Kyle Shanahan sent message to 49ers after ugly loss to Cleveland Browns
The 49ers lost their first game of the 2023 NFL season on Sunday, snapping a 15-game regular season streak from last year.
After a 19-17 loss to the Cleveland Browns, coach Kyle Shanahan was asked what his message was to his team after their first regular season loss in 357 days.
“We thought it was going to be a grind game, which it was,” Shanahan told reporters. “At first we would have felt really good coming in if we made that [field goal attempt] in the last game, but my message to them was whether we hit or not, there are a lot of things we can improve on in this game. .”
The high-flying 49ers offense, which had scored at least thirty points in eight straight games, was neutralized by top-ranked Cleveland.
San Francisco recorded just 215 total yards, the first time they were held to less than 300 yards in a regular season game since Week 3 of the 2022 season. Shanahan pointed to critical mistakes the 49ers made on that side of the ball and highlighted their inability to adjust after Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey were injured.
“I thought we made too many mistakes offensively,” Shanahan said. “Just when we lost some guys in the game, we had to change some guys and we weren’t quite ready for that, which starts with me making too many mistakes. This is the first time we had to. do that. Come in after long loss and it’s time to get back, work and make sure we come back stronger next week.”
The second half was particularly brutal, with the 49ers offense holding just under 47 net yards on seven carries after halftime. After going five net yards on their final drive of the second half, they piled up 52 yards, ending in heartbreak when Jake Moody missed a potential game-winning field goal. San Francisco will now focus on a Week 7 game against the Minnesota Vikings, which will provide a chance to advance to the national stage when the teams meet on Monday night.
