For a while on Monday night, it looked like the San Francisco 49ers might be on their way to a rare bright spot amid a rough 2024 season, as they were moving the ball at will against the favored Detroit Lions and had worked their way into a 28-21 third-quarter lead. But things unfortunately fell apart from there, in a very fitting fashion based on how things have gone for the 49ers this season.
Two costly late interceptions from Brock Purdy combined with multiple missed kicks by Jake Moody and 19 unanswered points allowed by the defense led to the 10th loss of the season for the 49ers, who are now heading toward a last place finish in the NFC West one year after advancing to the Super Bowl. And an elbow injury suffered late in the game by Purdy raises the prospect of this already injury-plagued team finishing their season against the Arizona Cardinals this Sunday without their starting quarterback.
Regardless of how things play out in Arizona this weekend, the 49ers are in for a healthy amount of self-reflection once the offseason officially arrives in six days.
"We're going through this," head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters after the loss Monday. "By no means are we happy with what we're going through, but I fully expect us to get better for going through this. I mean even if it wouldn't have even could have gone worse today, I expect us to learn a lot here going through this stuff and I expect it to make us a better team next year.
"And when the season is over, I can't wait to get started figuring out how to do that."
Perhaps the biggest source of optimism to come from Monday night's game was the fact it gave the 49ers a last-place 2025 schedule, which looks extremely favorable even for a team that might end the 2024 season with just six wins. A healthy 49ers team could be favored to win most of next year's games, which don't consist of a single team that currently has double-digit wins except for the Los Angeles Rams.
Until then, the 49ers will try to keep their heads up and search for whatever positives they can carry into the offseason, which might be the most anticipated one in some time for an organization that isn't used to ending their season in the first week of January. Here's a rundown of some of the positives (and negatives) that were discussed after the 40-34 loss to the Lions on Monday night, as well as what Shanahan said about backup quarterback Joshua Dobbs now that Purdy is heading into the season finale with an elbow injury.
Could Joshua Dobbs face his former team?
Purdy hopes to play in the finale against the Cardinals despite hurting his elbow on a late-game sack on Monday, but if he's unable to go, it will assumedly result in the 49ers giving the start to Joshua Dobbs.
Dobbs entered the game in relief of Purdy on Monday night and finished 3-of-4 passing for 35 yards while capping a late scoring drive with a seven-yard touchdown. It was the second appearance of the season for Dobbs, whom the 49ers signed in the offseason after he spent time with the Cardinals and Vikings in 2023.
To many observers, Dobbs looked like the player the 49ers would originally hand the backup quarterback job to based on his performance in preseason games, but the 49ers went with Brandon Allen instead. Allen was given the starting nod when an injury held Purdy out in a game against the Green Bay Packers in November, but Dobbs was the No. 2 on Monday and could get a look again this week.
"Yeah, I'll look into that always," Shanahan said Monday night. "Just once I start thinking about Arizona and stuff tomorrow, with some of our O-Line issues and things like that and how the game could be, I thought it could turn into a scrambling type day, not knowing how it would go and thought Dobbs gave us the best chance for that reason. He did a hell of a job coming in there on his drive."
Dobbs gave himself a bit of credit Monday night for coming off the bench at a moment's notice to keep the 49ers' hopes alive with a touchdown.
Who needs a warm up.
— Josh Dobbs (@josh_dobbs1) December 31, 2024
Dobbs started eight games for the Cardinals in 2023 and finished with a 1-7 record while throwing for 1,569 yards, eight touchdowns, and five interceptions. He wound up getting traded after those eight games to Minnesota, where he started five games and finished with 895 yards, five touchdowns and five interceptions.
Speaking of the offensive line
As mentioned above, Shanahan cited the injury-riddled state of the 49ers' offensive line as a reason he turned to Dobbs, who brings an ability to escape the pocket and make plays with his legs. But even though there was a bad moment with the Purdy sack that led to his injury, the offensive line held up fairly well Monday night, despite playing the recently-added Charlie Heck and Austen Pleasants at left tackle and backup Nick Zakelj at guard.
Shanahan voiced his appreciation for his new offensive line contributors, who may get more opportunities against the Cardinals on Sunday.
"I thought they did a good job," Shanahan said. "I mean, you know, both of our left tackles come in, just being on someone else's practice squad last week and being able to come in here and play in this game, I think that's the first time I've ever started a guy who was on someone else's practice squad last week at this time. So they did a real good job just learning the terminology and stuff. I don't think they made too many mistakes and just appreciate them battling and putting themselves out there. And we scored a lot of points, so obviously they were part of that."
Eh, whatever
One of the bright spots all season for the 49ers has been tight end George Kittle, who shined once again Monday night with eight catches for 112 yards against the Lions.
Kittle's performance put him at 76 catches for 1,079 yards and eight touchdowns on the season, giving him the fourth 1,000-yard season of his career. The 31-year-old Kittle didn't seem to be overly excited about the milestone when asked about it Monday night, however.
"Feels good. Getting a thousand yards is tough," Kittle said. "It's hard. You have to play a whole season for it. Besides that, not much else to say about it."
Kittle's performance this season now has him in third place all-time among receiving yards (7,353) for a 49ers player. While first place (Jerry Rice, 19,247 yards) is way out of his reach, moving into second place ahead of Terrell Owens (8,572) has become something Kittle could accomplish over the next season or two.
Kittle's perspective
While Kittle didn't have much to say about his personal milestones, he offered plenty of reflection Monday night on where the 49ers go from here after a disappointing season. Kittle was asked by a reporter how he would have felt if someone told him before the season that the 49ers would only have six wins at this point, then dove into what's gone wrong for the team in 2024.
"I would have disagreed with them probably," Kittle said. "That's football. It's the highs and lows of it. You know, football, you have to put in all the work. Ball has to bounce your way. Guys got to stay healthy, you got to get a little bit lucky. And, you know, we haven't really gotten any of those things to go our way.
"Not playing at a high level, not executing well, leaving guys open on third, fourth down, being downfield on a pass play, there's just a lot of things out there that are, you know, we're hurting ourselves and then just not giving ourselves a chance to win. Coach Shanahan, our coaches, I think they do a fantastic job of coaching us and explaining things, giving us the rules, the things that we have to do. As players, it's the NFL, it's your job. So, we need to know how to execute. We need to know what to do and we just haven't been able to do that a lot this year."
Where should the 49ers go from here? Kittle doesn't know for sure but suggested the team get back to basics over the offseason.
"You know, I don't have an answer," Kittle said. "I can't put my finger on it, but it's something to look at, whether you watch the tape or whether this offseason to look at. It's like, 'Hey, we have to go back to being able to do all the little things, right?' Before we can try doing the cool, big things."
Where are the takeaways?
The 49ers pointed at turnovers as a big reason they lost to the Lions, in particular the fact they gave up two while forcing none. The 49ers now sit at minus-7 in turnover differential for the season and can't figure out why they have fallen into a slump in that category.
"I have no idea. It's the most maddening thing on the planet," linebacker Fred Warner said. "But hey, I mean, hey, we got one game to figure it out, I guess."
Defensive end Nick Bosa stated, "It goes into every level... I know we had two against (Rams quarterback Matthew) Stafford that we could have made. Maybe if we get those, it sparks a bunch of other ones. So you just have to make your plays when they're there and then just be in the right spots. And I don't think we've done a great job of that this year."
The 49ers have just two takeaways in their last eight games, dating back to their bye week in early November. Not coincidentally, the 49ers have gone just 2-6 since then, with losses in six of their last seven games.
"It's extremely tough. It's tough to win when you don't get the ball like that," Shanahan said. "Didn't seem like we had many opportunities today, which you got to create your own opportunities. This past month I think we have created a couple and haven't come down with it. But today I didn't see too many opportunities."
Bosa in good form
One of the bright spots against the Lions was Nick Bosa, who racked up eight tackles, two sacks, four quarterback hits, and four tackles for loss. 2024 has been an up-and-down year for Bosa, who has battled through hip/oblique issues over the second half of the season, but he certainly made his presence felt against the Lions on Monday.
"My goal was just to come out, play as hard as I could," Bosa said. "It was a little weird last week (against the Miami Dolphins) for the first time in my career, playing a game that doesn't necessarily mean anything in terms of playoff contention. And I kind of had to check myself and this week come in with a mindset of every game matters, and we need to put the best product out there that we can. And that's what I try to do."
Bosa previously stated he had no interest in shutting things down for the season despite his injury issues. Shanahan wishes there were playoff games ahead for Bosa after how he played Monday night, but at least he's in a position to finish the season strong.
"Football's important to Nick," Shanahan said. "He's gotten healthier here in the last 10 days, and it was unfortunate how his health struggled during that stretch and now he's starting to get better health-wise. He got out of that Miami game pretty clean, had a good week and wish we were going to the tournament so we could play longer."
Jennings gets physical
Speaking of bright spots, one of the biggest for the 49ers in 2024 has been wide receiver Jauan Jennings, who while occasionally dealing with injury problems of his own has delivered a career year and has established himself as a consistent impact player in the absence of injured starter Brandon Aiyuk. Jennings had seven catches for 67 yards on Monday night and at one point might have gotten a little too physical with his blocking when he pushed defensive back Terrion Arnold out of the end zone, which led to a brief scuffle and offsetting penalties.
Jauan Jennings on blocking Tarrion Arnold through the back of the end zone:
"He made a wish and I granted it for him." 😂 pic.twitter.com/YRHQAg6nuD
— KNBR (@KNBR) December 31, 2024
"I've enjoyed (blocking/) since I was a little kid," Jennings said, per KNBR. "Being a bad kid, sometimes my mama whooped me so now I get to whoop on somebody else."
Jennings now has 70 catches for 923 yards and six touchdowns on the season. He brought an extra spark on Monday, much to the appreciation of George Kittle.
"It was really fun. I thought Jauan just brought completely different energy tonight," Kittle said. "And it was violent and angry and that, you know, that's the Jauan that we need to be successful. So seeing that tonight was awesome."
Well