The 49ers lost another game Sunday, this time to the Cardinals, when the San Francisco defense couldn’t hold a lead.
Arizona trailed 15-3 in the fourth quarter, yet put together 75- and 73-yard touchdown drives to pull out an 18-15 victory that dropped the 49ers to 1-7.
Yet not all fingers of blame should be pointed toward the defense. The 49ers offense also didn’t come through, too, when it could have put away the victory.
With a 12-3 lead, the 49ers marched from their own 25-yard line to get a first-and-goal at the Arizona 4-yard line as the third quarter expired. With a touchdown, San Francisco could extend its lead to 19-3 and force Arizona to score two touchdowns and two, two-point conversions for a tie. But on first down, a botched handoff resulted in a run by quarterback C.J. Beathard for no gain. On second down, running back Matt Breida lost two yards. And, on third down from the 6, a quarterback draw by Beathard picked up just 4 yards.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan then decided to kick the field goal from the 2 to extend his team’s lead to 15-3. But, it proved to be not enough when the Cards mounted their comeback.
“We had a chance and missed it,” Shanahan told Chris Biderman of the Sacramento Bee. “I thought, right there, just put it in the end zone. (It) could have put it away and not had it come down to later.”
The 49ers, in fact, went 0-for-2 on touchdown chances inside the red zone against the Cardinals Sunday. In the second quarter, a drive stalled at the Cardinals’ 9, resulting in a Robbie Gould field goal.
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That’s been a problem all season for the 49ers, who rank 27th in the NFL in red-zone touchdown percentage at just 45.83 percent.
The 49ers return to action Thursday night against the 1-6 Oakland Raiders at Levi’s Stadium. Kickoff is set for 5:20 p.m.
