By Morris Phillips

Once the painfully slow start on offensive was factored in with the unusually high number of turnovers, it was just another day at the office for the 49ers and their league-worst scoring offense on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.

While the AFC North-leading Bengals supported A.J. McCarron, their backup quarterback making his first NFL start with opportunistic defense, short fields and a first half lead, the 49ers asked their guy, Blaine Gabbert to throw 50 passes and fashion a highly-improbable, double-digit fourth quarter comeback.

For the 49ers (4-10), it didn’t work out. The 49ers fell, 24-14 to the Bengals, their third loss in five games with Gabbert at the helm.

For the Bengals (11-3), a critical win that brings them to the precipice of a division title and a leg up on a bye in the tightly-bunched AFC playoff picture.

“In four minutes and 23 seconds, it went from 0-0 to 21-nothing,” Coach Jim Tomsula said. “We have got to understand that we cannot make those fundamental mistakes. When the ball is thrown we need to catch it. We need to hold on to it. We need to punt the ball. We need to make those plays.”

The speed with which the 49ers lost their grip on this one was as dramatic as Tomsula described. Cincinnati’s Carlos Dunlap started the process with what might have been the most impressive play of the afternoon when he stripped Anquan Boldin of the ball after the receiver appeared to have a 12-yard gain good for a first down. But Dunlap yanked the ball out of Boldin’s hands with such force that the receiver was rag-dolled and thrown out of position to make a tackle on the Bengals’ defensive end. Dunlap jumped up and ran 21 yards to set up a Bengals’ first down at the 49ers’ 11-yard line.

“They got the first down and Carlos happened to strip it,” Cincinnati’s Vontaze Burfict said. “I thought the runner was down so I stopped running, but they looked at the review and it was our ball so it was a blessing.”

Six plays later, and despite a great deal of resistance from the 49ers’ goal line defense, Jeremy Hill was awarded a touchdown after a review showed he was not stopped prior to crossing the goal line.

On the ensuing possession, Gabbert was sacked on a play that lost 10 yards. After the three-and-out, rookie Bradley Pinion badly shanked a punt that went out of bounds after only 18 yards. Five plays later, the Bengals led 14-0 having to only cover 36 yards after the poor punt.

Two plays into the next possession, Gabbert’s pass to the flat was mishandled by tight end Vance McDonald, who already had bobbled two earlier, the first resulting in a Adam Jones interception.  This time, McDonald bobbled the ball, and then sent it skyward on a subsequent touch. A few yards ahead of the bobble, Burfict settled under the ball for an interception that again set up the Bengals in 49ers territory.

McCarron threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Kroft on the next play, and Cincinnati had a trio of touchdowns in fewer than five minutes.

The 49ers have been outscored by 55 points in the first quarter, and a whopping 81 points in the second quarter in an aggregate of the 14 games thus far this season. The home crowd acknowledged as much delivering a hearty round of boos as the home team ran off the field for halftime.

Facing numerous third-and-long situations, the 49ers would fail to convert any of their first 12 third down opportunities on Sunday, including Boldin’s catch for first down yardage prior to the Dunlap’s strip.

“Like I’ve said in the past, when you’re in third-and-14, third-and-15, third-and-12 versus a talented defense, the odds of that third down are extremely low,” Gabbert said when asked about the stalling offense. “It’s up to the players to not put ourselves in that situation.”

While the 49ers got Daniel Kilgore back in his familiar center spot (just in time to face Cincinnati’s All-Pro nose tackle Geno Atkins), they lost guard Mike Martin and starting running back Shaun Draughn to injury.  Trent Brown, the behemoth rookie drafted in the seventh-round, finished the game in Martin’s spot. Former free agents, Kendall Gaskins and Travaris Cadet are the team’s only remaining healthy tailbacks.

All the missteps allowed the Bengals to manage just fine on only 242 yards in total offense. The 49ers trailed 24-0 late in the third quarter before a pair of late touchdowns brought a measure of respectability.

Phil Dawson’s 41-yard field goal attempt midway through the fourth quarter would have brought the 49ers within two touchdowns, but was blocked by the ever-present Dunlap, leaping behind the line of scrimmage. That squandered opportunity gained significance after the 49ers recovered an onside kick with three minutes remaining down ten points instead of seven.

49ers fans sent a statement to ownership by staying home in droves. When the game kicked off at 1:25pm, only half of the stadium’s seats appeared to be filled for a game that was originally scheduled for the 5:30pm Sunday night telecast, but was bumped in favor of a more compelling matchup of the first place Cardinals and Eagles. While the time change probably cost the team a few attendees, the team’s 4-9 record, lackluster play, and surprisingly lopsided loss in Cleveland last week seemed to be the primary cause.

McCarron threw for 192 yards on 15 of 21 passing, while Gabbert was 30 of 50 for 295 yards. Gabbert threw three interceptions, and both quarterbacks were sacked four times.

The Bengals won at San Francisco/Santa Clara for the first time since 1974, when they handed the 49ers their first loss in a 6-8 season.  That one took place at Candlestick Park, and the 49ers’ loss was the first in what would become six in a row.

The 49ers’ final road test comes next week at Ford Field in Detroit against the Lions.