The San Francisco 49ers suffered a disastrous fourth-quarter collapse for the second time in three weeks.
Sunday, Kyle Shanahan's club saw a 13-point second-half lead and a 10-point fourth-quarter lead in a 24-23 loss to Arizona. The flop came two weeks after watching Sean McVay's Rams storm back from down 14 points in the third quarter.
The dual division defeats put the Niners in a 2-3 hole to open the season
"Extremely frustrated," Shanahan said of his team's inability to hold leads. "By no means should we be able to give that away. Always will come back to turnovers, in my opinion. There are other things you can do to overcome them. Talked about it last night, how we thought a key in this game would be turnovers, and that's exactly what the first half was. Gave us a huge advantage and then it flipped in the second half. And when you do that stuff to win."
Sunday's loss had the same hallmarks as the breakdown against the Rams. Turnovers, defensive mistakes, missed tackles and missed opportunities to slam the door shut.
Kicker Jake Moody suffering an ankle injury during the contest wiped out a few chances for the Niners to add to their lead with long field goals, but didn't change the red zone woes. San Francisco went 1-of-6, converting red zone chances into TDs on Sunday. Missing running back Christian McCaffrey, one of the best red-zone threats in the NFL, hurts but doesn't account for all the Niners' struggles to open the season.
"Same thing I said all last week, not very good," Shanahan said of his club's red zone struggles. "We were middle of the pack before today started and we got a lot worse today."
On Sunday, the Niners were shut out in the second half, the first scoreless second half in any game Brock Purdy has started in his career.
A blocked field goal returned for a touchdown, and a Nick Bosa interception turned into a chip-shot field goal gave a 23-10 halftime lead that then never built upon. Late, the Niners D couldn't slow James Conner, Kyler Murray and a surging Cardinals offense.
"It's pretty simple. In the NFL, having turnovers and not playing complementary football will cost you," Bosa said. "Since Kyle's taken over, this organization has found ways to win. It's not about how good your players are, how explosive an offensive is or how good a defense is. If you're turning the ball over and you're not making those plays on defense in crucial moments, you're going to lose in the NFL. I haven't lost any confidence in this team. It's early. It's a long year. We've been through worse and I think we'll respond well."
With both the Niners and Seattle Seahawks (3-2) falling on Sunday, it sets up a short-week Thursday night battle with the top spot in the NFC West on the line.
"I think we need to turn the page on this one," Bosa said. "It's pretty clear what happened and why we lost. I think it's kind of a blessing in disguise that we're playing this Thursday."
