4 San Francisco 49ers to blame for first loss of the season in Cleveland
And then there was one... one unbeaten left in the NFL, that is. The San Francisco 49ers no longer have a zero in the loss column after their Week 6 trip to Cleveland to face the Browns, even though Cleveland was without Deshaun Watson for the game.
A missed field goal in the final seconds was the ultimate gut-punch for the 49ers as it would've given San Francisco a 20-19 lead with little chance of Cleveland having the opportunity to retake the lead. However, the overall story for the Niners in this game was a completely sloppy effort wholly in contrast to what we'd seen basically through the entire first 20 quarters of the 2023 season.
It was a frustrating day to be a 49ers fan, especially with a scuffle breaking out before kickoff -- it just looks worse to lose a game after things began like that. However, as we look back at the loss, there are some clear 49ers to blame for how things played out and why San Francisco took its first loss of the year.
4. Jake Moody missed the 49ers game-winning FG, but also another
We clearly have to start with Jake Moody with this conversation. The rookie kicker had the opportunity to win this game after one of the 49ers' best drives of the afternoon, getting him a relatively pedestrian 41-yard try to essentially win the game (and from a great position between the hashmarks).
Moody hooked it just a little too much as it sailed wide right of the goalposts, giving Cleveland the ball back and allowing the Browns to run out the clock for the win.
That would probably be enough to blame Moody in its own right, but what hurts the rookie kicker further is that was also his second missed field goal of the day as he setn a 54-yard attempt in the first quarter wide left. The first miss also forced the 49ers to not get on the scoreboard after the defense came up with an early turnover.
What makes all of this look that much worse for the 49ers and Moody is the fact that San Francisco used a third-round pick in this year's draft on the former Michigan kicker. That's normally blasphemous in terms of draft value, and it looks that much worse when that kicker then costs you a winnable game with a pair of field goal misses.