The San Francisco 49ers suffered another ugly loss early in the season, dropping a 24-23 game to the Arizona Cardinals to fall to 2-3 on the year and to 0-2 in the division.

As they have done all season, the 49ers jumped out to a big lead, leading 23-10 at halftime while maintaining a 10-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. But once again the 49ers failed to finish as Arizona scored 11 points in the final frame to earn the 24–23 comeback victory.

Here are three quick insights from the 49ers’ 24-23 loss to the Cardinals in Week 5.

Red zone battle

This part of the column feels like rinse and repeat.

Red zone issues have plagued the 49ers all season, as San Francisco entered the game with the 20th best offense inside the 20-yard line and scored touchdowns on just 50 percent of their drives in 2024. Remember, the 49ers led the NFL in the red zone a season ago with a 68 percent touchdown rate.

Well, those problems reached their worst height on Saturday, when the 49ers went just 1/6 into the red zone and recorded a touchdown, three field goals, a fumble and a turnover on downs on their six opportunities. That’s just unforgivable.

Worse yet, San Francisco got inside the 10-yard line four times on the day and scored a touchdown just once, with Kyle Shanahan opting to make two field goals, while Jordan Mason also fumbled inside the 10 on an ugly offensive day for the 49ers.

Now Jake Moody’s injury proved fatal for the 49ers as they had a turnover on downs that could have changed the course of the game due to the lack of a kicker, but the inability to score touchdowns is a major problem that San Francisco has No solution found yet for this year.

Clearly, the 49ers are struggling without star running back Christian McCaffrey, who led the NFL in red zone touches in 2023 and created a number of opportunities in space for San Francisco, whether in the run game or the passing game. which made such a high pass rate possible last year.

San Francisco has really struggled to control the football in the red zone, with the defense focusing on the ground game, resulting in a lack of space for Jordan Mason to operate.

But with Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle and Jauan Jennings at your disposal, there should be no excuses for the lack of scoring inside the 20-yard line, and that was the biggest reason for San Francisco’s loss on Sunday.

Kyle Shanahan has a big problem. And he needs a solution for it quickly.

The offense is sputtering

Considering Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders were able to score 42 points against the Arizona Cardinals defense last weekend, it seemed like a favorable matchup for the 49ers offense on Sunday.

The Commanders ran for 216 yards and four touchdowns on nearly six yards per carry against Arizona a week ago, creating a formula for success against the Cardinals, who rank in the bottom 10 in yards allowed per game and have the fourth-worst scoring defense had that entered Week 5.

However, the 49ers scored just 16 offensive points on Sunday, as they were aided by a blocked field goal that was returned for a touchdown, and were completely shut out in the second half.

Looking back on the first half, the red zone battle made this game much closer than it should have been as San Francisco made three field goals despite getting inside Arizona’s 10-yard line all three times.

Still, they led 23-10 going into halftime and had a great chance to finish the game in the second half. Here’s how their four drives went:

Drive #1: Interception

Drive No. 2: Turnover at Downs

Drive #3: Fumble

Drive #4: Interception

Just ugly all around. Brock Purdy’s first interception led to Arizona’s first points of the half, cutting the lead to 10.

Then Purdy drove down the field with a chance to score seven and took an ill-advised sack on 2nd-and-14 after a false start, putting the 49ers far back for an eventual 4th-and-23 that led to a turnover on downs. thanks to the lack of a kicker.

San Francisco drove down again on the ensuing drive, but Jordan Mason, looking to gain additional yards on a rush attempt, fumbled inside the Arizona 10-yard line, allowing the Cardinals to turn the momentum in their favor and set up the go-ahead drive. forward field goal drive.

Then, with the game on the line and a chance for a comeback, Brock Purdy was drilled by a well-timed blitz, resulting in his second interception.

An offense that creates explosives at such a high rate cannot put up 16 points against one of the worst defenses in the NFL. Credit to head coach Jonathan Gannon for a good game plan against San Francisco, but this was a terrible performance by the 49ers, especially in the second half on the offensive side of the ball.

Run defense

The 49ers defense was nearly potent to start the game, which was a big key as Arizona had blossomed on the ground to start the season with a strong start from leadback James Conner.

However, they were hit by a Kyler Murray 50-yard touchdown on the opening drive, with DeVondre Campbell appearing to make a poor decision at the line of scrimmage, leading to a huge gap for the quarterback to take off for the score.

Now San Francisco was able to contain James Conner, helping them reach a 23-10 halftime lead.

But as the fourth quarter rolled around, the defense looked tired in the 100-degree heat and Conner started beating the 49ers with good run after good run. That ultimately helped Arizona put together their final two scoring drives, changing the landscape of the game, as Conner finished with 86 yards on 19 carries.

Conner got a total of 13 touches on the two scoring drives, including the first four touches of the second drive, resulting in a pair of first downs.

The 49ers run defense had some good plays for much of this game, but they ultimately struggled when it mattered as Arizona exposed a problem on that side of the ball.

Ultimately, San Francisco failed when it came to playing complementary football and as a result they fell to 2-3. Now it’s a short week against the Seattle Seahawks, where the 49ers will look to earn their first conference win of the season.