Things would appear to suddenly be looking very bleak for the San Francisco 49ers.

The first five games of a season in which the Niners are hoping to get back to the Super Bowl after February's agonizing overtime defeat in Las Vegas have not gone to plan, with Sunday's 24-23 defeat to the Arizona Cardinals dropping them to 2-3. San Francisco is 0-2 inside the NFC West and 0-3 in the conference.

Now, the Niners must attempt to recover in double quick time from letting another fourth-quarter lead slip through their fingers as they face the daunting task of facing the Seattle Seahawks on the road on Thursday Night Football.

NFL players are typically not in favor of the short turnaround, and the 49ers could find themselves in a huge hole at 2-4 ahead of a Super Bowl rematch with the Chiefs if they can't overcome the challenge of facing the Seahawks in the likely raucous atmosphere of Lumen Field. 

But, in this case, the 49ers see the short turnaround as a silver lining.

The 49ers would likely have coasted to victory had they performed even slightly better in the red zone. San Francisco was one for six inside the 20-yard line, failing to come away with points on both of their trips into the red zone in the second half amid an injury to kicker Jake Moody.

Their struggles in finishing drives were compounded by a second-half decline in run defense. Cardinals running back James Conner had six carries for nine yards at the half. He finished with 86 yards on 19 carries, helping the Cardinals to pull off drives of 12 and 14 plays to win the game.

With the problems easy to identify, star defensive end Nick Bosa believes the short week could be to the 49ers' advantage.

"I think we need to turn the page on this one," said Bosa in his postgame press conference.

"It's pretty clear what happened and why we lost. I think it’s kind of a blessing in disguise that we're playing this Thursday."

Tight end George Kittle, who caught the 49ers' only offensive touchdown, concurred with Bosa's assessment.

"The nice thing about football is while each loss stings terribly, you usually get to play the following week," said Kittle. 

"When you get to play on Thursday, if you dwell on it for very long, you’re just going to put yourself in a hole. The fact that we get to play on Thursday, Coach [Kyle Shanahan] is going to have a great gameplan for us, and that’s all that matters."

It may be overly simplistic from Kittle to suggest that Shanahan's gameplan will be all that matters. On offense, the 49ers simply haven't executed it well enough, and that must change if San Francisco is to have any hope of realizing its ambitions in 2024.

But it's clear, among the leaders in the locker room at least, that the short week can in this instance be a plus for the 49ers as they aim to wash the bad taste out of their mouths.

Said linebacker Fred Warner: "It's a unique situation. Obviously, you want to fix the problems that are going on out there. 

"We had the game won and we gave it away but you have to wipe it away and get onto the next game. There really isn’t any time to sulk or feel sorry for yourself. You have to move on."

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