‘Sloppy play’ ends Niners stretch of perfection

The San Francisco 49ers kept losing the football. Then, understandably, for the first time this season, they lost the game.

“Four turnovers,” said Niners coach Kyle Shanahan, “Too sloppy to win today.”

And so any illogical dream of perfection is gone, and not surprisingly in Atlanta, where San Francisco has stumbled again and again.

The Falcons, taking advantage of the Niners’ mistakes, which included seven penalties, many at critical junctions, defeated the 49ers 29-20 Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

True, San Francisco was missing several key offensive players, including wide receiver Mike Evans and Deebo Samuel, but it was a failure of those who did compete, including quarterback Brock Purdy, who threw two interceptions, who were at fault. 

Now the 6-1 Niners enter their bye week needing to regain their injured talent, mostly Evans and Samuel, and their winning ways.

It was inevitable that the 49ers were going to drop a game or two (or more?) during a 17-game schedule. Nobody goes unbeaten in the NFL, although the Minnesota Vikings still are unbeaten.

It’s just the way the Niners lost. They were up 14-3 in the second quarter and seemed on their way. But almost before you knew it, Atlanta, which had won only two of its previous 6 games, had scored 23 points in a row.   

“The timing of some of the penalties hurt us,” said Shanahan, alluding particularly to those on 3rd down plays. So instead of being forced to punt, Atlanta had a first down. One of those penalties was for the Niners having too many men on the field as they attempted to bring on defensive players to match up with the Falcons’ offensive switches. 

“The Falcons played better,” said Niners linebacker Fred Warner. “We had a chance to win but didn’t take advantage of it. We didn’t play complementary. It was super sloppy all day.” 

“At the end of the day, you can’t beat yourself. They came out and played better than us.”   

On the offensive side, the 49ers stalled when Christian McCaffrey had to leave the game in the 2nd quarter because of a thigh injury. His presence as a running back-receiver opens the middle because the opponent is unsure of where McCaffrey will go. 

He returned and ended up with a touchdown, 39 yards rushing and 61 yards receiving. Purdy was under pressure by a Falcon’s defensive line that solved any mystery of the Niners offensive front.

“We had plenty of opportunities to get the offense going,” said Purdy. He finished with 27 completions in 40 attempts for 288 yards and a touchdown.  

One of his interceptions, Purdy was trying to throw the ball away under pressure.  A cynic might say the Niners threw away any chance at perfection.

Now they must prepare for the Las Vegas (former Oakland) Raiders at Levis Stadium in two weeks. The wait may be difficult, although not as difficult as the loss.