‘Healthy’ 49ers gear up for stretch run after one-sided loss to Rams

Coach Kyle Shanahan had to catch himself when opening his postgame comments with two words which haven’t been associated with the 49ers this season, and then did it again with local reporters Monday in his weekly conference call.

“No injuries.”

No new injuries in a 42-26 loss Sunday to the Los Angeles Rams. That won’t bring back Nick Bosa, Fred Warner or Mykel Williams. Nor does it appear to be getting Brandon Aiyuk that much closer to practicing.

But quarterback Brock Purdy (turf toe) is getting closer to practicing enough to merit a start. Wide receiver Ricky Pearsall Jr. (knee) may restart practice after missing the last six games. Defensive tackle Alfred Collins (hip) may also practice and be available by the time they visit the Arizona Cardinals (3-6) Sunday.

So when Shanahan said the words “no injuries” on consecutive days, it was a pleasant surprise, because when the other shoe drops for the 49ers, it’s usually accompanied by a cast, crutches or a protective boot.

“I’m still not fully believing it,” Shanahan said. “So I’m going to wait until Wednesday to make sure nothing creeps up. But it’s looking that way two days in a row, so hopefully that will be the case.”

The sooner the 49ers (6-4) put the Rams game in their rear-view mirror the better, and the best way to do that is getting some players back and starting to work on Arizona, which lost Sunday to Seattle.

We’ll have a better idea about Purdy on Wednesday. When Purdy starts practicing on consecutive days and is no longer listed as “limited” it’s a good indication he’ll be back in the lineup. So Shanahan isn’t about to say those words until he’s got visual evidence for three days straight, Purdy can play.

“That’s kind of what we want,” Shanahan said. “We want to see it. Want to hear it from him. And we want three aggressive practices, and want to make sure he feels good after all of them each day too.”

Until that happens, the ball belongs to Mac Jones, who was 33 of 39 for 319 yards, three touchdowns and one interception against one of the NFL’s top defenses. Jones’ passer rating of 115.7 is better than Purdy’s best of 113.0 in 2023.

As for Pearsall, his injury has been slow to heal, which is why he didn’t go to injured reserve. He’ll need to hit all speed, agility and strength markers set by the performance staff in order to be cleared.

“We’re hoping to get him back in practice Wednesday,” Shanahan said.

Collins, Shanahan said, was a “game day” decision against the Rams with his hip injury sustained in last Thursday’s practice.

“He came in and tried to go and didn’t improve as much as we were hoping,” Shanahan said. “We should have better luck and a better chance at that this week.”

As for the emotional recovery of his team, Shanahan said there are enough indicators on film which suggest the 49ers contributed heavily to their own demise that they won’t be susceptible to an inferiority complex about having been outclassed by a rival and co-leader in the NFC West, along with Seattle.

“Even though there were a lot of bad things about that game, even with the defense, we stopped them twice in the second quarter and we only took advantage of one of them,” Shanahan said. “We had a fourth-and-1 we didn’t convert at the 11-yard line. We had a fumble going into the red zone. And when I look at the whole second half, it wasn’t that much different than when we played them a month ago.

“There were plenty of opportunities that we could have found a way to get off the field versus a very good quarterback and a very good offense but we didn’t get that done and that’s why we’ve got to live with that result. That’s why we want to get back to work fast and get to Arizona and get that taste out of our mouth.”

The 49ers’ margin for error makes every opponent, regardless of record, a potential win or a potential loss.

“We’re capable of beating anyone in this league with the situation we’re in, but if you don’t play good, we’re also capable of losing to every team in the league, too,” Shanahan said. “That’s why we need to do a really good job over the next seven weeks, and if we do, I like our chances.”

NOTABLE

— The 49ers twice had too-many-men-on-the-field penalties when going to an alignment with six defensive backs (dime) where a linebacker didn’t get off the field quickly enough.

“We need to communicate to one of the linebackers to they have to come off and we didn’t do it until it was too late,” Shanahan said.

— Shanahan didn’t sugarcoat the defensive performance.

“I mean, they put up 42 points and I think we only stopped them twice, so we didn’t have a very good day,” Shanahan said.

Pro Football Focus (PFF) noted that the 49ers blitzed 54.1 percent of the time and Matthew Stafford was 14-for-20 for 190 yards and two touchdowns against it. Safety Ji’Ayir Brown in particular was having trouble getting home.

“I thought our blitz was all right, actually,” Shanahan said. “I thought we hit him a number of times. He’s just good at getting rid of it and we’ve got to make sure when we blitz, we cover better, the holes or the hot routes. With a good quarterback, when they’re hot, they know how to get rid of it.”

— Ben Bartch got some work at left guard along with Spencer Burford, lending some depth to an offensive line that actually played fairly well against a very good Rams front.

“I thought he did all right,” Shanahan said. “It was good just to get him in there and he and Spence rotated well. I thought the O-line did a pretty good job.”

— The 49ers had cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. in for a tryout. Samuel was a second-round draft pick by the Chargers out of Florida State in 2021. He played just four games last season before going on injured reserve with a shoulder injury but played in 46 games with 43 starts from 2021 to 2024 with six interceptions and 37 passes defensed.

Samuel is still only 26 but had spinal fusion surgery in April.

“I didn’t get a chance to meet with him and we were putting the Rams game to bed and wasn’t able to talk to anyone about him,” Shanahan said. “We know he’s been a hell of a player, so it’s probably just to see where he’s at right now.”

— Aiyuk’s practice window will not open this week, Shanahan said. Once it does — if it does — the 49ers have three weeks to activate him or have Aiyuk sit out the season.

SNAP JUDGMENTS

A look at how played and how much Sunday against the Rams:

69: Safeties Brown and Malik Mustapha and cornerbacks Deommodore Lenoir and Renardo Green played every defensive snap. Slot corner Upton Stout played 29 snaps — less than half (42 percent). Stout was credited with the only pass defensed made by a member of the secondary against Stafford (two others were deflected by linemen).

66: Middle linebacker Tatum Bethune gave way to Curtis Robinson for three snaps due to injury but returned, finished the game. He led the 49ers in tackles with 10.

63: Starting linemen Colton McKivitz, Dominick Puni, Jake Brendel and Trent Williams played every offensive snap. So did Jones. Brendel missed the previous two games with a hamstring strain.

47: Defensive end Sam Okuayinonu had his second-highest snap count of the season and was credited with two tackles and had no quarterback hits or pressures, yet his PFF (Pro Football Focus) grade of 70.5 was the highest of the 49ers’ defenders. Kalia Davis and Keion White shared the lone quarterback sack. White had 33 snaps in his second game.

28: Bartch got in his first work since going wire to wire in the opener (76 snaps) and then sustaining a high ankle sprain 10 snaps into Week 2. He subbed in for Burford (35 snaps), who started after playing every snap the week before against the Giants.

26: Core special teamer and occasional strong side linebacker Luke Gifford played his second-most snaps of the season with Bethune and Dee Winters (66 of 69) taking brief injury breaks. Gifford was often victimized in coverage.

24: Clelin Ferrell was a rotational player as a practice squad elevation for the second time since joining the 49ers. He can be flexed one more time before he needs to be added to the 53-man roster in order to be eligible.

14: Brian Robinson Jr. had a team-high 41 yards on nine carries and in his last two games has 13 rushes for 94 yards. He’s played 23 snaps in those two games.