S.F. loses third in a row as Dallas holds on.
Cowboys 24, 49ers 17:
SANTA CLARA — This was a pass-fail moment for Blaine Gabbert and the 49ers, and the pass failed.
Well, first it wobbled a little, then faded short and ridiculously wayward.
Instead of ending up in Torrey Smith’s hands as the receiver sprinted into the end zone for a go-ahead fourthquarter score, Gabbert’s deep ball angled away to Dallas cornerback Morris Claiborne, who happily snared it. Pass. Then fail. And there’s the first section
of the 49ers’ derailing 2016 season summarized in a single lost play.
It’s not all Gabbert’s fault, of course. The 49ers have many other problems, and he had some very nice moments in Sunday’s eventual 24-17 loss to Dallas at Levi’s Stadium.
But if he can’t make that throw, he’s not a winning NFL quarterback.
And if Gabbert isn’t a winning QB, he shouldn’t be the 49ers’ QB for much longer.
“That’s on me — I’ve got to throw it in the middle of the field,” Gabbert said after the game. “I’ve got to throw him to the hash. And I just cut it a little too early and just missed him wide.”
Yes, there were a whole lot of other things that went on Sunday, some positive for the 49ers and many that were extremely not positive.
But this is the 49ers now: The sudden flash of red as Smith went past Claiborne, the team-wide sag after the interception, and finally the sight of Smith raging in frustration afterwards on the sideline and firing his helmet to the ground.
Oh, and this: The Cowboys immediately driving for a field goal to go up 2417, and then Gabbert and the 49ers coming up short on fourth down in the final minutes.
This was also the 49ers last season, on their way to 5-11, and now they’re 1-3 after their QB failed them at exactly the worst moment, against a wounded Dallas team that was there to be defeated.
Making that play and winning this game wouldn’t have magically turned the 2016 49ers into a good team, especially after linebacker NaVorro Bowman went down Sunday with what is feared to be an Achilles injury.
But a good pass, a TD, and a victory, would’ve been a tangible step for the 49ers.
And though Gabbert made some very nice throws in this game to get the 49ers to a 14-0 lead, the game was in his hands in the fourth quarter; then he put it in Claiborne’s hands.
Thursday’s game against Arizona is almost certainly coming too quick for coach Chip Kelly to replace Gabbert with Colin Kaepernick, and I think Kelly always intended to give Gabbert at least the first five or six games.
But after that ... the 49ers aren’t keeping Kaepernick around so he can continue to watch Gabbert whiff on home-run chances.
Smith wasn’t in the 49ers locker room by the time most reporters arrived, so he didn’t explain his view of the play and his helmet-fling.
But Gabbert and Kelly seemed to understand the emotion.
“I think when the receiver’s open, he wants the ball,” Kelly said.
Kelly added that he didn’t know if a pass rusher affected Gabbert’s throw and said that other than that one pass he thought Gabbert played well.
Meanwhile, Gabbert said everybody was upset when that play was missed.
“Yeah, we’re both frustrated,” Gabbert said. “That was a huge play in the game. Every game in the league comes down to one or two plays that change the outcome.
“And that definitely had an impact on it. And that’s on me.”
For a lot of this game, the 49ers actually looked like an NFL offense, which was not the case last week in Seattle.
For some of this game, the 49ers looked like they were the better team — albeit with Dallas missing its starting QB, best receiver and left side of its offensive line due to injuries.
But once again, the 49ers couldn’t match their opponent play for play, even with that opponent missing almost all of its best playmakers.
Once again, the 49ers defense broke down, even though it is supposed to be the strength of this team, and it is where general manager Trent Baalke has invested most of its draft picks.
And once again, the 49ers’ QB wasn’t good enough to make the play that mattered.
“I think we’re much improved (from last year),” safety Eric Reid said. “I think we’re a better team at this point of the year. We’ve been hurting ourselves.
“We should’ve won this game. And it is what it is. We lost it; so we’ll move forward and learn from it.”
Gabbert will get one more game, and maybe a week or two after that, but at some point this offense will be turned back over to Kaepernick for the first time since his national anthem protest made him a household name.
Kaepernick might play well, he might not, but he deserves to get his shot, just like Gabbert missed his on Sunday.