There were a few frustrating sequences from the 49ers in Week 16
Sunday marked the 15th time in 2024 the San Francisco 49ers have played the same game.
The offense did just enough to threaten to score but not enough to find the end zone. The defense kept the 49ers in the game long enough to feel like there was a chance to win at the end of the game. The 49ers then struggle through the end-game sequence and either barely survive or come out on the wrong end of the result.
To the 49ers’ credit, this strategy has won them six games. However, to instantly take that credit back, it’s also resulted in nine losses, the most recent coming on Sunday in a 29-16 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
San Francisco entered Sunday with the slightest glimmers of hope, only for them to come crashing down in another miserable performance. Week 16’s loss to the Dolphins, in review:
Officially eliminated mere minutes before kickoff…
That slim chance for the postseason ended right as the 49ers took the field at Hard Rock Stadium. The Rams Sunday morning win against the Jets closed the 49ers’ postseason path through the NFC West, and the Commanders’ comeback victory against the Eagles sealed off the Wild Card road.
Now, San Francisco likely wouldn’t make the playoffs even if the morning games had favorable results. They would need to win out and get a well-placed tie. But for that hammer to come down right before kickoff has to be devastating, despite how challenging the potential uphill climb would be.
What proved to be a losing result would have been the final nail in the coffin that is the 2024 season for the 49ers, but maybe with San Francisco’s playoff fate decided before kickoff, San Francisco would come out of the gate and play like there was nothing to lose, because there wasn’t.
…And the 49ers wasted no time to show it
With nothing to lose, Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers offense started the game like they just rolled out of bed.
San Francisco started Sunday with the ball and a chance to set a tone that would feel different than any of the previous 14 games. Shanahan himself decided to punt that opportunity away. Patrick Taylor was stopped short on a third-and-1 run attempt near the Miami 40, and Shanahan faced an early decision.
A punt makes sense when the 49ers are still playing for something. It was also a chance for the usually conservative Shanahan to let his hair down and do something different. Even with nothing on the line, Shanahan turtled into his shell and called on Pat O’Donnell to punt to Miami.
The Dolphins offense couldn’t make the 49ers pay for the punt, giving San Francisco the ball back after five plays. Brock Purdy would find Jauan Jennings for a gain of 11, followed by a five-yard run by Taylor. A Deebo Samuel nine-yard run would move the ball into Miami territory, but an Aaron Banks holding would wipe out the run. The offense would line up for the next play, but this time, George Kittle would jump before the snap, resulting in another loss of five yards.
Three plays to get into plus territory, but it only took two to knock the offense back to where it started. The two penalties would stall the drive and force another punt to continue San Francisco’s first-quarter woes. Since coming off the bye week, the 49ers have only scored 34 points in the first quarter over the seven games while being held to three or fewer points in four of those six quarters.
San Francisco had a couple of chances to start with some early momentum, but once again, mistakes stalled the two drives, and the 49ers finished the first quarter with no points.
A touchdown! And a Deebo touchdown, nonetheless!
San Francisco scored a season-high 38 points against the Chicago Bears a couple of weeks ago. However, they celebrated the feat by scoring just six points on two field goals against the Rams.
The six-point effort was not only the lowest scoring output by the 49ers since Shanahan’s first game as head coach but also San Francisco’s first game of the season without an offensive touchdown. With the 49ers failing to score a touchdown through the first quarter on Sunday, they were officially in a touchdown drought that spanned five quarters.
San Francisco had a clear chance to cut any drought out last week, but a poorly-timed Samuel drop ended any hopes of a touchdown last Thursday night. Samuel got a chance to redeem himself with a significantly less critical chance to score, and this time, he would cash in.
In almost a mirrored replay of the drop from last week, Samuel worked on an in-cutting route from the left side of the field – his drop came from the left side – getting open to haul in the Purdy pass. Like we’ve seen Samuel do in years before, the 49ers receiver made a couple of would-be tacklers miss, powering his way to the end zone for San Francisco’s first offensive touchdown since the 5:15 mark of the fourth quarter against Chicago.
The touchdown was Samuel’s second touchdown of the season and his first since the 49ers trip to Seattle in Week 6. It hasn’t been his best season, but the score was the slightest taste of redemption for a player who has meant so much to the 49ers in recent years.
Death by a thousand cuts
The 49ers’ Week 15 loss to the Rams was due to big mistakes. There were dropped interceptions; the Samuel drop, and the coverage mix-up on the game-icing third-down conversion, just to name a few.
On Sunday, while the 49ers didn’t make any monumental mistakes in Miami, too many small ones became too much to overcome. A small piece of yellow laundry pointed out many of those small mistakes.
San Francisco was called for a season-high 11 penalties in Miami on Sunday, but not only the quantity that hurt but the timing of some of the flags. The Niners were called for just four of the 11 penalties in the first half, including the consecutive penalties on the second drive mentioned above. Then the second half started, and penalties would mar the 49ers.
No time was wasted in the third quarter, as Talanoa Hufanga was called for an unnecessary roughness on the first play from scrimmage in the second half. Miami would take the extra 15 yards and kick a field goal to take a six-point lead.
That’s when the frustrating penalties would begin. San Francisco would take the ball from the field goal, drive down the field, and work their way into the red zone. Upon arrival to the red zone, the Niners would be unceremoniously kicked out by a Ricky Pearsall illegal formation.
But that’s just one penalty, something the 49ers could quickly recover from. And recover they would as Purdy would hit Samuel on a third-and-8 to get down to the Miami two-yard-line with a chance to take the lead. But again, Pearsall was lined up illegally, negating the first down and forcing the 49ers to convert an even longer third down. Purdy’s third-down pass to Samuel would fall incomplete, and San Francisco would have to settle for a 41-yard field goal to cut the lead to three.
Except, with Moody, there is no settling for points. Moody’s kick from the right hashmark went way left, ending another red zone trip empty-handed, a common occurrence for 2024.
San Francisco would be called for four more penalties, including another pair on consecutive plays for the second time on a drive that would result in three points for Miami. The 49ers have continued to get in their way all season, with Sunday being the latest example of the Niners stumbling over their feet.