The loss drops the 49ers to second in the NFC West behind the 5-2 Seahawks, who won earlier in the day against the Cleveland Browns. Unfortunately, with their bye week coming up, San Francisco will have to wait another two weeks for the chance to retake the division lead.
Here are three quick takeaways from the 49ers' 31-17 loss to the Bengals.
Purdy shows new developments
Over San Francisco's 3-game losing streak, Brock Purdy's development has hit its fair share of snags. But along with the thorns, Purdy's begun to bloom in ways that nobody could've seen coming when the season began.
Let's start with the good - Purdy's begun to develop a feel for the game at the NFL level that borders on elite. With Trent Williams unavailable for the second week in a row, Purdy was forced to improvise against a relentless Cincinnati pass rush. The result? He broke out several huge runs with the pocket collapsing, becoming the 49ers' leading rusher on Sunday with 6 rushes for 57 yards. Purdy leaned into that mobility in the pass game, too, escaping containment and feathering in impressive deep and intermediate passes for big gains. He ended the day with 22 completions on 31 attempts for a season-high 365 yards and a TD.
Still, Purdy won't come away from this game feeling good about his play. His recent turnover streak continued, as he threw two interceptions and lost a fumble as the 49ers played desperation ball deep into the fourth quarter. There are excuses to be made about the turnovers coming from good players who made great plays, but Purdy put the ball in harm's way much too often.
The problem isn't that Purdy is unable to make difficult plays. He's consistently proved the 49ers can rely on him to elevate the offense and make defenses respect his talent under center. The issue is that when the 49ers find themselves in do-or-die situations, Purdy's control of the field slips a bit when options are taken away from him, and his intuition becomes a vulnerability that defenses can key in on. At the very least, he doesn't break down completely when he finds himself in pressure situations in the way that most young quarterbacks do. But it will take time for him to learn the rhythm of a late-game comeback, and take over the game in the way that many of the greats do.
Defense in freefall
The conversations around Purdy - for better and for worse - are only present because of yet another game in which the 49ers defense once again failed to give their offense any chance to succeed.
Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks' unit has been leaking like a sieve ever since they arrived in Cleveland for Week 5. Since then, they've given 395 yards per game, in part because their opponents are running nearly 10 more plays than they are each game. They've allowed 71 first downs and 370 rushing yards in that span.
But at least in those first two games, the defense kept the overall score low. Against the Bengals, Joe Burrow didn't just play like an MVP, he looked like a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer. Burrow went 28-32 on the day with 283 passing yards, 3 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. He also ran the ball 6 times for 43 yards, nearly matching Purdy in slipperiness within the pocket.
Here are some stats that illustrate just how thoroughly San Francisco's defense struggled:
- With 7:00 in the 2nd quarter, Cincinnati had more 1st downs (15) than 49ers' had plays run (14)
- Joe Burrow completed 19 consecutive passes for 154 yards and 2 touchdowns to end the first half
- Bengals' RB Joe Mixon rushed 7 times for 55 yards (7.9 YPC) against San Francisco in the first half (ended 16 for 84, 5.4 YPC)
- San Francisco allowed 5 plays of 20+ yards, nearly half of Cincinnati's season total (14) through 6 weeks
Though San Francisco's defense recorded three sacks and a turnover, the opportunities they left on the table - including a 3rd and 10 conversion in the first half where Joe Burrow broke tackles from 3 49ers defensive lineman - and failure to make consistent stops will have conversations about Steve Wilks' effectiveness percolating during the bye week.
Niners set themselves up for failure
Despite the two-score loss, the 49ers weren't truly out of it until late. But there were two key stats that kept them behind the chains on a day when they needed every bit of juice to keep up with a powerful Bengals team.
For just the second time all year, the 49ers lost the turnover battle, giving up the ball 3 times to Cincinnati's 1. Initially, it looked like turnovers might be the key to powering a 49ers comeback, when DE Clelin Ferrell forced a fumble after the Bengals had driven into the red zone. But QB Brock Purdy turned it over three times in the second half, snuffing out any chance of success.
The other concerning trend was the penalty differential. San Francisco was flagged five times for 54 yards, which isn't a particularly bad outing. But the Bengals didn't record a penalty themselves until 2:00 left in the 4th quarter, when they were already playing prevent defense with a two-score lead. The fact that San Francisco was unable to pressure the a good Bengals team into any mistakes does not bode well for a team struggling to regain its identity.
As a result, the 49ers dropped to 0-37 under Kyle Shanahan in games where they trail by 8+ points in the 4th quarter.