49ers become first team in nearly a quarter of a century to achieve unwanted feat that sums up their season
For the third time this season, the San Francisco 49ers had a fourth-quarter lead in a division game only to let it slip through their fingers. San Francisco looked primed to improve to 6-4 when a fourth-down stop handed the 49ers the ball with under four minutes left and a 17-13 lead over the Seattle […]
For the third time this season, the San Francisco 49ers had a fourth-quarter lead in a division game only to let it slip through their fingers.
San Francisco looked primed to improve to 6-4 when a fourth-down stop handed the 49ers the ball with under four minutes left and a 17-13 lead over the Seattle Seahawks.
But they failed to close out the game, punting the ball back to Seattle with 2:45 left, setting in motion an incredible final drive from Geno Smith, the Seahawks quarterback whose 13-yard run secured their first victory over the 49ers since the 2021 season.
A 20-17 defeat means the 49ers fall to 5-5 and last place in the NFC West with a 1-3 record in the division.
The massive blow to the Niners' playoff hopes also saw them become the first team in nearly a quarter of a century to achieve an unwanted feat.
Indeed, per Josh Dubow of The Associated Press, San Francisco is the first team since the 2000 Dallas Cowboys and 2000 New England Patriots to lose three division games it led by at least four points in the fourth quarter.
San Francisco led by 10 points in Week 3 against the Los Angeles Rams and by the same margin in Week 5 versus the Arizona Cardinals and let both of those games slip.
Those collapses were more egregious than this defeat in a tight ballgame, but the 49ers' inability to get over the line in this one served as a microcosm of their season.
Even in the games they have won, outside of blowout wins over the New York Jets and New England Patriots, the 49ers have found closing extremely difficult, and All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner summed up the frustration when asked about this latest blown lead.
"It's just infuriating honestly," Warner told a postgame press conference.
"I'm always going to have all the confidence in the world in everybody in this building. All the answers are in here, it's just about doing it.
"It's not like us, but that's what we've shown this year. So until we stop doing that, that’s who we are."
