The 49ers had a big opportunity to put together a marquee win to end the season and couldn’t finish.
The San Francisco 49ers fell short in a 40-34 loss to the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football, falling to 6-10 on the season thanks to yet another embarrassing second half collapse.
Offensively, San Francisco played one of their better halves of football to start the game, taking a 21-13 lead into halftime with Brock Purdy and the passing game rolling. That, however, came to a halt in the second half, where the 49ers blew another lead en route to the double-digit loss.
Defensively, the 49ers didn’t have much of an answer for the Lions offensively, as Jared Goff eclipsed the 300-yard marker, while Jahmyr Gibbs reached 100 yards on the ground in a strong offensive performance by the Lions.
Here are three quick takeaways from the 49ers 40-34 loss to the Lions on Monday night.
Brock Purdy’s tale of two halves
Brock Purdy played one of his best halves of football, if not the best, to open the game against the Detroit Lions.
He was on fire, finishing the first half 14/16 for 200 yards, three total touchdowns, and a perfect 158.3 passer rating, leading San Francisco to a quick lead.
Purdy connected with Ricky Pearsall and George Kittle on a number of plays, and set the tone for the 49ers, who had a scoring opportunity on all four of their drives, scoring touchdowns on each of their first three before Jake Moody missed a field goal on the fourth.
In the second half, though, things began to simmer down for the offense as a whole. After Detroit tied things up, Purdy went 4/5 for 79 yards and a touchdown on the 49ers’ first drive of the half, most notably hitting Ricky Pearsall for a big 39-yard gain, while George Kittle took a short pass 22 yards, mauling through defenders on his way to the Detroit five-yard line.
It seemed as if things were taking a turn for the better for San Francisco, as they started off strong, but that’s where the concerns started.
Purdy threw an ugly interception after Detroit got a field goal, giving the Lions a short field, to which they capitalized with an eight-play, 43-yard touchdown drive to take the lead. Detroit would never trail from there.
San Francisco got some traction on their ensuing drive, but stalled at the Detroit 40-yard line, setting up a difficult 58-yard field goal for Jake Moody, which he missed wide, keeping all the momentum on Detroit’s side.
Still, the opportunity was there for San Francisco after holding the Lions to another field goal, but Purdy followed that up with his second interception, staring down the middle of the field with a single-high safety in coverage, leading to the pick from Kerby Joseph who took away a dig from Ricky Pearsall.
That was the nail in the coffin with eight minutes left as Detroit went up two scores after that, and the 49ers only got one more possession.
Towards the end of the game, San Francisco went pass-heavy as they were caught up in situational football. With the pass game working, the 49ers dialed up four straight passes prior to Moody’s 58-yard miss, as Brock Purdy hit George Kittle on an 18-yard play before missing on three straight incompletions.
On the ensuing drive, the 49ers came out throwing, but a sack and penalties forced San Francisco into true passing situations. After overcoming those issues on the first set of downs, the 49ers had a 24-yard completion wiped away by a penalty, leading to another passing situation. A Detroit penalty on a 1st & 15 got the 49ers a first down, but then came Purdy’s next interception on an ugly play.
With the 49ers down two scores with minimal time on the next possession, it was a number of passes that led the way once again, putting a lot of workload on Purdy, who couldn’t generate any points himself before exiting with an injury.
Purdy was fantastic to begin the game, but his two interceptions were extremely costly and helped lead to San Francisco’s demise on Monday night. There’ve now been a few games where Purdy and the offense have gotten opportunities to keep games close in the fourth quarter, and they’ve really struggled to execute in 2024. That needs to change next season.
Jake Moody struggles again
It feels like we talk about it every week. Another week, another Jake Moody miss.
Seeing two field goals from over 50 yards on Monday, Moody was 0/2 on the day, missing a 51-yarder and a 58-yard field goal in the loss. More importantly, the second-year kicker missed one of his five extra points as well. Those points, no matter how difficult they were to obtain, were the difference in Monday’s game.
Moody has now fallen to 23/32 (71.9 percent) on the season for field goals, which is 38th in the NFL. Additionally, his 96.7 percent extra point rate is 22nd in the NFL.
With every single missed kick, Moody’s third-round status is weighing on the 49ers more and more as they made an unprecedented selection taking a kicker that high in last year’s draft.
Last weekend, head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t have a vote of confidence for Moody after the loss to the Miami Dolphins. He followed that up by backing Moody once again this week, but acknowledged that they’re evaluating everything after the game this year.
Moody cannot be the bonafide starter in 2025, regardless of his draft status. His inconsistency comes at the position where you can’t wait for development, as missed kicks can directly lead to losses.
At the moment, it feels like both he and his teammates have lost confidence in himself, which is never a good sign.
Ricky Pearsall’s breakout
If there was a big positive from Monday night, it was the breakout from first-round rookie Ricky Pearsall, who had a career day with eight catches for 141 yards and a touchdown.
Pearsall had accumulated just 58 yards over the past six weeks, so Monday’s performance was definitely an eye-opener, with the rookie getting targets early and often.
Most importantly, Pearsall was getting separation over the middle of the field, showing what could be in the future, especially as he’s paired with another high-quality wideout in Brandon Aiyuk.
His 141 yards were the most by a 49ers rookie in nearly 40 years. Pretty neat.
Putting Pearsall in space has seemed to do wonders for San Francisco as he’s broken away for multiple 40+ yard touchdowns this year. We’ll see if the 49ers can incorporate that more in Week 18 before turning the page to 2025.