49ers' incredible Week 5 collapse to Cardinals had everything to do with Christian McCaffrey
Throughout an uneven start to their 2024 season, the absence of reigning Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffrey has been more of a background issue for the San Francisco 49ers with Brock Purdy continuing to perform well and Jordan Mason running wild in his stead. But it loomed tremendously large on Sunday as the […]
Throughout an uneven start to their 2024 season, the absence of reigning Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffrey has been more of a background issue for the San Francisco 49ers with Brock Purdy continuing to perform well and Jordan Mason running wild in his stead.
But it loomed tremendously large on Sunday as the 49ers let slip a 13-point lead in a wild 24-23 defeat to the Arizona Cardinals.
The 49ers racked up 384 yards of offense, had 22 first downs, with the offense getting significant help from the special teams and defense with a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown by Deommodore Lenoir and a Nick Bosa interception.
And yet, the 49ers only scored one offensive touchdown, the side of the ball that is typically the most reliable accounting for only 16 points.
The reason for that unconventionally anaemic showing was a failing that was readily apparent going into Week 5 getting substantially worse.
San Francisco, simply put, was awful inside the red zone.
Going into the game, the 49ers had been eight for 16 inside the 20-yard line, a huge drop-off for a team that last season led the NFL in red zone scoring efficiency.
Now that tally stands at nine for 22, after the 49ers went one for six inside the 20, their issues in that area exacerbated by the loss of kicker Jake Moody to a high ankle sprain he suffered tackling a returner.
Punter Mitch Wishnowsky hit a 25-yard field goal to end the half, but those proved the 49ers' final points of the game.
San Francisco turned it over on downs after reaching the Arizona 14-yard line on its second possession of the third quarter after Purdy took a nine-yard sack on second and 13. The nadir then came in the fourth when Mason fumbled with the 49ers on the Arizona eight-yard line with a chance to take a likely decisive 30-21 lead. Failing that, they could have attempted a field goal with that likely within Wishnowsky's range.
The Cardinals drove down to kick what proved to be the game-winning field goal, converting a huge fourth down with a back foot throw from Kyler Murray to Marvin Harrison Jr. en route to doing so, with an interception from Brock Purdy on the subsequent drive ending the game.
It was a far cry from last season when the 49ers went nine for nine inside the red zone across two games with the Cardinals, the obvious difference being the presence of McCaffrey, who scored seven touchdowns against Arizona in 2023.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan did not allude to McCaffrey's absence when asked in his postgame press conference for his assessment of the red zone offense.
"Not very good," Shanahan said in a succinct answer. "We were middle of the pack before the game started and we got a lot worse today."
Purdy, however, provided a more illuminating response when pressed on the 49ers' troubles inside the 20 and the impact of McCaffrey's absence.
"Get down in the red zone, we gotta execute and score touchdowns," said Purdy. "I thought there was multiple times where we could have pulled away significantly in the first half, and again, that starts with myself.
"When the defense is doing their thing, we have to be able to go down the field and execute and put points up on the board, not give the other team life. So we need to play better.
"Everything's pretty tight [in the red zone]. It's close and we just gotta be aggressive and obviously it starts with me. I'm the guy with the ball. So being aggressive to certain guys and matchups and giving guys chances. And so I've just gotta be hard on myself with that.
"Obviously you wanna be smart and protect the ball, but when we've got a matchup in a good look, we gotta rip it. And so I've just gotta be better and more aggressive down there. And then just that collectively as an offensive unit, once we get down there like all of us, our mindset man has to be, we gotta punch this in. Obviously we know we can settle for a field goal, but we've gotta hold ourselves to a higher standard and cross the goal line.
"You can do so much with Christian out of the backfield, line him up as a receiver and stuff like that. And defenses have to account and have a plan for that. So I mean, it is a little different.
"But regardless, man, I think we have the players and the talent to still make it happen and we've obviously got George [Kittle] with his size, Deebo [Samuel], BA [Brandon Aiyuk] with their hands, JJ [Jauan Jennings]. So we've just gotta put it together and get some rhythm within it down there."
Right now, though, that rhythm has never seemed further away. The 49ers are unlikely to have McCaffrey in the cauldron of Lumen Field on Thursday as they face the Seattle Seahawks, but there is reportedly hope he could feature in the Week 7 Super Bowl rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs.
The 49ers can't put the entire red zone burden on McCaffrey even if he does return to face Kansas City, but they can at least take solace that a critical reinforcement who can help fix their biggest offensive issue could be on the way. The problem is that the Niners may find themselves in a substantial hole for their toughest stretch of the season if they can't find answers without him in four days' time.
