49ers falter late, lose 30-17 to Patriots

SANTA CLARA - Most of the crowd left Levi’s Stadium happy on Sunday. Unfortunately for the 49ers, those football fans were wearing blue and rooting for the New England Patriots.

We’re not sure that Patriots fans actually outnumbered San Francisco fans for this game, but there were many of them, and they were the more vocal contingent. During one subdued moment late in the game, chants of “Brady! Brady!” echoed through the stadium, a tribute to Pats starting quarterback and San Mateo native Tom Brady. And all those New Englanders were satisfied as the 49ers lost 30-17.

The Niners have dropped nine consecutive games, joining the 1978 team as the only SF teams with streaks that long. And coach Chip Kelly has secured a special place in franchise history. There was a coaching change during the ’78 flop, so he’s the only 49ers coach to lose nine in a row in a season.

Asked what he can do to keep his players enthused and focused, Kelly said: “Well, that’s our job. I don’t think we’re going to take our ball and go home.”

The 49ers played a plucky first half against a superior opponent Sunday, only to disappear down the stretch. New England led just 13-10 at the end of the third quarter, but went on a breezy 17-0 run to put away the game.

“Playing good in the first half. Come out in the third quarter and just lay an egg,” strong safety Antoine Bethea said. “Not sure exactly what it is. It’s same story every week. Go back, watch film, get better.”

The Patriots improved to 8-2, the best record in the AFC; the Raiders will attempt to match them when they play the Texans in Mexico City tonight.

Starting early in the second quarter, New England had consecutive possessions that ended like this: punt, punt, end of half, punt, punt. Then the Patriots strung together touchdown drives of 80 and 65 yards, and marched 50 yards to a field goal. The game ended with Brady taking a knee at the 49ers’ 4.

Once again, Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers’ offense went into second-half doldrums. Kaepernick has injected some spark into Kelly’s offense. But week after week, either he falls out of rhythm or the opposing defense solves him after halftime.

Sunday, Kaepernick completed 8 of 9 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown in the first half, for a passer rating of 155.8. He was 8 of 21 for 90 yards and a touchdown in the second half, for a rating of 67.6.

Kelly felt the game slip away from the 49ers as they fell behind.

“I think when we can keep people off-balance with our run and our play action, we’re a lot better,” he said. “And if the game is tied, or close, it turns into that type of game. But when you get down like we did all of a sudden it turns into a throw-every-down game, and we’re not built for that right now.”

You can’t blame Kaepernick’s pass protection for the drop-off, either, because it was poor from the outset. Each of the 49ers’ first three possessions ended with a third-down sack. Kaepernick was dropped five times in all Sunday.

His counterpart, Brady, was a different story. He was fluid all day, and at times miraculous as he drifted around the pocket and escaped pressure. On the New England drive that ended on the first play of the fourth quarter, the one that pushed the Patriots’ lead to 20-10, Brady was 6 of 8 for 75 yards. On the final play of the possession, he spun out of a potential sack by DeForest Buckner and found Danny Amendola in the end zone for a touchdown.

“That’s why he’s a Hall of Fame quarterback,” Kelly said. “He’s not the fastest quarterback out there, but I would argue that he’s as good as anybody when it comes to being able to move within the pocket. … He had to scramble, kept himself alive, and then threw the ball almost falling down to Amendola for a touchdown.”

Brady finished 24 of 40 for 280 yards and four touchdowns. And that was without his top receiving threat, tight end Rob Gronkowski, who missed the game with a bruised sternum and damaged lung.

The dagger came later in the fourth period, when Brady beat the pass rush with a throw down the middle to Malcolm Mitchell, who had a step on Keith Reaser. San Francisco cornerback Tramaine Brock was in the vicinity of the pass but was focused on his own receiver; Mitchell caught the ball between Reaser and Brock and took off for a 56-yard touchdown to make it 27-10.

The 49ers’ final touchdown came in garbage time.

As always, the Niners had trouble stopping the run. They gave up 171 yards on the ground to New England, which was actually better than their NFL-worst season average of 180.4 entering the game. LaGarrette Blount, known as a bruiser, showed some nimble footwork against San Francisco and finished with 124 yards on 19 carries. It was the eighth time in nine games that the 49ers had allowed a 100-yard rusher.

The game started badly for the 49ers as they fell behind 13-3 on the first play of the second quarter. Brady threw a screen pass to running back James White, who plowed through cornerback Rashard Robinson at the goal line.

But just when it looked like the San Francisco defense would be ripped to shreds, it toughened up. The Patriots wouldn’t score again through the next 29:47 of clock time, virtually half the game. And Kaepernick made the game close with a crisp second-quarter drive that he finished with a touchdown pass to tight end Vance McDonald, making the score 13-10.

The scoreless third quarter coincided with heavier rain in Santa Clara. When the rain let up, the Patriots started clicking.

By the end of a game, a full rainbow had appeared to the east of Levi’s Stadium. There were hardly any 49er Faithful left to see it, though. Anyway, to these unhappy fans it was probably more of a mirage than an omen.

You can reach staff writer Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Skinny_Post.