The San Francisco 49ers seem to be looking forward to their upcoming Thursday night game in Seattle against the Seahawks, if for no other reason than it will give them a chance to get their most recent loss out of their heads as soon as possible.
Sunday's 24-23 loss to the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara was arguably the lowest point for the 49ers in a five-game season-opening stretch that has also seen them lose 23-17 on the road to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 2 and blow a 21-7 third quarter lead in a 27-24 road loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 3. The 49ers held a 23-10 lead over the Cardinals at halftime but had a mistake-filled second half that helped lead to a Cardinals rally that ended with a game-winning field goal with less than two minutes to play.
But following the game, the 49ers weren't interested in spending much time dissecting what went wrong about the Cardinals. They were already looking ahead to the Seahawks, which they seemed more than happy about doing.
"I think we need to turn the page on this one. It's pretty clear what happened and why we lost," defensive end Nick Bosa said. "So I think it's kind of a blessing in disguise that we're playing on Thursday."
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan shared the same sentiment as Bosa and said as much during his postgame message to the team.
"That's all we talked about in there," Shanahan said. "I mean, we'd love to sit here and get pissed and we'd love to be able to do something about that which has happened, but you can't. You can't do anything about these games once they end. I tell the guys the next time we'll be able to do something is Thursday, and it's better to only have to wait until Thursday than have to wait until next Sunday."
Linebacker Fred Warner told reporters it was both an advantage and a disadvantage to have a short turnaround after a loss like the one that took place on Sunday, saying it would be nice to have more time to fix what happened against the Cardinals but that it would also help to quickly get to the next opportunity.
"Yes and no. I think there's a little bit of both," Warner said. "I wish that we had a full week to clean up what we messed up on, but yes in the fact that you got another chance in about four days."
The 49ers won't have full practices over the next three days, as they'll go through walkthroughs instead while emphasizing recovery from their loss to the Cardinals. Shanahan stressed that recovery mode needed to begin immediately.
"Always when you have a Thursday night game, we always say the biggest thing is rest and recovery," Shanahan said. "So I hope they're getting out of that locker room closer when I get back. Hope they're at home as fast as they can, get as much sleep as possible. Stay off their legs tomorrow, just hydrate, rest, and come on Tuesday. We'll have a plan for them on Tuesday and we'll get it all in on Tuesday and head out on Wednesday."
The Seahawks stand atop the NFC West at 3-2, but like the 49ers, they'll be heading into Thursday night's game reeling a bit after losing 29-20 to the New York Giants on Sunday after a game-tying field goal attempt was blocked and returned for a touchdown with less than a minute to play. It'll mark an opportunity for both teams, as the Seahawks will have a chance to put themselves two games up in the standings over the team that was favored to win the division, while a win would put the 49ers in a tie for first place, which wouldn't feel bad at all given the ups and downs of their first five games. Bosa remained optimistic about what lies ahead despite how things went down against the Cardinals.
"I haven't lost any confidence in the team," Bosa said. "It's early, it's a long year. We've been through worse, and I think we'll respond well."
