49ers news: 3 quick takeaways from the 24-23 loss to the Cardinals

The San Francisco 49ers suffered another bad loss early in the season, losing a 24-23 game to the Arizona Cardinals, dropping them to 2-3 on the year and 0-2 in the division.

As they have done all season, the 49ers jumped out to a big lead, leading 23-10 at the start of the half and holding a 10-point lead through the fourth quarter. But once again the 49ers failed in the end as Arizona scored 11 points in the final frame to secure the 24-23 comeback victory.

Here are three quick takeaways from the 49ers’ 24-23 loss to the Cardinals in Week 5.

Problems in the red zone

This part of the column feels like rinse and repeat.

Red zone issues have plagued the 49ers all season, as San Francisco came into the game with the 20th-best offense inside the 20-yard line and scored touchdowns on just 50 percent of their drives in 2024. Remember, the 49ers led the NFL in the red zone a season ago with a 68 percent touchdown rate.

Well, those problems came to their worst on Saturday when the 49ers were just 1/6 in the red zone and recorded a touchdown, three field goals, a fumble and a turnover on downs on their six opportunities. This is simply inexcusable.

Even worse, San Francisco ended up inside the 10-yard line four times on the day and only scored a touchdown once, as Kyle Shanahan opted to kick two field goals while Jordan Mason also got inside the 10-yard line on an ugly offensive day 49er fumbled at 10 yard line.

Now Jake Moody’s injury proved fatal for the 49ers as they had a turnover on downs that could have changed the course of the game due to the lack of a kicker, but the failure to score touchdowns is a significant problem for San Francisco hasn’t found a solution for this year yet.

It’s clear that the 49ers are struggling without star running back Christian McCaffrey, who was the NFL’s all-time leader in red zone touches in 2023 and has created a number of space opportunities for San Francisco, whether in the running game or the passing game enabled such a high success rate last year.

San Francisco really struggled to control the football in the red zone as the defense focused on the ground game, which resulted in Jordan Mason not having enough room to operate.

However, with Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle and Jauan Jennings at your disposal, there should be no excuses for the lack of points inside the 20-yard line, and that was the main reason for San Francisco’s loss on Sunday.

Kyle Shanahan has a big problem. And he needs a solution quickly.

Offensive sputters

Given that Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders were able to score 42 points on the Arizona Cardinals’ defense last weekend, it seemed like a favorable matchup for the 49ers’ offense on Sunday.

The Commanders ran for 216 yards and four touchdowns on nearly six yards per carry against Arizona a week ago, creating a winning formula against the Cardinals, who ranked in the bottom ten yards per game allowed and had the fourth-worst defense in Week 5.

However, the 49ers managed just 16 offensive points on Sunday, thanks to a blocked field goal that was returned for a touchdown, and were completely shut out in the second half.

Looking back at the first half, the red zone issues made this game much closer than it should have been, as San Francisco kicked three field goals despite being inside Arizona’s 10-yard line on all three occasions.

Nevertheless, they led 23:10 at the start of the half and had a great chance to decide the game in the second half. This is how their four trips went:

Drive #1: Interception

Driver #2: Sales on the downside

Drive #3: Fumble

Drive #4: Interception

Just ugly all around. Brock Purdy’s first interception led to Arizona’s first points of the half, cutting the lead to 10.

Then, as Purdy drove down the field with a chance at seven points, he took an ill-advised sack on 2nd-and-14 after a false start, which set the 49ers way behind and ultimately faced a 4th-and-23, resulting in a turnover led at Downs. thanks to the missing kicker.

San Francisco crashed again on the ensuing drive, but Jordan Mason, looking to gain more yards on a rush attempt, fumbled inside Arizona’s 10-yard line, allowing the Cardinals to use the momentum in their favor and to give the starting signal. Ahead field goal drive.

Then, with the game on the line and a chance for a comeback, Brock Purdy was put in trouble by a well-timed blitz, resulting in his second interception.

An offense that generates that much explosiveness can’t score 16 points against one of the NFL’s worst defenses. We credit head coach Jonathan Gannon for a good game plan against San Francisco, but this was a terrible performance by the 49ers, especially in the second half on the offensive side of the ball.

Run defense

The 49ers’ run defense was close to strong early in the game, which was a key key as Arizona had success on the ground and began the season with a strong start from leadback James Conner.

However, they were undone on the first drive by a 50-yard touchdown from Kyler Murray, where DeVondre Campbell appeared to make a poor decision at the line of scrimmage, resulting in a huge hole for the quarterback, who had to take off for the score.

Now San Francisco was able to contain James Conner, giving them a 23-10 halftime lead.

But as the fourth quarter approached, the defense looked exhausted in the 40-degree heat and Conner began to annihilate the 49ers with one good run after another. This ultimately helped Arizona score the final two points, which changed the landscape of the game as Conner finished the game with 86 yards on 19 carries.

Conner totaled 13 touches on the two scoring drives, including the first four touches of the second drive, which resulted in two first downs.

The 49ers’ run defense had some good plays for much of this game, but ultimately they struggled when it mattered most as Arizona exposed a problem on that side of the ball.

Ultimately, San Francisco failed to play complementary football and will fall to 2-3 as a result. Now it’s a short week against the Seattle Seahawks, in which the 49ers will try to get their first conference win of the season.