CLEVELAND — At some point, the 49ers were bound to play a stinker — or something in that genus, anyway.
The 49ers, so dominant over the first five games of the 2023 NFL season, looked more middle-of-the-pack on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.
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Rookie kicker Jake Moody missed a 41-yard field goal attempt wide to the right in the closing seconds and the 49ers fell from the ranks of the unbeaten in completely unexpected fashion.
The offense was abysmal and the team’s defense failed to stop the P.J. Walker-led Browns when the game was on the line.
Cleveland took advantage of some costly 49ers penalties to pull out the 19-17 victory over the 49ers for the biggest upset of the NFL season.
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Quarterback Brock Purdy played at an absurdly high level in his 13 first games of playing at least half the game after taking over for Jimmy Garoppolo last season.
On Sunday, he had his worst game against a Browns defense that entered the day ranked No. 1 in the NFL. Purdy completed 12 of 27 passes for 125 yards with one touchdown pass and one interception thrown.
Purdy’s streak without an interception ended at 248 consecutive pass attempts in the third quarter when Cleveland defensive back Martin Emerson came up with the takeaway on a throw intended for Brandon Aiyuk.
The 49ers looked unbeatable through five games, including in a 42-10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 5 at Levi’s Stadium.
The most-consistent NFL team had a significant dip in productivity against the Browns.
Here are three takeaway from Sunday’s game:
49ers sputter in sloppy first half
This one started as they often do: The 49ers moved down the field with apparent ease on their first offensive drive of the game and scored a touchdown.
After that, the 49ers had a difficult time getting much going.
Linebacker Fred Warner intercepted Browns quarterback P.J. Walker, however the offense moved backward and rookie kicker Jake Moody missed a 54-yard field-goal attempt wide left.
Brock Purdy completed seven of 12 pass attempts in the first half for just 72 yards. He missed Christian McCaffrey on a scramble drill, overthrowing an opportunity for a possible long touchdown pass.
The 49ers averaged just 4.8 yards per offensive play, while the less-than-explosive Browns offense averaged 7.0 yards against the 49ers.
The Browns, playing without starting quarterback Deshaun Watson, averaged 5.5 yards on 15 rushing attempts.
Cleveland cut the 49ers’ lead to three points at the half on Kareem Hunt’s 16-yard touchdown run and tied it, 10-10, on a field goal just four minutes into the third quarter.
The Browns took a 13-10 lead before Deommodore Lenoir intercepted Walker and returned it 28 yards. Running back Jordan Mason got the call on the next play and took it 8 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 10:58 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Christian McCaffrey was ruled out with an oblique injury.
McCaffrey streaks continue
McCaffrey exited the game with an injury to the outer abdominal muscles at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Before that, it did not take long for one of his streaks to be extended for at least another game.
And a short time later, McCaffrey’s better-known streak continued, too, as he scored after catching quarterback Brock Purdy’s shovel pass and weaving in and out of traffic for a 13-yard touchdown.
McCaffrey will now take a 15-game streak of scoring at least one touchdown in the 49ers’ Week 7 game at the Minnesota Vikings next Monday night.
The touchdown pulls McCaffrey into a three-way tie for No. 2 all-time with John Riggins (1982-83) and O.J. Simpson (1974-75).
Hall of Fame Lenny Moore of the Baltimore Colts holds the NFL record of 17 consecutive games with a touchdown (1963-64).
The other — more painful — streak continued with an opponent being guilty of grabbing McCaffrey’s face mask for the fourth consecutive game.
Browns defensive end Za’Darius Smith snapped McCaffrey’s head around after he grasped his face mask on what would have been a 3-yard loss.
The previous three weeks, the NFL fined three players for face mask penalties against McCaffrey: Dallas’ Donovan ($10,927), Arizona’s Ezekiel Turner ($10,927) and the New York Giants’ Jihad Ward ($8,153).
McCaffrey finished the game with 11 carries for 43 yards, along with three receptions for nine yards.
Gregory steps up in 49ers debut
The 49ers did not have to give the Denver Broncos much to acquire defensive end Randy Gregory. And they are not paying him much, either. The Broncos are picking up the bulk of his $16 million salary for the rest of the 2023 season.
The 49ers got some return on their small investment on Sunday when Gregory registered a sack in his first game with his new team.
Entering Sunday’s game, the 49ers did not have too many weaknesses. One area in which they were looking to improve was the pass rush opposite of Nick Bosa.
Second-year defensive end Drake Jackson had three sacks in the 49ers’ Week 1 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. But he has not supplied much pass rush since the season opener.
Gregory has tons of potential as an edge rusher working with 49ers’ defensive line coach Kris Kocurek.
On a third-down play in the third quarter, Gregory lined up at right end and looped around defensive tackle Javon Hargrave to throw Walker for a 7-yard loss.