And with that, the 2024 season comes to an end... mercifully.
For anyone who has been watching the San Francisco 49ers over the past two months, Sunday's 47-24 road loss to the Arizona Cardinals was more of the same -- turnovers, a missed field goal, poor defense, penalties, and players getting injured. It was the seventh loss in the last eight games for the 49ers, a skid that seemed improbable when the team sat at 5-4 earlier in the season, even though the 49ers hadn't exactly been at their best over the season's first half.
The 49ers now head into an offseason where they have a number of questions to be answered and a number of holes to fill. The offseason will be a popular topic of conversation in the coming days when the players as well as head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch have their year-end media sessions, but it was also inevitably part of the dialogue on Sunday when the team spoke with reporters after their season-ending loss.
We'll go through some of their comments in this edition of 49ers Notebook, while also revisiting what they said about the season in general. Needless to say, some of their thoughts on the season weren't exactly positive. But without further ado, let's dive into the final 49ers Notebook of the 2024 regular season.
Defensive stars ashamed of their unit's performance
Even with linebacker Dre Greenlaw missing for most of the season due to injuries and other key players missing multiple games as well, it's safe to say the 49ers were a massive disappointment on defense in 2024.
The 49ers were among the worst teams in the NFL in points per game, allowing 20 or more points in each of their losses except one (a 12-6 loss to the Rams). They went silent in the takeaway department coming down the stretch, with a team turnover differential of minus-14 (16 giveaways, two takeaways) since the team's bye week in early November. And since that date, the 49ers have allowed point totals of 47, 40, 38, 35, and 29.
So it's not surprising to hear words as pointed as those from defensive end Nick Bosa on Sunday when he summed up how the unit performed throughout the season.
"It's hard to look the guys in their faces as a leader on the team," Bosa said. "That's the product that we kept putting out game after game, it's pretty embarrassing."
Linebacker Fred Warner is usually at least somewhat upbeat and optimistic in his postgame interviews, even after losses. But over the past two weeks, Warner has been noticeably dejected over how the team has performed. Warner, who played much of the 2024 season with a fractured bone in his ankle, told reporters that his defense's performance has been, as Bosa said, embarrassing.
"For as long as I've been here, I've always known playing dominant defense," Warner said. "I can't speak to everything else that's gone on with the team this year, but it just hasn't been good enough. Not even close. And to be a part of that, knowing that I'm out there every game and it still isn't good enough, it obviously is a gut punch to my own pride.
"And yeah, obviously I'm going to do everything to make it right."
First-year defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen has been a popular target of blame among fans, but Warner came to Sorensen's defense on Sunday, saying the shortcomings on defense fell to the players.
"I think the easy thing right now is everybody's going to put the blame on him for how the defense has played," Warner said. "And when you're the guy at the helm, that's what happens. You're going to take the brunt of that, but it's everybody. Everybody's got to take a look in the mirror. I got to take a look in the mirror.
"Everybody's got to look to see where they could have been better as a group. You know, I think Nick's done a great job all season. It's just we didn't -- I think as players when we're out there, like when we have to execute and play the game -- we didn't do him any favors."
49ers fans will find out for sure in the days ahead if Sorensen will be back with the team next season or if his stay as defensive coordinator will be a one-year deal, as it was for Steve Wilks in 2023. But with or without Sorensen, the 49ers will have to do their share of soul-searching on defense in the weeks ahead, then get to work in bringing in the type of talent they need to get back to their standard in 2025.
"(We're) gonna take some time off and then start from square one," Bosa said. "We know how to play good and we obviously know how to play bad, so we've got to figure it out."
The days ahead
Fans will likely have to wait until February or March for the final decisions on which players stay or go from this year's team, but the offseason formalities will begin right away when Shanahan goes through end-of-the-season meetings with each player on the roster, starting on Monday.
Shanahan went into some detail Sunday on what will be discussed in those meetings.
"I just talk to them, see what they want to say to me," Shanahan said. "I'll tell them how I felt about them. It's not something that you sit and plan out. You've been working to finish the season up and you give the guys a chance to talk tomorrow. But I mean, when you sit and you talk to 100 people in one day, I also don't plan on that being the final deal. There's lots of conversations that have to be made and a lot of people I gotta talk to, and I'm not gonna get that all done tomorrow, which is why I'm glad we have cell phones and glad we can communicate with each other."
Tight end George Kittle provided a player's perspective of those meetings on Sunday, while suggesting he might not say everything there is to say until a later date ("There's a long line sometimes," Kittle said. "I may facetime").
"It's different every single year, depending on how the year goes... how I think I did, he did, and whereever it goes from there," Kittle said. "I don't really go in there with much intent unless there's something on my mind. But the nice thing about Kyle is you kind of talk to him about everything and then it kind of goes from there and you have a nice long discussion. Like I said, I'll probably save that for a facetime call."
Kittle declined to elaborate Sunday on how he thought Shanahan performed in 2024, saying he'd save it for their meetings. Publicly, Kittle puts much of the blame for what happened this season on the team's lack of takeaways, while continuing to believe that the 49ers' brass will do what needs to be done to fix things in the offseason.
"I think as an organization and being a part of this team for as long as I have, our standard is higher than what we put on tape this year," Kittle said. "I trust in John and Kyle and Jed (team owner Jed York) that they're going to make whatever decisions they need to make to set us back on the right track. But, you know, when you play a lot of games and you have a ton of turnovers and you're not forcing any turnovers, it's hard to win football games, specifically when you're not scoring 30-40 points per game. We spotted them three today, didn't hit one. It's losing football and we're going to do everything we can to fix that and stop turning the ball over so much."
One big positive for Kittle
While Kittle has been a player in years past who has headed into the offseason needing to heal up from various injuries, this year that won't be the case.
And that's very encouraging news for a player who was arguably the team MVP this season and will need to step up again in 2025.
"Last year I was pretty beaten up," said the 31-year-old Kittle, who had his fourth 1,000-yard season in 2024. "I was dealing with a lot of stuff. This year I'm not, which is fantastic. My goal for this game was to walk off the field, which I was able to do, and there's nothing I'm going to have to take care of, which is a huge relief and it makes the offseason a lot more fun."
Kittle told reporters his first plans in the offseason are to go to New York to attend the fashion line launch of Kristin Juszczyk, wife of 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk. Called Off Season, the fashion line will focus on the NFL-related designs Juszczyk has become known for in recent seasons -- designs that have been worn by famous figures such as Taylor Swift and Simone Biles. Off Season officially launches on January 7.
Farewell to the Passtronaut?
Quarterback Joshua Dobbs got his first start as a 49er on Sunday, filling in while Brock Purdy sat out with an elbow injury,
The start may have been his last with the team. Dobbs was signed in the offseason to a one-year deal, and it sounded on Sunday like he's going to be keeping his options open once free agency arrives in March.
"I want to go to a spot where I get a chance to compete, whether it's for the starting job or the two role, whatever it is, to be able to push the room, contribute week in and week out, and be a guy that teams are relying on to win on Sundays," said Dobbs, who had a career-high 329 yards passing against the Cardinals with two touchdowns. "I've obviously played eight years in the league and what I've learned is the best opportunities that you have to grow and improve are to be standing out on the field in the fire and learning how to win games in the NFL.
"And I haven't gotten a ton of opportunities to do that, especially being in the same offense throughout the year. Obviously, this was the first opportunity I've had in my NFL career. And so it's finding an opportunity that I'm going to be in a consistent environment, whether it's here or wherever, be in a consistent environment, have a consistent coaching staff and be able to be the best version of myself every single day. So I'll be excited when March comes around. It'll be good to get away for a sec, but I'll be excited to hit the ground running when March comes around and we'll see where this football journey takes me."
It's quite possible the 49ers look for someone new in the backup quarterback position this offseason after Dobbs and Brandon Allen held down the spot in 2024. But even though he threw two interceptions and had one fumble in the loss to the Cardinals on Sunday, maybe Dobbs gave Shanahan something to think about when it comes time to make those decisions.
"I thought Dobbs did a really good job, minus the turnovers," Shanahan said. "Take out those turnovers and I think he had a hell of a game."