TURNOVER RETURNS COST 49ERS VICTORY
Washington scores off fumble, interception return to doom 49ers’ playoff hopes for good
The San Francisco 49ers lost Sunday for the fifth time in six games, the simplest signal that they’re reign as NFC champions is coming to an injury-riddled end.
Washington scored touchdowns directly off two Nick Mullens turnovers and held on to down the 49ers 23-15 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., where the 49ers relocated this month because of Santa Clara County’s COVID-19 restrictions.
Three games remain for the last- place 49ers (5- 8), starting next Sunday at Dallas before likely playing their final two games back in Arizona against the Cardinals on Dec. 26 and the Seattle Seahawks on Jan. 3.
For the second time in as many “home” games at Arizona, a 7- 0, first- quarter lead was fool’s gold, just as it was in Monday night’s 34-24 loss to Buffalo.
The 49ers continued their season-long theme and saw two of their top players exit early with injuries: wide receiver Deebo Samuel ( hamstring) got hurt after a 9-yard run on the game’s
first snap, and linebacker Fred Warner (neck/shoulder nerve stinger) left two snaps after halftime.
Alex Smith got credited with his fourth straight win as Washington’s starter, but the former 49ers quarterback left just before halftime with a calf injury to his surgically repaired right leg. Washington (6-7) leads the NFC East.
Here are all the highs, lows and everything else you need to know:
SCOOP-AND- SCORE >> The 49ers lost their first-half lead in horrendous fashion, when a strip- sack of Mullens produced Chase Young’s 47-yard fumble recovery for Washington’s goahead touchdown 58 seconds before halftime.
Linebacker Jon Bostick’s blitz against center Daniel Brunskill forced Mullens to slide out of the pocket. Mullens held the ball low as Payne peeled off Mike McGlinchey’s block, and Payne slapped it free to set up the scoop-and-score by Young, this year’s No. 2 overall draft pick.
Young became the first player in Washington franchise history with a fumble return for a touchdown, a forced fumble and a sack, and he’s just the eight player in NFL since 1982 with that hat trick, according to his team.
MORE MULLENS’ MISERY >> Washington’s five-man rush came at Mullens when he threw toward the right sideline, toward where Kyle Juszczyk was before heading up field, toward Kamren Curl, who made the interception and returned it 76 yards for a 23-7 lead.
Mullens was allowed to stay in the game, but C. J. Beathard began warming up on the sideline, and it’s worth wondering which will get the start next Sunday at Dallas.
On that interception-following drive, Mullens threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Juszczyk and a twopoint conversion to Kendrick Bourne, cutting their deficit to 23-15. Mullens finished 24-of- 45 for 256 yards and a 70.2 passer rating.
DEEBO DONE FAST >> The 49ers lost Samuel to a left hamstring injury after a 9-yard run on the first snap. That aggravated an Oct. 25 strain that kept him out three games. Samuel had 206 receiving yards over the past two games combined, but he was held out of the past two Wednesday practices, first for a sore hamstring and this past week for a foot contusion.
Warner, the 49ers’ top defender this season, was evaluated for a head injury in the first series after halftime. He did not return and finished with five tackles, pushing his season total to 96.
Left tackle Trent Williams ( leg) and running back Raheem Moster t ( head) returned to action before halftime after getting medical clearance.
Mostert was evaluated for a potential head injury after a 6-yard run to open the second quarter. Williams hobbled off with an apparent right leg injury. Williams’ left leg slid on the natural grass and his right leg appeared to buckle under him, but he returned for the 49ers’ next series.
On the one play Williams missed immediately after his injury, his replacement, Justin Skule, gave up a delayed sack to Chase Young on third-and-2 as Mullens held the ball too long.
ALEX SMITH WATCH >> Smith, in the midst of one of sports’ greatest comebacks, had a lackluster game going (8-of19, 57 yards, one interception) before his surgically repaired right leg acted upon on him.
In the second quarter, Smith had that leg wrapped and massaged because of what Fox reported as calf soreness. He headed to the locker room in the final minute of the first half, so Dwayne Haskins had to take Washington’s final snap and kneel out the final seconds after a 49ers punt.
Smith’s final pass resulted in Jason Verrett’s second interception of the season; two snaps later came Mullens’ fumble that Young returned for a goahead touchdown.
COMEBACK FALLS SHORT >> The 49ers fell to 0-7 when trailing at halftime this year and 22 of 26 such times since 2017 under Kyle Shanahan. They’ve failed to overcome at least a 7-point deficit in 27 of 32 games with Shanahan.
With 2:40 remaining, the 49ers started at their own 48-yard line for a last- ditch drive. With 1:38 remaining, it was over, when Kendrick Bourne’s 10-yard reception came up two yards short on fourth down. Two snaps earlier, Bourne had a 22-yard reception to the 22yard line nullified by Mike McGlinchey’s holding penalty (vs. Montez Sweat).
REPLAY REVERSAL >> Jimmie Ward’s first interception since 2016 would have put the 49ers at the Washington 25 with 5 1/2 minutes to go. A replay ruling reversed that takeaway, however, and prompted a Washington punt on the next snap. Ward has two interceptions in 76 games.
FOURTH-DOWN CALL >> The 49ers’ punt coverage sure bailed out Shanahan’s call to punt on fourth- and-1 from the 49ers’ 41 with 4:04 remaining. Long snapper Taybor Pepper downed the ball at the 1-yard line after two 49ers batted it back and kept it from crossing into the end zone.
On Washington’s ensuing series, linebacker Dre Greenlaw made a thirddown tackle to prevent a first down by inches, forcing a punt with just under three minutes to go.
WILSON’S MIXED DAY >> Jeff Wilson put the 49ers ahead 7- 0 in his first touchdown since Oct. 25, when he scored three at New England before spraining an ankle. But Wilson also produced the game’s first turnover, when he fumbled 5:03 before halftime when hit in the backfield by Young. Washington’s Daron Payne recovered at the 26, and the 49ers’ pass defense held firm to force a field goal and maintain a lead, 7- 6.
Wilson appeared to tweak his left ankle — the same when he hurt against the Patriots — when he got stepped on by Mullens in the backfield in the second quarter. Wilson finished with 31 yards (11 carries). Raheem Mostert had 65 yards (14 carries).
SPOON RESURFACES >> Cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, of all 49ers, made a third- down stop on the defense’s first series. Witherspoon was a healthy scratch three straight games and played only two defensive snaps last Monday night against the Bills. K’Waun Williams and Emmanuel Moseley remained out with injuries, so Witherspoon entered in the 49ers’ dime package with Dontae Johnson.
BOURNE’S DROPS >> Kendrick Bourne had a pair of passes go off his hands on the third series before his false-start penalty further doomed that series. Bourne had a third pass ricochet off his hands incomplete before halftime. He helped in the second-half comeback attempt, however.
SHUTOUT ENDS >> Shutout last October 9- 0 by the visiting 49ers, Washington finally scored against them when Dustin Hopkins made a 51-yard field goal 5:45 before halftime, cutting the 49ers’ lead to 7-3. He missed a 53-yard attempt earlier in the half.