The 49ers outscored their opponents by 98 points during their 5-0 start to the regular season and that led to a lot of talk about the path to the NFC title going through San Francisco, but the last two weeks have quieted some of that chatter.
A 19-17 loss to the Browns in Week Six pierced the 49ers’ air of invincibility and Monday night’s 22-17 loss in Minnesota saw the team again fall short with a chance to win a close game. Two late interceptions by Brock Purdy in the fourth quarter eliminated any chance at a comeback win and the 49ers made other mistakes — a lost fumble and a missed field goal — that loom large in a close loss.
Their defense also failed to sack Kirk Cousins or force any turnovers after an interception on the first Minnesota possession. The entire performance left linebacker Fred Warner lamenting the team’s inability to do the little things needed to win tight contests.
“We’ve shown obviously what we’re capable of, like our best version of ourselves,” Warner said, via 49ersWebzone.com. “But at the end of the day, I want our mental toughness to go up. I want to win in any form or fashion. I don’t care if it’s ugly. Like, all right, we’ll figure it out later on, but let’s find a way to get this done. . . . I think the thing right now with us is we got to find ways to win the grimy games, the ones that it’s not looking great, and find a way. Obviously we can win 30-10, but who are we and what are we going to do when we’re down and we got to come back and win a game?”
It’s still relatively early in the season and the 49ers were missing a couple of key players due to injury while losing a pair of road games, so the sky has not completely fallen for the team. They’ll need to show they can handle adversity at other points in the season, though, and they’ll need to come up with better answers than they did in Minnesota.
