What thoughts should the 49ers’ resounding loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas Eve elicit about the team still leading the NFC?
Maybe.
The 49ers are defeatable, as we know. Furthermore, we are aware that they are not guaranteed to win their final two games of the regular season and easily advance through the NFC round of the postseason.
Reams of analytics data are not needed to identify the problem areas.
The day following his team’s 33-19 loss against the Ravens, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan stated, “I think when you turn the ball over five times, that’s usually what happens.”
Consequently, you cannot have five turnovers and receive none. Also, there cannot be more than 100 yards in penalties.
tense conclusion George Kittle stated that there was no need to dwell too much on the team’s subpar play in their humiliating defeat to Baltimore.
It’s not like the building is on fire, which is disappointing, he remarked. The ball may not always bounce in your direction. lots of advice. A lot of bizarre things occurred.
Therefore, I’m just disappointed right now rather than furious. We still have a decent football team, in my opinion.
Even though the evidence might be in your favour, we don’t accept it.
We just happen to believe that the 49ers are better positioned to make a comeback than most teams because of their big-play potential and abundance of options as a passing or running offence.
The issue is in their infrequent ability to test that theory.
With Purdy starting quarterback for the 49ers, the club is 17-4 throughout the regular season, so it is hard to criticise the team’s performance.
They trailed at the beginning of the fourth quarter of their season-ending victory over the Raiders. Additionally, they defeated the in the playoffs by scoring on a game-winning touchdown drive early in the fourth quarter.
This year, the 49ers have suffered four losses. Needless to say, they did not return to win any of those matches. However, Purdy guided the 49ers 52 yards down the field in the last 100 seconds of the game at Cleveland in Week 6 to potentially set up the game-winning field goal.
The fact that kicker Jake Moody failed from 41 yards out should not detract from the offense’s effort to rally and win the game.
We won’t contest that the 49ers have a much better chance of winning when they lead the entire time.
However, just because they haven’t trailed in games does not imply they can’t catch up and win them.
We bet no 49ers fan was complaining when Purdy hit George Kittle on back-to-back pass plays of 58 and 13 yards to move to the Baltimore 15-yard line on their first drive of the game.
Then, Purdy made a poor decision about where to go with the ball based on the play call and the Ravens’ coverage. Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton made the interception in the end zone.
The 49ers had success with Christian McCaffrey. He gained 103 yards and a touchdown on 14 rushing attempts. Everything ties together in the 49ers’ offense with the run game and pass games being intertwined.
But stuff happens, and it did on Monday night. The halftime show of the corgi races did not produce the only mess on the field at Levi’s Stadium.
But the bottom line is Shanahan has every reason to have confidence in Purdy and the passing game. Nothing that happened Monday night should change that.
In the end, though, Shanahan has every justification for believing in Purdy and the passing game. It shouldn’t be altered by anything that occurred on Monday night.
