Photo credit: @49ers
By Jeremy Harness
SANTA CLARA – The best thing you can take out of the final preseason game of the year for the 49ers is this: the injury list did not grow, and for the most part, the quarterbacks showed flashes of brilliance.
Signal-callers Nick Mullens and Jack Heneghan got plenty of burn in Thursday night’s 23-21 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers at Levi’s Stadium, and each of them certainly gave solid accounts of themselves in the process.
Each guy led the 49ers on long, time-consuming touchdown drives and gave their team a chance to win, particularly when Heneghan drove the team down for a score that gave the 49rs the lead with a little more than two minutes left in the game.
In the end, however, the 49ers’ run defense let them down, as did a big kick return that put the ball in 49ers territory immediately following the go-ahead score.
The 49ers did feature a handful of starters, including Solomon Thomas, who made a pair of big tackles for losses on the first drive of the game before taking a spot on the sideline for the rest of the night. Linebacker Reuben Foster, meanwhile, blew up a screen pass for a huge loss on the Chargers’ second possession. Three plays later, the 49ers forced a punt.
Foster played considerably longer than Thomas, as he is facing a two-game suspension that starts next Sunday. On the offensive side, lineman Joshua Garnett played into the second quarter, but no other starters took the field on Thursday.
C.J Beathard started the game and played one series but accomplished next to nothing in the process. In fact, he did not attempt a single pass. Mullens, on the other hand, was able to build on his game-winning performance in the first preseason game against Dallas with another very good effort on Thursday.
Mullens did have to suffer through some pains early on, getting rocked by a pair of blindside hits in his first two possessions, and the second one – by defensive end Chris Landrum – forced him to cough up the ball, and Los Angeles took over deep in 49ers territory.
However, the 49ers defense stood up to the challenge wonderfully, and the Chargers were forced to kick another field goal to give them a 6-0 lead.
He settled down very nicely immediately following the turnover. He made a handful of nice throws and extended plays when the protection broke down during a 75-yard drive that he punctuated with a six-yard touchdown plunge to give the 49ers a 7-6 lead.
The Chargers, however, took advantage of the 49ers’ soft run defense and ended the first half by punching it in for a score, after going 73 yards on 10 plays to go in front, 13-7. Los Angeles added another touchdown early in the second half, shortly after Jeremy McNichols fumbled and gave the Chargers the ball on the 49ers’ 10.
The 49ers marched it deep into the red zone late in the third quarter but were stopped on fourth-and-one at the 2-yard line.
Heneghan responded in the fourth by leading the 49ers down the field, and when McNichols plunged into the end zone with a little more than two minutes left, the 49ers had a 21-20 lead.
That lead, the 49ers’ only one of the game, did not last. After the Chargers returned the ensuing kickoff into 49ers territory, they converted a pair of first downs before Roberto Aguayo kicked a 26-yard field goal as time expired.
The 49ers head to U.S. Bank Stadium to take on the Vikings on Sunday, September 9 at 10 am PDT.
