that it's difficult to win football games when that happens," tight end George Kittle remarked. And it goes without saying that we simply need to play better and position ourselves so that we can run the football more often and throw the ball less frequently.
It's the defensive issues that have caught me off guard, even though many of those have been worrying. In spite of DeMeco Ryans' departure to become the head coach of the Houston Texans, the Niners have consistently fielded one of the best defenses in the league, so they were expected to be difficult to score on this season. This year, coordinator Steve Wilks took over for Ryans.
It wasn't the case lately, but it was during the first five weeks. The Niners have allowed nearly 70 more passing yards per game through the air as the schedule and quarterbacks they face have gotten harder, and over the last three weeks, the QBR of opposing quarterbacks has increased by nearly 16 points.
Wilks has been scrutinized because of these problems, his pass rush's inability to get to the end zone, and the contentious blitz call that occurred just before halftime of the team's defeat to the Minnesota Vikings last week. However, Shanahan asserted on Sunday that everyone is equally responsible.
Shanahan stated, "This isn't on any one coach or one side of the ball." It has also been three weeks since we have scored more than 20 points here. I believe that our defense has to perform better. I believe that our offensive needs to improve. I feel like we need to improve as a team. I refer to all of the players on the team as well as, I believe, all of the coaches.
Following Sunday's 20-10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, a visibly irate Diontae Johnson blasted the officiating crew, claiming they cost the Pittsburgh Steelers the game.
The offside call against right guard Isaac Seumalo, who was flagged for lining up in the neutral zone, infuriated the wide receiver for the Steelers particularly since it overturned a 55-yard field goal by Chris Boswell. The subsequent attempt by Boswell after the penalty went wide right.
Had the field goal held up, the Jaguars' lead would have been reduced to three at the half.
Johnson remarked, "The referees were killing us the whole game." The same officials that were at training camp. The referees today weren't my favorite. We cannot continually be upset with the referees at the end of the day. We shouldn't be concerned about the referees, whatever Coach [Mike Tomlin] says. However, each person is unique.
With 17 seconds left in the first half, defensive end Adam Gotsis knocked Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett to the ground; Johnson voiced his displeasure with the inconsistent roughing-the-passer calls.
Johnson remarked, "They was calling some stupid stuff." They ought to pay a fine for making poor calls and other similar offenses. That's my level of rage. The game was lost to them. It doesn't matter what people think. The game was lost to them.
The Acrisure Stadium crowd became enraged with the officials' calls prior to the field goal attempt. After reviewing the play, the officials awarded Pickett the yardage despite the fact that he had fumbled and ran out of bounds, imposing a 10-second run-off. Gotsis hit Pickett hard on the following play, and the Steelers were forced to use a timeout because the injury happened after the two-minute warning. After every incident, the crowd erupted in loud applause, which peaked with the "ref you suck" chant following the field goal attempt that went offside.
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