49ers fall flat in 33-21 loss to Cardinals

SANTA CLARA - The San Francisco 49ers officially lost to the Arizona Cardinals at 8:33 p.m. Pacific Time on Thursday night, and the final score was 33-21. But the game was all but over after the opening kickoff of the second half, when each team had just 7 points.

Here's what happened during that play: The 49ers' kick returner, Chris Davis, fielded the kickoff on a bounce at his 3-yard line and ran up field 11 yards, where he met Cardinals' special teamer Ifeanyi Momah. Davis tried to juke past Momah, who stuck out his right arm, poked the ball out of Davis' grasp and recovered the fumble at the 49ers' 14-yard line. A few plays later, the Cardinals scored a touchdown on a 4-yard run by tailback David Johnson.

In a sense, Davis handed the game to the Cardinals right then and there when he put the ball on the ground. But the Niners seemed to be trying to give away the game from the start.

Take their very first play on offense. Head coach Chip Kelly called a long pass for tight end Garrett Celek, who was wide open downfield after running a corner route.

Gabbert dropped back in the pocket, spotted Celek, lined up the throw and fired an incomplete pass roughly five feet over the tight end's head. This set the tone for the rest of the evening.

Meanwhile, Gabbert was just getting started. With no score and 1:57 left in the first quarter, Gabbert threw another deep pass, this one to wide receiver Rod Streater, who was open. So open, he probably would have scored a 70-yard touchdown had he caught the ball. But he didn't catch the ball, because Gabbert overshot him by roughly 10 yards.

Gabbert wasn't done, though. With 2:07 left in the second quarter and the Niners leading 7-0, Gabbert threw a deep shot to wide receiver Torrey Smith, who was open while sprinting down the middle of the field. Had Gabbert thrown a semi-decent pass, Smith could have run underneath it and potentially scored a 74-yard touchdown to give the Niners a commanding 14-point lead.

But Gabbert overthrew the ball once again. Smith had to jump just to tip it with his fingers before it hit the grass.

Two plays later, the Niners faced third-and-10 from their 24-yard line with 1:55 left in the first half. Had they simply ran the ball up the middle and then punted, they might have at least had a chance to go into halftime with a 7-point lead.

But Gabbert threw a short pass over the middle, a pass that resembled a sinker. As the ball dove downward toward the grass, it hit the outstretched arms of Cardinals outside linebacker Chandler Jones, who tipped the ball into the air toward Cardinals defensive tackle Calais Campbell. He intercepted the pass at the Niners' 21-yard line.

“He just got a hand up there,” Gabbert said. “That's the way it goes. Batted it and caught it. You've just got to live with that.”

The very next play, 49ers cornerback Tramaine Brock slipped and fell while covering Larry Fitzgerald, who made an easy 21-yard touchdown catch to tie the game at 7 just before halftime.

Which brings us back to the moment the Niners gave away the game. They could have seized the momentum with a long drive to start the third quarter, but instead handed the momentum to the Cardinals by fumbling the ball before the drive even started.

Arizona scored two touchdowns on their next two drives and essentially put the Niners away.

“Extremely frustrated,” said Gabbert, who threw a second interception during the fourth quarter. “I let this team and this organization down tonight. I did not play good whatsoever, and that's on me. Crucial turnovers that led to points for the Cardinals, and that was the difference in the game right there. I have to do a better job protecting the football and leading this team to scoring more points and winning games.”

“All three of our turnovers occurred in the red zone, which is even worse,” Kelly said. “It took them 41 yards to get 17 points. Against a good team like Arizona, that's not going to cut it.”

Arizona closed out the scoring with 1:22 left in the game when Gabbert got sacked in the end zone for a safety

Now the Niners' record is 1-4. Does Kelly believe it's time to change quarterbacks? To bench Blaine Gabbert and start Colin Kaepernick?

“I don't think tonight we're going to talk about that,” Kelly said. “We're going to go in, look at it. We've got a couple days off here in terms of getting ready for Buffalo. We'll assess the film … but right now, we're not going to have that conversation.”

Sounds like the conversation will happen soon, though.