49ers notebook: Fumble on punt return a defining moment for team’s season

SANTA CLARA - It was one of the pivot points in the 49ers' 34-17 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and an apt illustration of the way things have gone for this team in 2016.

Down just 17-14, the Niners forced a Tampa Bay punt less than 2 minutes into the second half. Jeremy Kerley signaled for a fair catch at his 34, but rookie Aaron Burbridge, trying to set up a block, inadvertently backpedaled into Kerley and forced him to fumble. The Buccaneers' Keith Tandy recovered at the San Francisco 36 and the visitors never looked back.

“He should be calling that he's signaling for a fair catch,” 49ers coach Chip Kelly said afterward. “I haven't talked to Burbridge yet. I don't know if he had heard what was going on.”

In the postgame locker room, Kerley took full blame.

“You got a rookie in Burbridge, and you got a vet in me,” he said. “He's blocking for the ball, he's doing what he's supposed to do. I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do. So that's totally on me. I should have called him out the way.”

Kerley said he had no clue that Burbridge was about to bump into him. The contact came as a shock. Like much in this game as the 49ers fell to 1-6.

DROPPING LIKE FLIES

The third quarter was like a late-night war movie for the 49ers. Injured comrades were being helped off the field in waves.

Defensive lineman Arik Armstead was the first to leave, with the Buccaneers in possession about midway through the quarter. He banged up the shoulder that he first hurt in training camp, the one that has been bugging him all season.

Armstead said afterward that he wasn't expecting to miss much time. “I should be good,” he noted.

Then came the flurry. The Tampa Bay drive that consumed the final 4:04 of the third quarter and the first 48 seconds of the fourth quarter saw no fewer than four 49ers defenders knocked out of the game. Linebacker Gerald Hodges was hurt on the first play of the possession, though he later returned. And on the final two snaps of the quarter, cornerback Rashard Robinson and linebacker Aaron Lynch were cut down on back-to-back plays, Robinson with a knee injury that forced him to take a cart to the locker room.

It wasn't great news for a 49ers defense already reeling from a season-ending injury to star linebacker NaVorro Bowman, plus injuries to defensive tackle Ian Williams and linebacker Ray-Ray Armstrong.

“It makes it more difficult on us, obviously, when some of the guys that we rely on to go out there and make plays are not on the field,” linebacker Ahmad Brooks said. “It makes it more difficult to stop the run.”

The Buccaneers rushed for 249 yards, averaging 6.1 per carry.

NO TIME TO GAMBLE

The 49ers were down 27-14 in the fourth quarter when they mounted a slow, arduous drive. It took them 14 plays, but they moved 50 yards, converting two third downs and a fourth down along the way, before finally facing fourth-and-goal at the Tampa Bay 10-yard line.

Trailing by two scores with 8:12 remaining, they might have been expected to go for the touchdown. Instead, Kelly sent in Phil Dawson for a 28-yard field goal.

Kelly insisted afterward that he wasn't waving the white flag.

“It would have put us down a touchdown and a field goal at that point in time,” he said. “I think there was eight minutes to go in the game. You felt that you were at least going to get three drives left, so we could still convert. … We just didn't feel like throwing the ball in from there, that we were going to get it completed and score anything.”

The 49ers failed to score on their final two possessions.

AN ENCOURAGING WORD

Just before the singing of the national anthem, a moment that has come to define Colin Kaepernick's season, a woman approached the quarterback on the San Francisco sidelines, hugged him and gave him a little peck on the cheek.

It was Denise DeBartolo York, co-chairman of the 49ers and mother of team CEO Jed York. Kaepernick appreciated the show of solidarity.

“Denise has always been great,” he said. “She's a great woman. I've always had a good relationship with her and to have her support, her backing, really means a lot.”