As the 49ers continue to free fall, there's plenty of blame to go around for San Francisco's three-game losing streak and underwhelming campaign through 13 weeks of the 2024 NFL season.
All-Pro tight end George Kittle narrowed the 49ers' woes this season down to two major issues following San Francisco's 35-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at Highmark Stadium
"I feel like we've been very, very below average in the red zone, and we have a ton of turnovers," Kittle told reporters after Sunday's loss. "I don't think our run attack has been very great this entire season until tonight, I think we were moving the ball really well. Whether that's because Christian [McCaffrey] was out the first nine weeks, he was a big part of our offense and we had to change a lot of stuff because we couldn't have him in even though [Jordan] Mason was running really well."
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The 49ers entered Week 13 near the bottom of the NFL in both red-zone conversion rate (29th) and turnovers (16) a far cry from the previous season when San Francisco boasted the best red-zone offense in football and ranked sixth in turnovers.
Those woes continued in the 49ers' second blowout loss in as many weeks, as San Francisco went 1-3 in the red zone and lost the turnover battle with a minus-three differential against Buffalo.
Kittle explained there's not any excuse for the drop-off in performance, detailing that the 49ers' offense simply needs to perform better.
"There's not really an excuse, I just think we need to play better as an offense. That just is what it is, and I don't have the answer that's going to figure that out," Kittle said. "I do know that you're going to get the best version of me every single week. I'm going to try and pull this team along as best I can, and there's guys in that locker room that want to pull this team along. We're going to go back out there and fight again. While that absolutely sucked, hey man, it's football. You got to move on to the next one."
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The next one that awaits San Francisco is a Week 14 meeting with the Chicago Bears at Levi's Stadium that has turned into a must-win affair with the 49ers sitting at 5-7.
Injuries certainly have played a part, but San Francisco looks like a shell of the team that earned the NFC's No. 1 playoff seed and came within a few plays of winning the Super Bowl earlier this year.
Whatever the answers might be, Kittle and the 49ers' offense better find them fast, or the focus quickly will shift toward 2025.