The San Francisco 49ers’ quest for perfection came to an abrupt halt with Sunday’s 26-21 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
After winning three games that likely would have been losses last year, the 2024 49ers made an appearance with turnovers, mistakes, and an abysmal performance from the special teams, resulting in the 49ers’ first loss of the season.
Amidst all the bad, we sort through it all to find at least three bright spots. These are the three stars from the loss on Sunday:
Third star: WR Ricky Pearsall
There wasn’t too much to cheer for from the 49ers’ offense on Sunday, but Pearsall gave us one of the lone bright spots.
It wasn’t Pearsall’s best game of the season by a far stretch, but despite it, he was responsible for the 49ers’ longest play from scrimmage. The receiver finished with four receptions for 41 yards on five targets, with 31 of those yards coming on one play. While not the most eye-popping of numbers from Pearsall, it was his third reception of the game that finds him on this week’s three stars.
With San Francisco trailing after a Jake Tonges fumble led to a Travis Ettienne 48-yard touchdown run, the 49ers offense was looking for a response. Facing a third down that was threatening to be a quick three-and-out, Brock Purdy dropped back and uncorked a deep shot along the sideline to Pearsall. The throw was behind the receiver, but Pearsall made a nice adjustment and made a one-handed catch as he was going to the ground to extend the drive.
On the very next play, Purdy threw one a little high that Christian McCaffrey couldn’t haul in for a drive-ending interception.
It wasn’t the most productive game for the 49ers’ passing offense, but Pearsall’s effort on the longest play of the game for the 49ers earns him the third star on Sunday.
Second star: LB Fred Warner
Despite a down game from an otherwise impressive 49ers defense, Fred Warner is always a safe bet to have a solid game. Not only was his game impressive on Sunday, but he also surpassed a 49ers legend in franchise history, a feat that will more often than not find a player on this list.
It was another ho-hum type of game for Warner, who finished with eight tackles, with six being solo, while also having a couple of almost interceptions that don’t count for anything. His closest chance at forcing a turnover found him in the 49ers’ record books.
With the 49ers trailing by three points near the end of the third quarter, Jacksonville faced a third-and-13 in field goal range. Trevor Lawrence would find rookie Travis Hunter over the middle of the field short of the marker. As Hunter tried to navigate towards the first down marker, he would run into Warner, who would knock the ball loose. The ball felt like it was on the ground forever, but Jacksonville would find themselves on top of the football, setting up a Cam Little field goal to extend the lead to six.
The forced fumble thought was the 17th of Warner’s career, surpassing Patrick Willis’ (heard of him?) previous franchise record of 16. While the 49ers would have preferred to recover the fumble, it’s still quite the accomplishment by Warner to etch his name in another spot of the 49ers’ record books.
First star: RB Christian McCaffrey
It’s still not the McCaffrey the 49ers have gotten used to seeing, but McCaffrey is silently putting up a solid season despite his run game struggles.
Sunday marked McCaffrey’s lowest rushing output of the season, totalling just 49 yards on 17 carries. The game started promising enough, with McCaffrey gaining 14 yards on his first two carries, boosted by an 11-yard run on his second carry of the game. He would finish with 35 yards on his next 15 carries, capping off the sub-par game on the ground.
While his run game is lacking, receiver McCaffrey is as strong as ever. There were a couple of drops, including the interception mentioned above, that bounced off his hands. Still, McCaffrey again was the 49ers’ most targeted receiver, seeing 11 pass attempts while hauling in six receptions for a season-high 92 yards with a receiving touchdown.
Even with the lacking run numbers, Sunday marked McCaffrey’s fourth game with at least 100 yards from scrimmage, with 141 yards on Sunday, his third game with at least 140 total yards.
It was an unimpressive game from the 49ers as a whole, but McCaffrey’s consistency and his lone score on Sunday find him on top of the pile of garbage that was the 49ers’ Week 4 loss.
Throughout the season, I will track the three stars of the season, tallying up points for each star award using a complex scoring system: three points for being the first star, two for the second, and one for the third. Through Week 3, the standings are:
- LB Fred Warner – 8 points
- WR Ricky Pearsall, TE Jake Tonges – 3 points
- QB Mac Jones, LB Dee Winters – 2 points
About the Author: Insidethe49
