How Nick Mullens’ miscues cost the San Francisco 49ers dearly in loss to Eagles
A big part of Nick Mullens’ effectiveness as a backup quarterback was his ability to avoid big mistakes. Eagles coach Doug Pederson even said this week the 49ers were “blessed (with) probably two starters, quite frankly,” when asked about San Francisco’s situation under center.
Yet it was Mullens’ miscues that topped the list of 49ers’ problems in their improbable 25-20 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. The Eagles came to Levi’s Stadium Sunday night as significant underdogs, in part, because Mullens played so well in last week’s drubbing of the New York Giants.
But Mullens was a different player in front of a national television audience.
He turned the ball over three times, leading to two Eagles touchdowns, including a terrible fourth-quarter pick-six that put the game out of reach. Despite outgaining Philadelphia 417 yards to 267, the 49ers fell to 2-2 overall and the defending NFC champions dropped their second straight game at Levi’s Stadium.
“The way I’m feeling is pretty black and white right now,” Mullens said following his 200-yard performance. “I just didn’t execute and that’s really all it comes down to. Three turnovers, 14 points for them off turnovers and that’s really about it.”
San Francisco is tied with the Arizona Cardinals for last place in the NFC West through the first quarter of the campaign.
“I think it was on everybody,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said afterwards on Zoom. “That’s a good (defensive) front. They did that to the team they played last week. Some’s on play calling, some’s on Nick, some’s on all of us. We’ve got to play better and all around.”
Mullens gets benched
To Shanahan’s point, Mullens wasn’t San Francisco’s only problem. There were plenty of issues, including a poor performance from the offensive line, which yielded five sacks and 15 quarterback hits and couldn’t clear consistent running lanes. 49ers running backs averaged just 3.5 yards per carry after the team finished second in the NFL in rushing in 2019.
But the quarterback’s mistakes were the most glaring, evident by Shanahan’s decision to bench Mullens in the fourth quarter in favor of third-stringer C.J. Beathard, who hadn’t appeared in a game since 2018. Beathard came on after Mullens gifted Philadelphia linebacker Alex Singleton a 30-yard touchdown return with 5:50 left.
Beathard nearly brought the 49ers back to force overtime late in the fourth quarter. Running back Jerick McKinnon scored a touchdown just outside the two-minute warning to make it a one-score game. Yet Beathard and star tight end George Kittle, former college roommates at Iowa, couldn’t connect on the two-point conversion. Instead of an opportunity to tie with a field goal to force overtime, the 49ers’ needed a touchdown to win it.
They got as far as Philadelphia’s 33-yard line in the final seconds, which would have been a 50-yard kick had the two-pointer converted. Instead, a Hail Mary fell incomplete and suddenly San Francisco is facing far more adversity than any point during their storybook run to the Super Bowl last season.
49ers defense wasn’t the problem
“Pissed off,” linebacker Fred Warner said when asked about the mood in the locker room. “We’re upset, for sure. The fact that we’re 0-2 at home, there’s got to be a sense of urgency. Guys got to execute a lot better. I got to look at myself in the mirror. It starts with me on defense.”
The 49ers certainly weren’t perfect defensively. But the defensive showing wasn’t the reason they lost the game. They held Carson Wentz to 193 yards, sacked him three times and intercepted him once by way of linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair’s diving grab in the first quarter following a hit by rookie Javon Kinlaw. Wentz had a 81.4 passer rating while Philadelphia averaged just 3.3 yards on 28 carries.
However, Wentz made a brilliant throw to receiver Travis Fulgham for a 42-yard touchdown against decent coverage from cornerback Dontae Johnson, who was starting because Richard Sherman (calf, injured reserve), Emmanuel Moseley (concussion) and Ahkello Witherspoon (hamstring) were out. Perhaps the biggest defensive misstep was defensive end Dion Jordan crashing on the running back when Wentz ran a play-action fake and strolled into the end zone from 11 yards out in the first quarter.
Otherwise, the defense played well enough for San Francisco to win. It was the offensive woes that cost the 49ers the game.
Two-point conversion proves costly
Back to the two-point conversion. The 49ers ran a zone-read where Kittle faked like he was blocking and then ran a quick inside route for a short throw. Beathard made the toss, but it came in hot and clanked off Kittle’s right hand. Kittle should have caught the ball, especially since he caught all 15 passes thrown his way during the rest of the game.
But Beathard had a clear running lane for the easy conversion. Perhaps Kittle was surprised Beathard threw the ball at all.
“He was going to sell like he was blocking and then hit George like real quick,” Beathard said. “And that’s the way we repped it all week. Obviously, looking back on it now, I wish I would have ran it because it was incomplete. I think nine times out of 10, we make that play.”
Said Kittle, who is often quick to own his mistakes: “C.J. can either run it or throw it to me. Just didn’t make it. Just, bang-bang play and didn’t get it done.”
Kittle finished with 15 catches, on 15 targets, for 183 yards and a go-ahead touchdown on the first drive of the second half, when the offense’s issues appeared to smooth out. His 15 catches were the most of any 49ers pass catcher since Terrell Owens had 20 Dec. 17, 2000 versus the Bears and Jerry Rice recorded 16 against the Rams Nov. 20, 1994. Not terrible for his first game since spraining his left knee in the season opener.
Receivers hobble 49ers offense
However, Kittle was the team’s only consistent weapon. The team’s receivers, which got their top option, Deebo Samuel, back for the first time this season after breaking his foot over the summer, had just two combined catches through the first three quarters.
Samuel finished with three catches for 35 yards and rookie Brandon Aiyuk had two for 18, though Aiyuk had San Francisco’s highlight of the evening with a 38-yard touchdown on a bubble screen that was ruled a run because it came on a backwards pass.
Otherwise, it was a barren night for San Francisco’s much-discussed receiving corps.
“They had a couple of opportunities, we didn’t get the play off,” Shanahan said. “When you miss a few of those and you just miss a few catches when you had a chance to get it and it wasn’t their fault I didn’t go to them. And then you struggle on some drives, that’s just what happens. I thought for the most part, a lot of them, when we did go to them, they did a good job, but it takes a whole offense to get the ball to a receiver. Not just the receivers.”
Mullens’ list of mistakes also included overthrowing fullback Kyle Juszczyk on the second play of the game that might have gone for an 88-yard touchdown after Juszczyk leaked out of the backfield while the Eagles blitzed heavily up the middle. Mullens in the second quarter tried throwing to receiver Trent Taylor while getting hit, and instead tossed an easy interception to safety Rodney McLeod after getting as far as Philadelphia’s 14-yard line, taking points off the board as San Francisco hit halftime down 8-7.
If there’s a bright side, it’s that the 49ers, at some point, will be far healthier than they’ve been in recent weeks. They were still without their best cornerback (Sherman), top two running backs (Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman) and franchise quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who suddenly looks far less replaceable given Mullens’ struggles Sunday night.
Garoppolo watched the game from the sidelines for the second straight week after suffering a high ankle sprain to his right leg Week 2 against the Jets. Shanahan indicated Garoppolo has a shot at returning to practice this week, but it will depend on how workouts go Monday and Tuesday.
“Hopefully he’ll be good to go for Wednesday,” Shanahan said. “But I’m not sure yet.”
This story was originally published October 5, 2020 at 6:23 AM.
