Tag: 49ers vs Bengals

Watch: 49ers pass rush making early impact with sacks on third down vs. Trevor Lawerence

The 49ers pass rush wasted no time in making an impact against Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

After a busy week of noise with the San Francisco 49ers’ pass rush at the center of attention, Chris Kocurek’s group quickly silenced the chatter with an early impact against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.

On the Jaguars first two drives of the game, the 49ers’ defense harassed Trevor Lawerence coming away with a pair of clutch sacks on third down. The 49ers’ pass rush forced Lawerence and the Jags offense off the field with sacks on third down on back-to-back drives to start the game.

Arik Armstead cleaned up Lawerence on the opening drive of the game and Javon Hargrave followed his teammate with another sack on third down on the next Jags’ offensive drive.

Via @49ers on Twitter:

Following their pair of sacks, the 49ers’ offense put 10 points on the board in the first quarter against the Jaguars.

This post originally appeared on Niners Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! 

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

49ers inability to mount comeback drops them in USA TODAY power rankings

How far did the #49ers fall in the @usatodaysports NFL power rankings?

The 49ers dropped their third consecutive game in Week 8, and subsequently dropped in the USA TODAY NFL power rankings for the second consecutive week.

San Francisco still sits in the top five despite its struggles. They’ve built up enough equity over the last couple years to get the benefit of the doubt when they scuffle like they have the last three weeks. Especially since they were a missed field goal away from winning in Cleveland and were one or two bounces of the ball away from winning in Minnesota.

The 49ers’ inability to pull of a fourth-quarter comeback ultimately doomed them in all three contests, and Nate Davis of USA TODAY notes as much in his rankings:

Here’s an insane stat about this club. Since HC Kyle Shanahan took over in 2017, San Francisco is 0-37 when trailing by eight or more points in the fourth quarter.

Perhaps the most concerning thing for San Francisco has been its defense’s inability to get stops and overcome a couple mistakes from quarterback Brock Purdy. Defense is supposed to be the 49ers’ bread and butter, but they haven’t been good the last three games.

For now the 49ers stay in the top five, but if they continue to struggle out of the bye week we could see a pretty dramatic drop in the power rankings and, more importantly for them, the standings.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

WR Jauan Jennings had weird game in 49ers’ Week 8 loss

Poor Jauan Jennings. He set a dubious season-high for NFL pass catchers this season:

A quick look at the box score would indicate 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings wasn’t involved much in the team’s offense in a 31-17 Week 8 loss to the Bengals.

It turns out he was extremely involved, but didn’t get any work. Jennings played a whopping 50 snaps in 63 offensive plays and ran routes on 33 of those plays. That’s the most routes without a target this season according to a tweet from Ben Solak of the Ringer.

In 50 snaps and 33 routes, Jennings managed to earn zero targets, which is remarkable considering the team’s injury problems at wide receiver. Deebo Samuel was out of Sunday’s game and WR Ray-Ray McCloud only earned two targets on the team’s 30 pass attempts.

Jennings has become a pretty reliable option for the 49ers, particularly on third down. San Francisco faced only nine third downs in Week 8 which limited opportunities for Jennings to make an impact in that spot. Beyond that it was clear QB Brock Purdy was going to lean on WR Brandon Aiyuk, TE George Kittle and RB Christian McCaffrey to try and get the passing game rolling after he tossed a pair of interceptions in Week 7. He threw 27 of his 30 passes their direction.

That left a player like Jennings to block in the run game and cruise around the field getting some wind sprints in when the 49ers turned to the passing game.

A better distribution of targets may ultimately help Purdy and the 49ers’ offense, but they have a handful of other problems to iron out before they prioritize getting touches for a player like Jennings.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Good and bad from 49ers Week 8 defeat vs. Bengals

What was good, what was bad in the 49ers’ third straight loss?

It’s hard to find a lot of things that have gone right for the 49ers over the last few weeks. A string of bad games came to a head Sunday at Levi’s Stadium when the Bengals trounced the home team 31-17 in a contest that didn’t really feel as close as the final score.

Miscues galore painted a perfect picture of an ugly outcome for San Francisco. Finding the bad was easy. Finding the good was harder. Here’s some we came up with from each side of the spectrum:

49ers fall to 2nd place in NFC West after 3rd straight loss

The #49ers no longer lead the NFC West.

The 49ers’ margin for error has evaporated entirely after their third consecutive loss. They’ll head into their Week 9 bye in second place in the NFC West, a spot they haven’t been since the middle of last season.

San Francisco entered Sunday atop the division by a half game with a 5-2 record. The Seattle Seahawks lurked just behind them at 4-2. While the Seahawks took care of business against the Browns, the 49ers couldn’t do the same against the Bengals. Now the NFC West standings look like this:

1. Seahawks (5-2)
2. 49ers (5-3)
3. Rams (3-5)
4. Cardinals (1-7)

If there’s any good news to be found for the 49ers it’s that they don’t have to worry about the Rams at the moment. They’re two games up on them and hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Chasing the Seahawks won’t be easy though, especially if San Francisco doesn’t get straightened out by the end of the bye week. They still face Seattle twice in Weeks 12 and 14, so there’ll be opportunities to regain the division via head-to-head wins as long as they stay in step with Seattle leading up to that point.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

7 takeaways from 49ers’ 31-17 loss at home to Bengals

Takeaways from the 49ers’ Week 8 loss to Cincinnati.

The 49ers dropped a third consecutive game Sunday when they were shellacked by the Bengals 31-17 at Levi’s Stadium.

San Francisco now mercifully heads to its bye week in search of answers on both sides of the ball. They’ve been unable to score or get key stops for the last three weeks.

Here are a handful of our takeaways from Sunday’s game:

NFL Twitter reacts to Brock Purdy’s 3 turnover performance in loss vs. Bengals

After Brock Purdy turned the ball over three times against the Bengals in the 49ers’ third straight loss, NFL Twitter exploded with reactions on Sunday.

In need of a bounce back performance after a two interception effort against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football last week, Brock Purdy’s struggles continued in a duel with Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 8. 

En route to the San Francisco 49ers’ third straight loss, Purdy turned the ball over three times, including back-to-back interceptions on consecutive throws. Purdy then turned the ball over on a fumble in the final minutes of Sunday’s 31-17 loss to the Bengals in Santa Clara.

The 49ers’ defense didn’t have much of an answer for Burrow on Sunday. The former No. 1 overall pick sliced and diced his way to 283 yards on 28-of-32 passing for three touchdowns. Burrow also hurt the 49ers on the ground, rushing for 43 yards.

Following the 49ers’ third consecutive loss, the NFL Twitter on community exploded with reactions. Here’s a look at what fans and analysts were saying on Sunday afternoon on social media about the Purdy and the 49ers.

This post originally appeared on Niners Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! 

Notes and observations from embarrassing 49ers loss to Bengals

Notes and observations from the 49ers’ new worst loss of the year.

The 49ers never had a chance in Week 8. The Bengals jumped out to a 14-7 lead and never looked back en route to handing San Francisco a third consecutive loss.

Here are our observations from the 49ers’ 31-17 loss to Cincinnati:

Watch: Brock Purdy finds Christian McCaffrey for TD pass vs. Bengals

Make that two touchdowns for Christian McCaffrey in Week 8 against the Bengals.

After throwing back-to-back interceptions on his previous two throws, the San Francisco 49ers desperately needed a response from Brock Purdy to stay in the game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.

On the next drive, the second-year passer answered the bell.

After moving the 49ers down the field, Purdy hit Christian McCaffrey in the end zone with a cross body throw for a much-needed touchdown. McCaffrey’s touchdown reception marked his second score of the day. McCaffrey found the end zone on a touchdown run in the first quarter.

McCaffrey now has an NFL record 17 straight games with a touchdown score.

Via @49ers on Twitter:

This post originally appeared on Niners Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! 

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Watch: Arik Armstead comes up with second sack of Joe Burrow on third down vs. Bengals

Two sacks and counting for Arik Armstead against Joe Burrow and the Bengals.

As good as Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals have been at Santa Clara in Week 8, the San Francisco 49ers’ defense has continued to show up when it matters most.

After forcing a missed field goal after sack of Burrow and creating a turnover on a forced fumble from Irv Smith Jr. on the final two drives of the first half, the 49ers’ defense answered the bell again at the start of the second half.

With the Bengals threatening again, Nick Bosa helped collapse the pocket as Arik Armstead cleaned up Burrow for his second sack of the contest. Following the sack, the 49ers forced the Bengals to bring their kicking unit onto the field again.

Via @TheSFNiners on Twitter:

This post originally appeared on Niners Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! 

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]