49ers 33, Cowboys 41: Grades
The 49ers found a new way to beat themselves Sunday morning.
This time, they lost 41-33 to the pathetic Dallas Cowboys. Which makes the 49ers even more pathetic. They’re now 5-9. And they will not win another game this season. They’re cooked.
Here’s how they beat themselves this time:
NICK MULLENS: C.
It would be silly to say Nick Mullens played well, because he didn’t. But it would be equally silly to say Mullens lost the game for the 49ers, because he didn’t do that, either. This loss was a group effort. Mullens took his usual beatdown before he left the game in the fourth quarter with an elbow injury. And before he left, he committed three turnovers -- one fumble and two interceptions. But Kyle Shanahan didn’t fault Mullens for the fumble. Shanahan said the defensive end made a great play by beating Mike McGlinchey around the edge and swatting the ball out of Mullens’ hand as he attempted to throw a quick pass.
The first interception was a bad play by Mullens, but not entirely his fault according to Shanahan, because Mullens threw the ball to the correct spot -- Jordan Reed running a corner route. Reed beat his man and was open. But the design of the play didn’t occupy the safety. Shanahan should have made a wide receiver run deep so the safety would have had to cover someone. Instead, the safety covered no one, sat in one spot, read Mullens’ eyes and broke early on the pass.
Same exact thing happened on the second interception, except that time Mullens threw to an open Brandon Aiyuk running a dig route across the middle, and again Shanahan failed to occupy the safety with a clearout route, and he jumped the pass. I would expect better from the best play designer in football. Mullens is now likely done for the season with an elbow injury. Hopefully for the 49ers, they will protect their quarterbacks next season better than they protected them this season, because two have gotten injured, and there still are two games to go.
RUNNING BACKS: B-PLUS.
Raheem Mostert averaged 4.8 yards per carry on 14 attempts before reinjuring his ankle. And Jeff Wilson Jr. ran extremely hard and scored a touchdown. Neither player fumbled. These two gave the 49ers all they had.
WIDE RECEIVERS: A-MINUS.
Brandon Aiyuk caught nine passes and seemed to break about 100 tackles just to gain 73 yards and score one touchdown. Richie James Jr. had 56 receiving yards. And Kendrick Bourne played hard until the final whistle -- he even caught a Hail Mary touchdown pass when the game was out of reach. Respect.
TIGHT ENDS: B-MINUS.
Jordan Reed caught a touchdown pass, and Ross Dwelley caught two passes. Both are terrific backup tight ends. Neither should be a full-time starter. The 49ers really miss George Kittle.
OFFENSIVE LINEMEN: F.
Mike McGlinchey embarrassed himself by falling on his face, as per usual. But he also got Mullens’ throwing arm hit twice. The first time resulted in a fumble. The second time resulted in an elbow injury for Mullens. God forbid next season’s quarterback has to play one snap behind McGlinchey, who’s allergic to blocking. He also committed a 15-yard penalty in this game. He finds new ways to one-up himself every week.
DEFENSIVE LINEMEN: B.
Arik Armstead showed up for a change and dominated -- eight tackles, two sacks. He plays so well when he wants to play. The rest of the defensive line was solid but unspectacular.
LINEBACKERS: B.
Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw each recorded five tackles and helped limit Dallas to 4 yards per carry. They were solid.
DEFENSIVE BACKS: C.
Richard Sherman needs to retire. He doesn’t even sell out to tackle any more -- he makes business decisions. And one of his business decisions led to a touchdown for Dallas. Jimmie Ward doesn’t make business decisions. He sells out. And he left the game with a scary concussion and did not return. His replacement, Marcell Harris, gave up a 46-yard catch. His running mate, Tarvarius Moore, played well and had a big tackle for loss in the fourth quarter.
SPECIAL TEAMS: D.
Richie James Jr. fumbled a punt and Dallas recovered and scored a touchdown to take an early lead. Special teams has hurt the 49ers for years.
COACHES: C.
The defense gave up 41 points, but that was the result of the four turnovers. The defense actually played well and held Dallas to just 291 net yards of offense. The 49ers offense and special teams were just so, so bad. Shanahan refuses to let his best punt returner, Brandon Aiyuk, return punts, which hurts the team. And then Shanahan’s play designs led to two picks in this game.
And the final pick was particularly avoidable. The 49ers were down by three points at midfield with 2:51 left. It was second and 9. The 49ers were trying to score a touchdown or kick a field goal, use up the clock and give the ball back to Dallas with as little time left as possible. Run the freaking ball. Or throw a screen pass behind the line of scrimmage. The Niners did not have to pass the ball beyond the line of scrimmage with their backup quarterback who already had thrown one pick in the fourth quarter. Shanahan still doesn’t manage games as well as he should. Hopefully for him, he’ll get the next Patrick Mahomes and game management won’t be an issue because the quarterback will be so good and score so many points. Unfortunately for Shanahan, he passed on the original Mahomes.
QUALITY CONTROL: F.
I spent the entire mid-week quality control session tutoring McGlinchey and he played even worse than last week. Then I tried to shame the 49ers into winning by predicting they would beat themselves, and they still beat themselves. And to top it off, when Shanahan called a pass on second and nine, the pass which led to the game-losing pick, I didn’t text him quickly enough to tell him to run the ball. I’m losing my touch.
