SANTA CLARA — For better or for worse, the 49ers have no time to dwell on another heartbreaking defeat.
San Francisco’s 24-23 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium was the second defeat in two weeks that the 49ers squandered after leading by double digits in the fourth quarter.
And with a “Thursday Night Football” clash against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field just four days away, the 49ers have to turn the page quickly to prepare for another NFC West divisional battle.
“Yeah that’s all we talked about in there,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said postgame. “We’d love to sit here and get pissed, we’d love to be able to do something about what just happened, but you can’t. You can’t do anything about these games once they end. I tell the guys the next time we’ll be able to do something is Thursday and it’s better to only have to wait until Thursday than have to wait until next Sunday.”
“It sucks but we don’t have time to sit here and have a pity party,” left tackle Trent Williams said of Shanahan’s message to the team after the game. “We’ve got another good football team and another division opponent and a short week, so we’ve got to go.”
Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers are focused on their quick turnaround for Thursday night’s game in Seattle pic.twitter.com/q39WhUXofh
— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) October 7, 2024
On one hand, the quick turnaround, albeit stressful and inopportune for a disjointed 49ers team, might be a blessing in disguise as San Francisco is forced to re-shift its focus away from the epic late-game collapse.
“The nice thing about football is while each loss stings terribly, the nice thing is you usually get to play the following week,” tight end George Kittle said. “And when you get to play on Thursday, if you dwell on it for long you’re just going to put yourself in a hole.”
“I think we need to turn the page on this one,” defensive end Nick Bosa added. “It’s pretty clear what happened and why we lost. I think it’s kind of a blessing in disguise that we’re playing on Thursday.”
On the other hand, the quick turning of the page prevents the 49ers from fully analyzing their mistakes — for which there were many — and identifying where they need to improve moving forward.
“We got a quick game, quick turnaround, it’s a unique situation,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “Obviously you want to fix the problems that are going on out there. We had the game won and we gave it away but you’ve got to wipe it and get on to the next. There’s really not any time to sulk or feel sorry for yourself, you got to move on.
“I wish we had a full week to clean up what we messed up on [but] yes in the fact that you’ve got another chance in about four days.”
The 49ers have all but 12 hours or so to lick their wounds before it’s time to dust themselves off and prepare for Seattle. It’s not ideal, but it’s the reality of the NFL.
And how they respond in four days will tell us a lot about what kind of team they are.