49ers News: Pain – Niners Nation

Barrows: The Rams, long the 49ers’ ‘get right’ foe, expose all their flaws (paywall)

“For years the Rams have been San Francisco’s “get right” team, the opponent they used to end losing skids. They’d beaten the Rams six times since 2019 in games preceded by one or more losses. On Sunday, however, Los Angeles exposed everything that’s ailing the 49ers at the start of the season.”

49ers bemoan mistakes in ‘unacceptable’ loss to Rams

“Despite all of that, the Niners still had a chance to win, largely because of Jennings and Purdy. Starting in place of Samuel, Jennings delivered a game to remember with 11 catches for 175 yards and three touchdowns, becoming the fourth player in franchise history to have 175 receiving yards and three scores in the same game.

Purdy, meanwhile, didn’t miss a beat without his usual weapons, finishing 22-of-30 for 292 yards and three touchdowns with a 137.1 passer rating. But those numbers could have been better as Purdy didn’t get much help from pass catchers not named Jennings. The Niners were charged with three drops, though they had others wiped out by penalties.

None was bigger than the deep pass Purdy fired to an open Ronnie Bell down the right sideline with 1:08 to go. Purdy’s pass was on target and Bell had a clean chance at a big catch to set up a potential game-winning field goal. Instead, Bell dropped it and the Niners were forced to punt to set up the Rams’ final drive.

The loss made Purdy the third 49ers signal caller (alongside Joe Montana and Steve Young) to lose a game in which he completed at least 70% of his passes and three or more touchdowns. It also dropped the Niners below the .500 mark for the first time with Purdy as the starter.

At 1-2, the Niners are well aware that there is plenty of season left. Their locker room is full of players who have helped them dig out of even more difficult spots in the recent past. But they also know opportunities like Sunday’s can come back to haunt them later in the year.”

Thompson: 49ers’ bad loss to Rams had been brewing — now they have to get it together (paywall)

The 49ers’ success is traditionally based on synchronicity. How the coverage feeds off the pass rush, and the linebackers wreak havoc in between. How the offense is built on timing routes, a delicate choreography balanced by a physical run game. For all of their star power, the 49ers’ dominance is a product of their interdependent rhythm. A metronome of violence and grace, timing and misdirection, precision and explosion.

But the 49ers aren’t close to clicking. Far from it.

“I think this loss comes from being too complacent,” said cornerback Deommodore Lenoir. “We should’ve put them away. … This has got a lot to do with finishing.”

And the current discombobulation is a natural result of their last eight months — from an absolute gut-wrenching loss in the Super Bowl, to an offseason dominated by contentious contract holdouts, to significant changes in key positions, followed by injuries to their best players.

Yeah, from the macro view, this was coming.

If anything’s been proven in the Shanahan era, it’s this: If the machine that is 49ers football gets disrupted, they become a run-of-the-mill team, prone to the whims and chances of the NFL’s parity. Unlike some teams, such as Kansas City, whose success is largely predicated on a couple of strengths outweighing whatever weaknesses, the 49ers rely on a more universal strength. They wear down opponents with depth and a barrage of great players spread throughout the roster.

It’s proven to be a reliable formula, only bested by Patrick Mahomes. That’s why they still feel good about their chances to find the sync that makes them special.”

Kawakami: Yes, it’s going to be one of those long, hard 49ers seasons

“Last weekend, of course, the 49ers gave up a mind-blowing 97-yard TD to Justin Jefferson. That’s a whole lot of roasting for a secondary that is filled with talented players. It seems like star cornerback Charvarius Ward is gutting through a leg injury and like Sorensen hasn’t quite synched up the deep coverage or figured out how to get the pass rush fully revved up.

Is this fixable? This is probably their most urgent non-injury issue right now. The 49ers should be fine next Sunday at Levi’s Stadium against the woeful Patriots. But then they’ve got a very crucial stretch coming up: at home against the Arizona Cardinals, in Seattle on a Thursday night, and home games against the Chiefs and Cowboys before their Week 9 bye.

Can their defense hold it together to get the 49ers to 5-3 at that point? Or 4-4 at worst? That’s on Sorensen. That’s on assistant head coach Brandon Staley. That’s on Bosa, Warner and all of their defensive stars. The 49ers leaned on their defense through troubled times in other years. Mostly, the defense answered the call.

This is going to be another one of those years. And I think the 49ers’ offense will be fine. But the 49ers always need their defense to lift all boats. If it can’t, this won’t just be a trying season for the 49ers. It could feel like an endless one.”

Silver: How the 49ers lost to the Rams, and what the immediate consequences might be (paywall)

“We were expecting a fake punt there,” he said, “and they still got our edge.”

If so, I’d hate to think about what would have happened had the 49ers not been expecting a fake.

Rivers’ seven-yard run around left end kept the drive alive, and Stafford’s 15-yard dart to running back Kyren Williams sliced the deficit in half before halftime.

“That was the start of hope right there,” Lenoir said. “It looked like we were gonna blow them out. But we gave them hope with that fake punt.”

Still, the 49ers had ample opportunities to close things out and avoid falling two games behind the 3-0 Seattle Seahawks (along with the Rams and Cardinals) in the NFC West race. S.F. took a 21-7 lead on Purdy’s 31-yard touchdown strike to Jennings midway through the third quarter and looked ready to end the suspense after driving inside the Rams’ 40 with a seven-point edge and 2:48 left in the game.

Then it all unraveled in unseemly and unfathomable fashion.”

Plenty of blame for 49ers’ loss, but none belongs to Brock Purdy (paywall)

“It was evidence that Purdy, who has unquestionably benefited from playing with so many decorated offensive teammates, can also make others look better.

“I’m not surprised at all,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “He had a heck of a game … Seeing him fight for every single bit out there and put on the performance he did — that’s exactly why he’s the guy leading us at that position.”

What we learned as 49ers waste Jennings’ career game in loss to Rams

“The 49ers got off to a hot start and had a number of opportunities to pull away.

But the 49ers flubbed it with an abundance of special-teams miscues, dropped passes and defensive breakdowns.

Just how good are the 49ers?

Not very good at all, it seems.

At least, based on their disastrous and embarrassing 27-24 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at SoFi Stadium, the 49ers have a lot of work ahead of them.”

49ers’ improbable loss to Rams highlights wild Shanahan stat

“Sunday’s improbable loss dropped the 49ers to 1-2 during the 2024 NFL season, leaving San Francisco in the cellar of the NFC West after three weeks of football.

The 49ers will host the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium in Week 4 as San Francisco seeks a much-needed bounce-back win on the heels of two consecutive defeats.”

49ers game grades: Special teams failures set the stage for a loss to Rams (paywall)

“The issue was all but officially decided when De’Vondre Campbell was called for pass interference with 37 seconds to play, a 25-yard penalty that moved the Rams to the Niners’ 25. A similar scenario aided the Rams’ second TD of the game when rookie Renardo Green was called for holding in the end zone on 3rd-and-1; L.A. scored on the next play to pull within 21-14. Statistically, the defense fared well — Rams had only 19 first downs and finished with fewer than 300 total yards — but allowing 20 second-half points to a winless team missing receivers Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp is worrisome.”