3 San Francisco 49ers to blame for failing to exact revenge vs. Chiefs

The San Francisco 49ers dreamed of revenge against the Kansas City Chiefs in their first meeting since the Super Bowl. Well, revenge may be a dish best served cold but the Niners couldn't serve it at all.

On a day when quarterbacks played poorly and injuries were merciless, the 49ers fell to the Chiefs 28-18.

There is plenty of blame to go around, but the buck stops with these three...

3. Fred Warner and the 49ers run defense

Fred Warner is a helluva football player. Most days at least. On this day, he was far from his best and it contributed to the 49ers biggest weakness on defense: Stopping the Chiefs rushing attack.

Warner was second on the team with eight tackles but he missed a big one on Patrick Mahomes on a critical Chiefs drive.

Sometimes, Mahomes just does Mahomes-y things. The real problem is how the 49ers gave up 184 and four touchdowns on the ground.

You'd think forcing Patrick Mahomes into multiple turnovers and limiting him to just 154 yards passing would give you a really good chance to win. However, San Francisco gave up two touchdowns on the two most important drives of the game in part because they couldn't bottle up Kareem Hunt as a runner or Mahomes as a scrambler.

A team can play great defense for three quarters, but if they aren't up to the task in the fourth, that's enough to lose a game.

2. Ronnie Bell

Ronnie Bell was already not much of fan favorite because of one too many miscues in his young career. He only made himself more of a goat in this loss.

In a game the 49ers needed depth wide receivers to step up, Bell came away with one catch for 10 yards. That was one of his targets. The other one has many 49ers fans wanting him off the roster.

With San Francisco trailing by only two and driving into Chiefs territory, Bell appeared to run the wrong route. Purdy threw the ball where we can assume the receiver should have been, but only Christian Roland-Wallace was there. He hauled in the easy interception.

Purdy took responsibility for missing the throw, saying Bell did his job. The quarterback is almost certainly protecting his teammate on that one. As we saw from Aaron Rodgers' example last week, calling out a receiver who runs the wrong route usually causes controversy.

If Bell had a reputation for being a reliable route runner and playmaker, it would be easier to buy that it wasn't his fault. But he's a notoriously unreliable player who has made more than enough mistakes for us all to believe this was another one of them.

Whoever you blame for that interception, it changed the game. The 49ers were a field goal away from the lead and they were just about set up for one on that drive at least. Instead, Mahomes got the ball back and he drove down the other way to score a touchdown, putting the Chiefs up by two scores.

1. Brock Purdy

Let's put it simply here: Quarterback is the most important position on the field. It's the quarterback's job to put points on the board and to protect the football while he's doing it.

On Sunday, Purdy neither put enough points on the board nor protected the football. With 18 points scored and three interceptions thrown, the QB simply wasn't good enough.

Sure, Patrick Mahomes wasn't great on the other side either. He threw two interceptions himself. But Mahomes led two touchdown drives after each of Purdy's second half picks. Those drives effectively decided the game, making Purdy's final touchdown mostly meaningless.

There were certainly tough circumstances. Deebo Samuel exited with an illness. Brandon Aiyuk suffered a devastating knee injury. Jauan Jennings was out with injury as well. It's these moments the 49ers need Purdy to prove that he is more than just his weapons. He still needs to prove he can elevate a team. This doesn't have to be a referendum on whether the 49ers should give him a big franchise QB contract, but it doesn't help his case.