Close losses becoming unpleasant specialty
INDIANAPOLIS — The 49ers are one of three winless teams in the NFL, but say this for Team 0-5: No one can lose a close game like they can.
For the fourth straight week, the 49ers were defeated after coming so darn close. In their latest heartbreaker, they erased a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit before falling 26-23 in overtime to the Colts on Adam Vinatieri’s 51yard field goal with 1:38 left in the extra session.
The 49ers lost their second straight overtime game, and their past four losses have come by an average of 2.8 points. As their Groundhog Day 2017 season continued, head coach Kyle Shanahan acknowledged he was repeating himself after a 3-point loss followed setbacks of 3, 2 and 3 points.
“We had opportunities there, and we didn’t get it done again,” Shanahan said. “So I’m saying the same things I’ve said the last few weeks.”
Indeed, Sunday’s defeat inspired the same muttered expletives from members of a fran-
chise that fell to 0-5 for the first time since 2010.
“S—,” said running back Carlos Hyde. “It gets real old.”
Said left tackle Joe Staley: “It sucks, man. F—. I don’t know what to say. It’s frustrating. … People are pissed off.”
One difference in this latest defeat: Two notable players, Hyde and inside linebacker NaVorro Bowman, were ticked off for reasons that went beyond the final score.
Hyde ceded most of his snaps to undrafted rookie Matt Breida after halftime, and his time on the sideline wasn’t related to his recent hip injury. Meanwhile, Bowman sat out for two series in the game and was replaced by Brock Coyle during those stretches.
Shanahan said he decided to go with the “hot hand” in Breida (10 carries, 49 yards), who had seven carries after halftime. Hyde (8 carries, 11 yards) had three carries in the second half and overtime.
“I don’t like it, but my boy Matt (Breida) is a good back,” Hyde said. “He did a good job going in there making plays.”
As for Bowman, 29, Shanahan referenced his two major leg injuries and suggested his performance early in the season suffered when he wasn’t spelled.
“I think the fresher we can keep him,” Shanahan said, “the more we can get him to play at a very high level.”
Bowman said he was told about the plan to periodically replace him before the game.
“We had a conversation and I don’t know,” Bowman said. “They’re doing what they want to do. I don’t know. I don’t like it. No one likes coming out of the game, but I’m a team player.”
Did he understand the desire to keep him fresh? “I don’t know,” Bowman said. “I don’t know.”
Bowman and Hyde, who is in the final year of his contract, are holdovers on a team that was overhauled in the offseason, and it’s not clear whether they are part of the new regime’s long-term plans.
In the short term, however, their situations are something for Shanahan, a rookie head coach, to monitor as he attempts to keep his locker room together after an agonizing start.
For his part, quarterback Brian Hoyer said discord hasn’t been an issue after he nearly headlined an improbable win.
Trailing 23-9 with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Hoyer awakened a slumbering offense that hadn’t scored a touchdown in seven-plus quarters dating to Sept. 21. After managing just 178 passing yards in the first 50 minutes, Hoyer had 170 yards and two touchdowns on the final two drives of regulation.
Hoyer began with a 6-yard, scoring shovel pass to fullback Kyle Juszczyk, and he capped the unforeseen offensive explosion by tossing a 5-yard touchdown to rookie tight end George Kittle with 24 seconds left.
On the opening possession of overtime, the Colts had 1stand-goal at the 8, but quarterback Jacoby Brissett threw an interception to inside linebacker Ray-Ray Armstrong in the end zone.
However, the 49ers couldn’t capitalize on the takeaway, were forced to punt, and retreated to a familiarly somber locker room after Vinatieri’s kick.
“I don’t see anyone in that locker room who is having conversations in the corner,” Hoyer said. “Blaming it on other people. That’s the thing I’ve been most proud of with this team.”
There doesn’t appear to be relief in sight for the 49ers, who have lost 19 of their past 21 road games. Next week they will complete a three-game road trip at Washington, then host the Cowboys on Oct. 22 and complete a brutal stretch by visiting Philadelphia on Oct. 29.
“That’s what I love about sports,” Shanahan said. “It’s an opportunity to really find out who you are and what you’re made of. I don’t think it’s for everyone.
“I don’t think a lot of people can handle it. And I’m counting on the guys in the room to handle it. It will show a lot about the type of people we have.”