Maiocco's 49ers Report Card: Team grades in loss to Cardinals

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The 49ers’ final grade for the season: E.

We’ll let 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa explain.

“It’s kind of [an] embarrassment,” Bosa said following the 49ers’ 47-24 season-ending loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at State Farm Stadium.

“It doesn’t feel good. It’s hard to look the guys in their faces as a leader on the team. That's the product that we kept putting out game after game, it’s pretty embarrassing.”

The 49ers finished the 2024 NFL season with seven losses in eight games for a 6-11 record. They placed last in the NFC West.

Here is the report card from the 49ers’ Week 18 loss to the Cardinals: 

Rushing Offense

Isaac Guerendo went down with knee and ankle injuries on the fourth play of the game. That opened the door for Patrick Taylor Jr., and he came through with a career-best performance. Taylor rushed for 109 yards on 17 attempts. He joined Jordan Mason as only 49ers running backs to go over the 100-yard mark this season.

The 49ers’ makeshift offensive line did a good job of opening holes in the running game, and Taylor showed a good blend of burst and power to average 6.4 yards per rushing attempt.

Grade: B-minus

Passing Offense

Joshua Dobbs, making his first start with the 49ers, lost his favorite target when Jauan Jennings was ejected late in the first half after back-to-back unnecessary-roughness penalties. Jennings finished the game with seven catches for 72 yards to finish just 25 yards shy of the 1,000-yard mark for the season.

Dobbs had a solid game. He completed 29 of 43 pass attempts for a career-high 326 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions. His passer rating was 86.0.

Rookie Ricky Pearsall returned to his home state and got into the end zone with a 6-yard touchdown grab in the second quarter. Pearsall finished with six receptions for 69 yards. Chris Conley added four catches for 59 yards.

Grade: C-plus

Rushing Defense

The 49ers’ rushing defense, which was not exactly a bright spot during the season, had one of its better games. But they stopped short of playing a complete game.

Cardinals running back Michael Carter could not get anything going against the 49ers’ front seven, as he gained just 43 yards on 17 rushing attempts.

Fred Warner, Talanoa Hufanga and Sam Okuayinonu each had a tackle for loss in the game.

But the game ended on a sour note, when Tony Jones Jr., up from the practice squad, took a handoff over the left side for a 46-yard touchdown after the two-minute warning.

Grade: D

Passing Defense

The 49ers had to dip into their secondary depth, and it showed.

Quarterback Kyler Murray had a field day against the 49ers’ defense. He completed 25 of 35 passes for 242 yards and four touchdowns.

The biggest thing — and something that killed the 49ers in the second half of the season — is they were unable to generate any takeaways.

Backup cornerback Rock Ya-Sin had penalties for illegal contact and pass interference. The latter, a 24-yard infraction, set up Murray’s 24-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Harrison Jr.

Grade: F

Special Teams

If Jake Moody was looking to head into the offseason with a little success under his belt, it did not quite work out that way. It was more of the same for Moody, who made a kick and missed a kick in the first half. 

The 49ers also gave up a fake punt in the first half that extended a drive and set up an Arizona field goal.

Grade: F

Coaching

Offensive passing game specialist Klay Kubiak handled the play-calling duties, and the 49ers piled up 436 yards of total offense.

The defense under Nick Sorensen was brutal. Sure, they were playing a bunch of reserves, but they looked as if they didn’t even have a chance to get off the field.

On special teams, the 49ers were burned in Week 3 when the Los Angeles Rams executed a fake punt. After that, the 49ers typically kept their defense on the field any time they were at a location on the field when a fake punt figured to be an option. They did not do that in the first half, and the Cardinals succeeded with a direct snap to fullback DeeJay Dallas for a 22-yard gain on a fourth-and-4 situation.

That’s on coach Kyle Shanahan.

Grade: D

Overall

The 49ers’ season ended in fitting fashion.

The 49ers struggled with injuries, losing the turnover battle, bad play, bad coaching, bad everything.

Next season begins now for the 49ers, which is more than a month before their goal.

Grade: D

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