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SANTA CLARA — Nick Bosa sat in the 49ers locker room, calmly answered questions about his first career loss and then summed up the entire evening with a post-interview quip.
“I don’t know what I just said there, but … ” Bosa muttered.
It was a mindblowing night for more than the 49ers’ rookie defensive end. So many twists, turns and turnovers accompanied the 49ers on their way to a 27-24 overtime loss and an imperfect, 8-1 record.
How to make sense of Monday night’s drama against the Seattle Seahawks? Here are the top five things we learned:
1. Kittle’s value is immense
The 49ers suited up all six wide receivers for the first time and still couldn’t cover for George Kittle, whose knee and ankle injuries ended his streak of 30 consecutive games played.
“A lot of our stuff has seemed to flow through George Kittle,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “He’s going to get himself healthy and get himself back to full strength.
“It’s tough. You can’t replace a guy who’s arguably a top-five player in this league, regardless of position,” McGlinchey added. “It’s impossible to do that. We had guys step up. … We’re OK in the tight end room, and hopefully can give George the right amount of time to get healthy. But he’s obviously missed out there.”
McGlinchey shrewdly noted that Kittle is also a “huge part” of the 49ers’ run blocking scheme, and the 49ers had trouble without him in that aspect, too.
Wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders’ Oct. 22 trade helped lighten Kittle’s load, and once Sanders left in the second quarter with injured ribs, the 49ers’ passing attack lost its teeth. “They’re our two best playmakers, so that definitely takes a toll,” Shanahan said. “Some guys stepped up. We just didn’t have consistency out there.”
2 How will they respond?
Fingers weren’t pointed. No one made a demonstrative statement, not to the media. The 49ers locker room was subdued, as it was in most of the 22 defeats that preceded this season under Shanahan.
Bosa paraphrased Shanahan’s post-game message as: you can’t win them all, and get back to work. “Nobody was talking too much,” Bosa said. “Once we got everybody together and coach Shanahan spoke, we tried to help whoever was hurt. We have a game in six days so we have to shake this one off quick.”
The 49ers next host the Arizona Cardinals (3-6-1) on Sunday, having just beat them 28-25 on Halloween.
“This loss is not going to define us,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “We have an extremely tight-knit group.”
Cornerback Richard Sherman expects a “phenomenal bounce back,” adding: “It’s a good lesson. you’ve got to learn during the season. In order to win championships, you have to have these lessons.”
McGlinchey said the 49ers will be “absolutely fine. We have the best in the business up top coaching us, and he’s as (angry) as anyone is. Nobody in this locker room is going to be able to respond in any way but getting better.”
3. Injuries pile up
Despite welcoming back three starters from injury (McGlinchey, left tackle Joe Staley and fullback Kyle Juszczyk), the 49ers saw so many more injuries strike, such as to Sanders’ ribs, a season-ending ACL tear for defensive end and a fractured/dislocated finger to Staley that could require surgery and weeks to recover.
Nose tackle D.J. Jones (groin) will miss next game, and linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair is in the concussion protocol.
Center Weston Richburg is forging past a left-hand injury — after backup Ben Garland got beat on a strip sack that resulted in the Seahawks’ first touchdown. Running back Matt Breida aggravated an ankle injury.
Having to play a full overtime session also won’t help recovery efforts in a short week. The 49ers already were without Kittle and kicker Robbie Gould (quadriceps), and neither return is a certainty next game. Gould’s absence was made more glaring by his replacement, Chase McLaughlin, missing an overtime kick, but there’s no guarantee Gould would have made it in this sub-par season.
4. ‘The Catch’ is not easy
Jimmy Garoppolo wasn’t sharp, nor was his protection, but most disturbing were the abundance of drops by his targets, accounting for as many as eight of his 22 incompletions.
Kendrick Bourne’s three drops were the most destructive, as one resulted in an interception and another forced the 49ers to settle for a tying field goal late in regulation. Bourne caught all three of his first-half targets for third-down conversions, scoring their first touchdown in the process. How will he respond from the nightmare finish?
“It’s about focusing in on the ball, because I know I can catch the ball. It is not hard,” Bourne said. “Sometimes you just squeeze it harder than other situations.”
Marquise Goodwin never got targeted again after a third-down drop in the red zone on the opening series. Dante Pettis had one one the 49ers final possession, and even Deebo Samuel wasn’t exempt despite on a career-best night (eight catches, 12 targets, 112 yards).
My drop count: Bourne 2, Pettis 2, Goodwin 2, Samuel 1, Juszczyk 1.
“We just have to make the catches that are coming our way,” Samuel said. “We have to make a better effort at bringing those balls down.”
Said Shanahan: “We had some big (drops), some big moments and those guys have to bounce back.”
5. What needs fixing fast?
When the 49ers can’t catch the ball and when they can’t run it effectively, their offense isn’t much of a threat. It’s the run game that should be most concerning. It’s the 49ers’ staple, and they couldn’t move the Seahawks linemen to create lanes, although Juszczyk’s return did help on a couple lead blocks, such as Tevin Coleman’s game-high 22-yard run.
“We struggled in the run game. That was pretty obvious,” Shanahan said. “There weren’t a lot of clean lanes we’re used to having.”
Coleman had 40 yards (nine carries) and Breida ran for a season-low 18 (10 carries). Raheem Mostert averaged 4.7 yards per carry in relief, but he got stuffed for no gain and 1 yard on his final two carries before McLaughlin’s overtime shank.
Defensively, the 49ers must be increasingly wary of mobile quarterbacks, and the Cardinals’ Kyler Murray awaits. Russell Wilson got sacked five times but eluded many more, teaching the 49ers defense a valuable lesson about their greed for sacks.
“It’s honestly pretty crazy how he never throws the ball on time,” Bosa said. “It seems it’s part of his plan to look downfield, then tuck it, then find a gap, come through the gap and then make a play. We just need to rush better, stay in our lanes and contain him, instead of trying to go get sacks.”
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