The Kansas City Chiefs own the San Francisco 49ers.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan fell to 0-5 against the Chiefs and head coach Andy Reid in an embarrassing 28-18 loss at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday.
San Francisco looked out of sorts and disjointed the entire game, while Kansas City looked like the reigning Super Bowl champions. The 49ers have a lot to figure out if they’re going to even approach being serious contenders this year.
Here are our notes from each quarter of Sunday’s debacle:
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 20: Nick Bosa #97 and Leonard Floyd #56 of the San Francisco 49ers celebrate after a sack during the first quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs at Levi’s Stadium on October 20, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
– A big run by Jordan Mason is negated by a holding penalty on center Jake Brendel. The 49ers’ center is not having his best year. That’s a spot San Francisco may look to upgrade in the offseason.
– Ricky Pearsall debut! He played his first offensive snap on a second-and-21 after the holding penalty on Brendel.
– Brock Purdy has to be better at checking the ball down. He scrambled for a couple yards instead of taking an easy throw underneath to Mason. That play was a chance to get to something more manageable than a third-and-21.
– Whew. Great hit on a checkdown throw by second-year LB Dee Winters. He flew in to hit Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt for a short gain.
– The 49ers stopped a fake punt! The Chiefs tried a fourth-and-1 fake from their own 44 and San Francisco stuffed it. Incredible special teams work by Nick Bosa and Jordan Elliott.
– Ouch. Purdy gave the ball away on the first play after the fake punt. He tried fitting a throw in a window that wasn’t there.
– Nick Bosa is on one. He’s had a couple pressures and finally got home for a sack on a first-and-10 in the red zone.
– Huge play by the 49ers’ defense, and specifically defensive tackle Kalia Davis. He batted a Patrick Mahomes throw in the air, then got up to pull it down for an interception. Kansas City is worse in the red zone than San Francisco, and they showed why on that drive.
– Not much going on in the run game for San Francisco. The Chiefs defensive front is spending a ton of time in the backfield. The 49ers got to a second-and-2 and gained one yard on two runs their next two plays before punting.
– Malik Mustapha is flying around. It’s clear the rookie safety is starting to figure it out as a pro.
– Another sack for the 49ers. This time it’s Leonard Floyd who cleans up a pressure first generated by Maliek Collins on the interior. Excellent work from San Francisco’s defense on that possession. Mahomes had nowhere to throw it and the defensive front collapsed the pocket quickly.
– Purdy is a mess. He’s thrown an interception, missed badly with another throw and had another batted in the air for a near interception. Then on third-and-6 he had a miscommunication with WR Brandon Aiyuk and nearly threw a pick-six. Yuck.
– Anders Carlson drilled a career-long 55-yard field goal to put the 49ers on the board. They may need more like that from him given how the 49ers’ offense has looked.
– The quarter ends on two completions to Chiefs TE Noah Gray that went for a combined 31 yards.
Oct 20, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) is unable to make a catch next to Kansas City Chiefs safety Justin Reid (20) in the first quarter at Levi’s Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images
– Another sweet stop by Winters on a screen, but Bosa was lined up offsides. He does that a lot.
– Two offsides penalties on the 49ers’ defense. This time it’s Kevin Givens. They cannot keep giving Kansas City free yards.
– Now a 12-men on the field penalty on the 49ers. A coaching abomination on this series.
– Easy Chiefs touchdown on an inside run by Hunt. It was a mostly easy drive with jet sweeps killing the 49ers’ defense. Then the penalties only made life simpler for Kansas City. This might get ugly.
– Another throw for Purdy is batted down.
– Purdy followed that up with a dime to WR Brandon Aiyuk and he dropped it. Absolutely brutal. That might have been a touchdown.
– Huge punt return for the Chiefs with WR Mecole Hardman. They’ll be set up at the 49ers’ 30. These are the kind of mistakes a team can’t make against Kansas City, and the 49ers continually make them.
– Another Chiefs touchdown after the punt return gave them a short field. This one feels over. San Francisco has nothing on either side of the ball.
– Another big run is negated by a holding call on Trent Williams. San Francisco needed to be perfect and they’re playing their worst game of the season.
– Big throw to George Kittle for 22 yards on a first-and-20. Maybe that will loosen something up for the 49ers’ offense.
– Purdy just took a sack on a play where the 49ers doubled the edge rusher and it didn’t work.
– Bosa gets in the backfield again on a third-and-8 to force a throwaway on the first play out of the two-minute warning. Really nice job by the 49ers’ defense.
– The 49ers got another penalty on the punt. George Odum was whistled for holding.
– First target for Pearsall and he wasn’t even looking for the ball. The 49ers receivers just cannot separate.
– Second target for Pearsall was caught for six yards. Really cool moment for him.
– Huge shot play for Kittle to pick up 41 on a third-and-4. Had Purdy hit Kittle in stride it would’ve been a touchdown, but the 49ers will take a chunk play after struggling to move the ball all afternoon.
– Oh no. Aiyuk took a low hit to the knee that bent his knee in a bad way. Deebo Samuel is already in the locker room because of an illness. Now Aiyuk is limping off.
– Jacob Cowing got his first catch too on a screen pass after Aiyuk got hurt.
– A third-and-1 run loses two yards. An absolute red zone calamity. Purdy threw incomplete to Cowing in the end zone on second-and-1. Deciding to run on third down with no timeouts is a baffling decision. Carlson hit a short field goal to make it 14-6 at the half.
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 20: Quarterback Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs looks to pass during the third quarter at Levi’s Stadium on October 20, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
– Huge play on a third-and-8 on the first drive of the second half for Kansas City. Chiefs WR Xavier Worthy fell down and Mahomes’ throw landed in the hands of CB Deommodore Lenoir. San Francisco is set up at the Chiefs 31 early in the second half. This is a chance to wrestle momentum back.
– Good block by Aaron Banks on a QB sneak to convert on fourth-and-1. Kyle Juszczyk provided a push for Purdy too. Nice execution from San Francisco in a huge spot.
– Sweet play call on a Purdy sneak for a touchdown. San Francisco pulled their two guards and Purdy followed Brendel who was one-on-one with a linebacker. That was an easy block for the center and Purdy fell into the end zone for a score. Good work by head coach Kyle Shanahan on that drive.
– Yuck. Carlson missed the extra point to keep it a 14-12 Chiefs lead. The 49ers probably should have been going for the two-point conversion anyway.
– Lenoir came up with a nice tackle in space to hold Chiefs TE Travis Kelce to no gain. The 49ers’ CB is having a heck of a game.
– Excellent pass breakup by Charvarius Ward on a deep shot to Kelce on a third-and-10 to force a punt. The way the 49ers’ defense has bounced back after those couple of touchdown drives has been outstanding.
– Hey a big run that wasn’t called back! Mason blasted ahead for 26 yards on a perfectly blocked run to the left side. He also made a defender whiff in the open field with a little juke. We don’t often see that from the big RB.
– Shanahan was in his bag.
– Yikes. It looked like Purdy and Ronnie Bell had a miscommunication and Purdy threw his second interception of the game. This is a really tough spot for San Francisco given how good the Chiefs corners are in coverage and how far into the WR depth chart the 49ers are.
– Huge third-down play and Ji’Ayir Brown got cooked by Kelce.
– 33-yard scramble for Mahomes down the sideline. The 49ers probably needed to pitch a shutout the rest of the way to win this and now the Chiefs are at the 49ers 1 to end the third quarter. Warner and Winters both whiffed tackles on the scramble.
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 20: Travis Kelce #87 of the Kansas City Chiefs catches a pass during the third quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on October 20, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
– Touchdown Chiefs on a QB draw for Mahomes, who ran over Mustapha. Feels like a dagger. Brown was also flagged for holding on the play.
– The 49ers offense is in a really tough spot. It feels almost like the 2022 NFC championship game where San Francisco just can’t get anything going in the passing game because of injury.
– Ronnie Bell just drew a holding penalty on a third down to give the 49ers a first down. Wow.
– Deep shot to Cowing for 41 yards. That’s such a massive play for the rookie who had no catches entering this game. Purdy under threw him pretty bad or it would’ve been a walk-in touchdown.
– What a disaster. Purdy threw an interception in the end zone. The 49ers needed points and Purdy threw it into double coverage. That was never close. Just a dreadful decision by the 49ers’ QB that should just about end this game.
– Third-and-8 the 49ers defenses needed. They got hands on Mahomes, but the Chiefs QB found backup TE Noah Gray for a first down. Unbelievable.
– Sweep to Hardman is a dagger. The 49ers defense looked completely out of gas. They were outclassed in every way down the stretch.
– Trent Williams got ejected for punching a Chiefs defensive back. Rough way to end it.
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 20: Quarterback Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs runs for a touchdown past Malik Mustapha #6 of the San Francisco 49ers during the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium on October 20, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Chiefs 28, 49ers 18
