49ERS STUMBLE VS. WINLESS EAGLES
SANTA CLARA — A big part of Nick Mullens’ effectiveness as a backup quarterback was his ability to avoid massive mistakes. Eagles coach Doug Pederson even said this week the 49ers were “blessed (with) probably two starters, quite frankly,” when asked about San Francisco’s situation under center.
Yet it was Mullens’ miscues that topped the list of 49ers’ problems in their improbable 25-20 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. The Eagles came to Levi’s Stadium Sunday night as significant underdogs, in part, because Mullens played so well in last week’s drubbing of the New York Giants.
But Mullens was a different player in front of a national television audience.
He turned the ball over three times, leading to two Eagles touchdowns, including a terrible fourth-quarter pick-six that put the game out of reach. Despite outgaining Philadelphia 417 yards to 267, the 49ers fell to 2-2 overall and the defending NFC champions dropped their second straight game at Levi’s Stadium.
“The way I’m feeling is pretty black and white right now,” Mullens said following his 200-yard performance. “I just didn’t execute and that’s really all it comes down to. Three turnovers, 14 points for them off turnovers and that’s really about it.”
San Francisco is tied with the Arizona Cardinals for last place in the NFC West through the first quarter of the campaign.
“I think it was on everybody,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said afterwards on Zoom. “That’s a good (defensive) front. They did that to the team they played last week. Some’s on play calling, some’s on Nick, some’s on all of us. We’ve got to play better and all around.”
Mullens gets benched — To Shanahan’s point, Mullens wasn’t San Francisco’s only problem. There were plenty of issues, including a poor performance from the offensive line, which yielded five sacks and 15 quarterback hits and couldn’t clear consistent running lanes. 49ers running backs averaged just 3.5 yards per carry after the team finished second in the NFL in rushing in 2019.
But the quarterback’s mistakes were the most glaring, evident by Shanahan’s decision to bench Mullens in the fourth quarter in favor of third-stringer C.J. Beathard, who hadn’t appeared in a game since 2018. Beat
hard came on after Mullens gifted Philadelphia linebacker Alex Singleton a 30-yard touchdown return with 5:50 left.
Beathard nearly brought the 49ers back to force overtime late in the fourth quarter. Running back Jerick McKinnon scored a touchdown just outside the two-minute warning to make it a one-score game. Yet Beathard and star tight end George Kittle, former college roommates at Iowa, couldn’t connect on the two-point conversion. Instead of an opportunity to tie with a field goal to force overtime, the 49ers’ needed a touchdown to win it.
They got as far as Philadelphia’s 33-yard line in the final seconds, which would have been a 50-yard kick had the two-pointer converted. Instead, a Hail Mary fell incomplete
and suddenly San Francisco is facing far more adversity than any point during their storybook run to the Super Bowl last season.
49ers defense wasn’t the problem — “Pissed off,” linebacker Fred Warner said when asked about the mood in the locker room. “We’re upset, for sure. The fact that we’re 0-2 at home, there’s got to be a sense of urgency. Guys got to execute a lot better. I got to look at myself in the mirror. It starts with me on defense.”
The 49ers certainly weren’t perfect defensively. But the defensive showing wasn’t the reason they lost the game. They held Carson Wentz to 193 yards, sacked him three times and intercepted him once by way of linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair’s diving grab in the first quarter following a hit by rookie Javon Kinlaw. Wentz had a 81.4 passer rating while Philadelphia averaged just 3.3 yards on 28 carries.