CLEVELAND — The 49ers’ run of remarkable consistency came crashing down Sunday with a bad-across-the-board showing against the Cleveland Browns in Week 5.
And, suddenly, the seemingly invincible 49ers do not look so unbeatable after all.
The 49ers struggled in every phase in their 19-17 loss to the Browns to drop their record to 5-1 on the season.
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“I don’t think we deserved to win today,” 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa said.
The 49ers saw their 15-game regular-season win streak come to an end, matching the longest in franchise history.
The reasons for the 49ers’ collapse as 10-point favorites were aplenty. Offense, defense and special teams contributed in equal parts to the substandard showing.
Here are the grades from the 49ers’ Week 6 loss — a sudden and dramatic departure from their sparkling report cards over their first five games of the season:
San Francisco 49ers
Rushing offense
The 49ers made it look so easy with their opening drive of the game. Then, the Browns’ defensive front asserted themselves and took control of the game.
Running back Christian McCaffrey left the game in the second half with an oblique injury. He gained 43 yards on 11 rushing attempts. After he exited, the 49ers turned to Jordan Mason.
Mason accounted for 27 yards on five rushes, including an 8-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter that gave the 49ers the lead.
The problem with the 49ers’ running game is that it did not succeed on early downs and found themselves in spots where they had to turn to the passing game.
Grade: D
Passing offense
Those struggles on first and second downs made it more difficult for quarterback Brock Purdy, the offensive line and the offense, as a whole.
The 49ers converted just three of their 12 third-down attempts. And that is nowhere near good enough.
Purdy had his first bad game as an NFL quarterback. He completed 12 of 27 pass attempts for 125 yards with one touchdown, one interception and a career-worst passer rating of 55.3.
“At the end of the day, I felt like I didn’t play at the standard, I need to,” Purdy said.
The offensive line was tested by one of the best defensive lines in the game. Purdy was sacked three times as the Browns picked the right times to apply pressure.
Grade: F
Rushing defense
This was as sloppy as the 49ers’ run defense has looked in a long, long time.
The Browns attacked the 49ers on the edges and had a lot of success running the ball, something not often seen against this unit.
Cleveland’s offensive line provided some holes, and the 49ers missed way, way too many tackles.
Running backs Jerome Ford and Kareem Hunt combined for 131 yards and a touchdown on 29 rushing attempts. Cleveland run for 160 yards and a 4.7-yard average per attempt.
Grade: F
Passing defense
Fred Warner and Deommodore Lenoir came up with interceptions against Browns reserve quarterback P.J. Walker, who started in place of Deshaun Watson. Walker also threw for 192 yards. It was not pretty, but it ended up being very effective.
The 49ers allowed the Browns to string too many first downs together near the end of the game to twice get into field-goal range, including for the game-winning kick.
Controversial as it might be, 49ers safety Tashaun Gipson was called for unnecessary roughness for a hit to the neck and shoulder area against defenseless receiver Elijah Moore on the final Browns drive that helped them get into range.
Nick Bosa and Randy Gregory had the 49ers’ only two sacks in the game.
Grade: D
Special teams
The 49ers selected kicker Jake Moody with the No. 99 overall draft pick in order to make kicks like this one.
Moody could have provided deodorant for the 49ers’ all-around stinky performance, but he pushed his 41-yard attempt wide right in the final seconds.
It was the second missed field goal for Moody, who entered game 9-for-9 on field-goal attempts. In the first quarter, Moody hooked a 54-yarder outside the left upright.
The 49ers also were called for three penalties on special teams.
Grade: F
Coaching
The Browns made good use for their bye week to craft a strong game plan against the 49ers.
Consequently, the 49ers were unable to make the necessary adjustments to counteract what the Cleveland was cooking up. There simply were too many missed assignments on both sides of the ball, and the 49ers appeared to be out-schemed.
“It starts with me with too many mistakes,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said.
As good as the Browns are on defense, there is no way they should have been able to put the clamps on Purdy and the entire offense like this. And the 49ers did themselves no favors with six of their 12 penalties coming on that side of the ball.
And the 49ers’ defense, under the direction of coordinator Steve Wilks, should have been able to tighten up their run defense on the edges.
Grade: F
Overall
There is a long list of 49ers -- coaches and players -- who performed at substandard levels on Sunday.
“We did not earn it,” Warner said in the aftermath of this game. “They earned it today.”
As well as the 49ers played in their Week 5 thrashing of the Dallas Cowboys, that’s how poorly they played against the Browns, dropping their first game of the season.
“In order for us to be the team we want to be moving forward, we needed to get battle-tested,” Warner said. “That is exactly what today was. We learned from it. Watch the tape, look at it hard internally and be better from it.”
Grade: F
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