SANTA CLARA — Another fourth-quarter collapse led to another 49ers loss against an NFC West rival on Sunday.
Two weeks after faltering on the road to the Los Angeles Rams, the 49ers blew another 10-point lead and exited with a 24-23 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, who went ahead on Chad Ryland’s 35-yard field goal with less than two minutes to play.
The 49ers (2-3) could not respond in kind, not with kicker Jake Moody injured, and not when Brock Purdy had his final pass deflected and intercepted for the second time on a staggeringly hot day at Levi’s Stadium, where the kickoff temperature was a record 89 degrees.
“It’s early in the season. We’re still trying to find our true identity as a team,” Purdy said.
“The identity of the 49ers has always been we’re a hard-nosed team that’s very physical,” tight end George Kittle added. “We haven’t won those gritty little games yet. It’s something we have to get better at and get done.”
The 49ers now have their quickest turnaround yet this season, with a visit Thursday night to first-place Seattle (3-2). Winning there could vault the 49ers from last place to a share of first, so, yes, it’s early enough to quickly turn the proverbial page after a bad loss.
“That’s all we talked about in (the locker room). We’d love to sit here, get pissed and do something about what just happened, but you can’t do anything about these games once they end,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “I told the guys the next time we can do something about it is Thursday.”
The 49ers are 0-2 in NFC West action, having turned a 24-14 lead at Los Angeles into a 27-24 defeat two weeks ago. This defeat, players said, felt the same as that one in that they simply did not finish off their foe.
“There are so many opportunities to put teams away and we’re just not doing it right now,” defensive end Nick Bosa said.
The 49ers went scoreless after halftime, their four possessions ending with an interception, a fourth-and-23 incompletion, a Jordan Mason fumble inside the red zone, and another interception off another tipped Purdy pass.
Why did the 49ers go for it on fourth-and-23 from the Cardinals’ 27-yard line? Because Moody exited with a high ankle injury just before halftime, sustained while making a tackle on a kickoff. That left punter Mitch Wishnowsky as the emergency kicker, and although he nailed his only field-goal attempt (26 yards to end the first half), the 49ers did not trust him kicking longer than the point-after range of 32 yards.
Arguably no mistake loomed larger than Mason’s first career lost fumble. It came at a most inopportune time and place: at the Cardinals’ 12-yard line with 6:11 remaining. The 49ers led 23-21 at that point, but the Cardinals (2-3) responded with their game-winning drive.
“When you’re fighting for extra yards, you got to be careful with the ball. I think he just got a little careless with it and they knocked it out,” Shanahan said.
The 49ers now must sign a new kicker to fill in until Moody is healthy. His injury came one play after Deommodore Lenoir’s touchdown on a 61-yard return of a blocked field goal put the 49ers ahead 20-10.
That lead climbed to 23-10 when Wishnowsky hit his field goal as the first half expired, capitalizing on Nick Bosa’s second career interception. Bosa lined up at left defensive end, took three steps, halted his pass rush, jumped up at the 30-yard line, snagged Murray’s screen pass toward James Conner, then raced 30 yards on his first interception return since his 2019 rookie season.
“It was very shocking to be up 23-10,” Lenoir said. “I felt we were going to smash ’em and finish ’em.”
The temperature rose to 98 degrees by 3:34 p.m., when the 49ers saw their 10-point lead cut to 23-21. Kyler Murray completed a 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Elijah Higgins, followed by a Conner 2-point conversion run. Of Conner’s 86 rushing yards, 51 came in the fourth quarter, as the 49ers missed tackles and assignments against not just him by Murray.
Murray had a 50-yard touchdown run on the Cardinals’ opening possession to put everyone on upset alert. He split De’Vondre Campbell and Charvarius Ward for a clear path down the right sideline, with Talanoa Hufanga caught out of position when he bit on an inside run.
Murray finished with 82 rushing yards (seven carries) to add to 195 passing yards (19-of-30, one touchdown, one interception). His 14-yard completion to Marvin Harrison Jr., against veteran cornerback Isaac Yiadom, converted a fourth-and-5 situation near midfield on the Cardinals’ winning drive.
Purdy, aside from the two interceptions, completed 19-of-35 passes for 244 yards, with a first-quarter touchdown pass to George Kittle and a season-best connection with Brandon Aiyuk (eight catches, 147 yards).
Before his fumble, Mason (14 carries, 89 yards) was on the cusp of his fourth 100-yard game in five career starts in place of the injured Christian McCaffrey. Teammates defended Mason in the wake of his turnover, much as they did Ronnie Bell’s drop late in their loss at Los Angeles. Thing is, only one of the 49ers’ six drives into the red zone produced a touchdown — a 4-yard pass to George Kittle for a 10-7 lead. That drive was sandwiched between Moody’s short-range field goals (28 and 20 yards).
Moody wasn’t the first half’s only casualty. Hufanga left with a wrist injury on a second-quarter drive, one in which the Cardinals settled for a field goal to make it 10-10. Moody was injured while making the tackle on a kick return by DeeJay Dallas. His right toe appeared to get stuck in the turf, then twisted under his weight. Moody walked off to the sideline but was carted to the locker room before halftime.
The injuries certainly impacted the 49ers’ strategy, but Purdy and Kittle pointed instead to the offense’s failures in timely moments.
“We were moving the ball well the whole day. but when you end up with turnovers – on downs, interceptions, a fumble – it’s hard to win games when you play like that,” Kittle said.
