Football is a game of inches, with the smallest mistakes determining wins or losses.
The 49ers were reminded of that in their crushing 20-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, which marked their third blown lead late in the fourth quarter against a division opponent during the 2024 NFL season.
Despite this, defensive end Nick Bosa on Wednesday told reporters the 49ers’ morale is in good shape -- and that minor mistakes aside, San Francisco is a much better team than its 5-5 record implies.
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“I think we keep it pretty good,” Bosa said of the team’s morale. “Obviously you don’t want to be down and feel sorry for yourself, but obviously you don’t want to act like nothing is wrong.
“I think we understand the task ahead and we understand that we have to finish games. We’ve come very close in most of our losses, and we’re probably three or four plays away from being an 8-2 team, which is easy to say.”
After the 49ers’ defense made back-to-back stops in short yardage late in the fourth quarter, Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith scrambled for a gut-punching 13-yard touchdown with 12 seconds remaining.
The defensive miscues leading up to Smith’s run remind Bosa that he and the defense have to do their part to seal much-needed wins.
“It shows that, if we can play better football throughout the game, we’re just as good as anybody,” Bosa added. “I believe that. It’s just a matter of finishing in the fourth quarter. “Defensively, we’ve had opportunities to win three division games, and we haven’t gotten it done. Our offense bailed us out a lot last year, and it’s time for us to do the same.”
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With seven regular-season games left, San Francisco is in a three-way tie for second in the NFC West, a game behind the division-leading Arizona Cardinals. The three divisional losses, however, decreases the margin of error even further moving forward for the 49ers.
All-Pro tight end George Kittle, who missed Sunday's game with a hamstring injury, is of the belief that San Francisco isn’t in a code-red situation. Instead, Kittle points to the 49ers finishing the season in the best way possible.
“We haven’t had a players-only meeting or something like that,” Kittle told reporters. “I don’t think we’re at that point. You can look at: ‘Hey, we’re three possessions away from being 8-2.’
“But you can’t really live like that. Those are the mistakes that we’ve made to be 5-5. It’s not exactly where we want to be. While it’s frustrating, yes, the nice thing is we have seven games left to go out there and play 49ers football and take advantage of those opportunities.”
With the season quickly moving along and in dire need of a bounce-back win, it’s now up to San Francisco to leverage every inch of the field to its advantage.