San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Chris Conley (18) can’t hang onto the football against the Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie (22) in second half action at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara on Sun Oct 20, 2024 (AP News photo)
By Barbara Mason
The San Francisco 49ers (3-4) had a rough start and trailed 14-6 at the half. Brock Purdy finished the game with three interceptions and not a single touchdown. The Kansas City Chiefs (6-0) defense taunted him throughout the game knocking down passes and making his life pretty miserable.
Looking back, the Chiefs offense was pretty solid as well. They are the only undefeated team in the league. San Francisco had some great plays in the second half but just couldn’t string them together. They had six penalties in the game, not a lot, but they came at some pivotal moments in the game. The final was 28-18 as the Niners fell to 3-4 for the season.
Game recap: The 49ers had to settle for a 55 yard Anders Carlson field goal in the first quarter for a 3-0 lead. The opening quarter was downright ugly for San Francisco. Ten plays, for 28 yards (what??), three points and one interception. All of this in four drives. The 49er offense was struggling as was the Kansas City offense.
Brock Purdy went 1 of 4 for 8 yards in a rocky start looking very off. The Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes also threw an interception in the first quarter but did complete 6 of 9 for 82 yards.
Early in the second quarter, the Chiefs drove deep into San Francisco territory. Three 49er penalties on the drive gave the Chiefs a first and goal on the San Francisco one yard line. San Francisco was flirting with disaster during the entire drive with the penalties and Kansas City took full advantage scoring the first touchdown of the game.
Kareem Hunt punched the ball in from the one yard and the Chiefs took a 7-3 lead with a lot of time left on the clock until the half. The 49ers would be looking for better production from quarterback Brock Purdy. The Kansas City defense was all over him knocking down pass after pass.
With ten minutes left in the half the Chiefs returned a San Francisco punt to the 49er 30-yard line and Kansas City was back in business again. With the noise level off the charts, the Chiefs were forced to take a time-out with the ball on the nine yards line to regroup.
Kansas City did indeed regroup scoring their second touchdown of the game, the Harrison Butker kick was good and the Chiefs had a 14-3 lead. There was still 6:45 left in the half, plenty of time for San Francisco to close the gap.
The 49ers had to get a handle on the penalties. With four minutes left in the half, San Francisco was forced to punt and the Chiefs went on offense looking to extend their lead. So far through two quarters the Kansas City defense was dominant giving San Francisco all kinds of trouble.
San Francisco got a much needed stop and the 49ers had 1:39 left in the second quarter. Another penalty for the 49ers pushed them back to their own ten yard line to start the drive. Tight Chief coverage had reigned supreme throughout the first half but George Kittle got some separation giving San Francisco the ball on the Chief 35 yard-line catching a 41-yard Purdy pass.
The 49ers had a great chance to close the gap before halftime. Unable to score the touchdown, San Francisco had to settle for their second field goal of the day a 24 yard Carlson field goal going into the locker room trailing 14-6.
San Francisco got the second half going with an interception taking the ball down to the Kansas City 23 yard-line. They scored the touchdown and San Francisco had gotten the second half of the game going in the right direction.
Carlson missed the extra point attempt but San Francisco had cut the Chief’s lead to 14-12 and they were back in this game. The momentum the 49ers had going stalled in the third quarter when Brock Purdy was intercepted for the second time in this game.
After the interception the Chief’s drove downfield to the one yard line to start the fourth quarter. It took four downs but Kansas City scored their third touchdown of the game with Mahomes rushing from the 1/2 yard line taking a 21-12 lead.
The Chiefs drive was a huge success thanks to a 33 yard Mahomes scramble from the 49er 37 yard line to the San Francisco four yard-line setting the stage for the score. San Francisco pushed right back when Purdy connected with Jacob Cowing for 41 yards and the 49ers had a first and goal.
When a touchdown was all but inevitable, Purdy threw a third interception in the end zone squelching any hope for a touchdown. With 9:34 left in the game, time was weighing heavily on San Francisco. Kansas City was able to eat up nearly 6 1/2 minutes in the fourth quarter after intercepting the ball.
The Chiefs went on a long drive looking to eat up the clock. A mix of rushes and passes took the clock down to the three minute mark. Kansas City put this game on ice when Mecole Hardman rushed for 18 yards and the Chiefs fourth touchdown of the day pushing their lead to 28-12. With 1:08 left on the clock San Francisco scored, the two-point conversion failed and this game was a wrap 28-18 in favor of the Chiefs.
Game notes: And then there was one. Following Sunday morning’s scheduled NFL games, the Detroit Lions beat the undefeated Minnesota Vikings 31-29. There now remains one undefeated team in the NFL, the Chiefs with a record of 6-0. The 49ers couldn’t hand the Chiefs their first loss of the season at Levis Stadium.
The crowd noise as hard as they tried couldn’t shake the visiting Chiefs in this one Sunday. San Francisco won their first game to start the season but ran into some tough losses, one to the Vikings and their second of the season to the rival Los Angeles Rams. In week 5 they lost a heart-breaker, a one-point decision to the Arizona Cardinals 24-23.
Going into Sunday’s game, San Francisco is coming off a Thursday night win over the Seattle Seahawks 36-24 nearly ten days ago. Playing at home the 49ers wanted to give the Chiefs their first loss of the season but couldn’t generate enough offense to make that happen.
Next Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers will take on the Dallas Cowboys at Levis Stadium. Kickoff for this game is scheduled for 5:20 PM and can be viewed on NBC/Peacock.
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