Instant analysis of 49ers’ season-ending 47-24 loss at Arizona Cardinals

GLENDALE, Ariz. — One of the most underachieving, disappointing and downright bizarre seasons in 49ers history finally expired Sunday.

Final score: Cardinals 47, 49ers 24.

Final record: 6-11, bad enough for the NFL Draft’s 11th overall pick and the NFC West’s cellar.

“It’s kind of an embarrassment. It doesn’t feel good,” defensive end Nick Bosa said. “It’s hard to look the guys in their faces as a leader on the team, and that’s the product that we kept putting out game after game. It’s pretty embarrassing.”

Of course, the defending NFC champion 49ers did not make a smooth exit, only adding to their season-long macabre.

Less than two minutes into the game, running back Isaac Guerendo was carted off State Farm Stadium’s field, having sustained a left-knee injury that coach Kyle Shanahan relayed might only involve the medial collateral ligament.

An even more outlandish departure happened before halftime: wide receiver Jauan Jennings got ejected 25 yards shy of his first 1,000-yard season, the result of an end zone brawl with cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting, who also was disqualified.

“No punches. All I did was pancake the guy. Played football,” Jennings said. “Took him and laid him on his back. Tried to get up, and he wouldn’t let me get up. Next thing you know, they’re just looking at me like I’m the bad guy.”

Jennings walked off the field without his helmet, shoulder pads or jersey, instead leaving with 52 yards on seven catches and 10 targets from Josh Dobbs, who started in place of the injured Brock Purdy.

Dobbs passed for 326 yards (29-of-43) with two touchdown passes, and he scored on a second-quarter touchdown run. But he also accounted for three turnovers: two intercepitons and a lost fumble in the fourth quarter.

Jennings’ exit left rookie Ricky Pearsall as the 49ers’ top target for Dobbs, who connected with the Phoenix native on a 6-yard, third-and-goal touchdown just before halftime and Jake Moody making the point-after kick to tie the score at 17.

Pearsall uniquely celebrated that third touchdown of his remarkable rookie season: He clutched his left hand to his right chest, mimicking his actions after getting shot in an Aug. 31 attempted robbery in San Francisco’s Union Square. That celebration made for a full-circle moment to a strange season by the defending NFC champions.

Pearsall (six catches, 69 yards) was Dobbs’ intended target on a fourth-quarter pass that was intercepted with 6:31 remaining, with a replay ruling nullifying a potential pick-six.

Still, it was the Cardinals’ second interception of the game. The 49ers’ defense had no interceptions for a seventh straight game, and no fumble recoveries for the 10th time in 11 games.

“The takaeways, or lack thereof, is what killed us,” linebacker Fred Warner said.

Beyond the season-high 47 points allowed, this finale still stood in stark contrast to last season’s, an overtime loss in the Super Bowl to the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. Two Sundays ago, the 49ers were officially eliminated from playoff contention for the first time since 2020. They locked up last place in the NFC West by losing six of seven even before this desert duel against the Cardinals (8-9).

Under first-year defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen, the 49ers’ defense allowed 24 rushing touchdowns this season, one shy of the franchise’s single-season record. Michael Carter’s 4-yard TD run puts the Cardinals ahead 33-24, and Tony Jones Jr.’s 46-yard scoring streak made it 47-24 with 1:47 to spare.

“For as long as I’ve been here, I know that playing dominant defense, it just hasn’t been good enough, not even close,” Warner said. “To be out there every game and know it’s still not good enough, it’s a gut punch to my own pride. I’ll do everything I can to make it right.”

As their defense yielded 40 points for the second straight game, the 49ers’ offense struggled behind a patchwork offensive line and without its 2023 mainstays. Missing at the end were Purdy; running backs Guerendo, Christian McCaffrey, Jordan Mason; wide receivers Jennings, Brandon Aiyuk, and Deebo Samuel; and offensive linemen Trent Williams, Aaron Banks and Colton McKivitz, the latter of whom was carted off in the finale’s fourth quarter.

The 49ers offense did have their two longest-tenured players in fullback Kyle Juszczyk and tight end George Kittle, each of whom is under contract through 2025 but there is no certainty what might transpire before they return for a ninth year; Kittle declined to address his contract postgame.

Juszczyk caught Dobbs’ second touchdown pass and dived across the goal line for a 36-yard score that pulled the 49ers to a 26-24 third-quarter deficit. It was his second touchdown catch in as many games.

Still playing on defense at the end of the third quarter were season-long starters Warner, Bosa, Leonard Floyd, Maliek Collins and Charvarius Ward, the latter of whom allowed a touchdown catch with 5:47 remaining. Other injuries Sunday: safeties Talanoa Hufanga (concussion) and Malik Mustapha (knee), cornerback Renardo Green (groin), wide receiver Chris Conley (elbow) and right tackle Colton McKivitz, who was carted off with a left-ankle injury in the fourth quarter.

Quarterback Kyler Murray seized on the 49ers’ unthreatening defense for four touchdown passes, two going to Greg Dortch against nickel back Nick McCloud’s coverage and the other score finding tight end Trey McBride. The 49ers did not sack Murray as Bosa and Floyd finished the season with nine and 8 1/2 sacks, respectively.

So much of the 49ers’ opening drive Sunday featured hallmarks of this season: a major injury (to Guerendo) and an inability to score a touchdown, although Jake Moody did briefly pause his sophomore slump to make a 51-yard, line-drive field goal for a 3-0 lead.

Moody, however, missed a 47-yard attempt on the 49ers’ second drive, marking his ninth miss in 20 attempts since a high-ankle injury in the 49ers’ Oct. 6 home loss to Arizona.  Another special-teams gaffe followed when the Cardinals pulled off a fake punt for a 22-yard gain by DeeJay Dallas, who split Jake Tonges and Jalen Graham.

More ineptitude followed, when Murphy-Bunting intercepted Dobbs near midfield as he tried to target Jennings in one-on-one coverage.

“When you play a lot of games and have a ton of turnovers and don’t force any turnovers, it’s hard to win football games, specifically if you’re not scoring 30, 40 points a game,” Kittle said. “We spotted them three (turnovers) today, and didn’t get one. That’s losing football.”

Needing 77 yards to reach 1,000 yards for the first time in his four seasons, Jennings had 52 yards on seven catches and 10 targets before being ejected two drives later. Jennings had his helmet off and was talking to coach Kyle Shanahan on the field a few yards from the 49ers’ sideline before the officials announced the ejections. Shanahan said he never got an explanation from referee Shawn Smith why Jennings got ejected without throwing a punch.

Jennings exited the field just as Dobbs plunged in for a 1-yard touchdown run, and Moody made the ensuing point-after kick to tie the score at 10. The Cardinals answered with a touchdown of their own, a 2-yard pass from Murray to McBride with 1:51 until halftime.

Purdy, who grew up 40 miles from here in Queen Creek, did not play because of an elbow injury suffered in last Monday’s loss to the Detroit Lions. For all the others’ aches and pains, it’s worth noting Warner started every game, despite a Week 4 ankle injury that involved a fracture. Floyd, Collins, Puni, McKivitz, center Jake Brendel were the only other 17-game starters.

Four months ago, it began with a 32-19 home rout of Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets under the Sept. 9 “Monday Night Football” spotlight. Tempering that triumph was McCaffrey’s pregame scratch from the lineup because of Achilles’ issues that would sideline him two months; his comeback lasted just 3 1/2 games before a knee injury in a Nov. 1 blowout loss in Buffalo.

More blowouts followed, putting more scrutiny on Sorensen and whether Shanahan will seek his fourth defensive coordinator in five seasons.

“The easy thing right now is everyone will put blame on him for how defense played, and when youy’re at the helm you’ll take the brunt,” Warner said. “But it’s everybody. Everybody has to see where they could have done better. Nick has done a good job all season. As players we have to execute. We didn’t do him any favors.”

They lost double-digit players to injured reserve, and they finished with double-digit losses in a season that can’t simply be dismissed as a Super Bowl-loss hangover. But now the 49ers can turn their focus to next season, which ends at Levi’s Stadium in Super Bowl 60 — with or without them.