Allowing a rookie quarterback to lead two fourth-quarter touchdown

SANTA CLARA Joe Staley Jersey , Calif. (AP) — drives and then botching a snap to cost a team a chance to get into range for a game-tying field goal might seem a bit improbable.For the San Francisco 49ers, games like that have become far too typical in two years under coach Kyle Shanahan.San Francisco’s 18-15 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday was the team’s league-worst eighth in the past two years in games decided by three or fewer points as the 49ers (1-7) have too often been close but not quite good enough.“It’s something we’ve got to do to get better and get over that hump,” Shanahan said. “It comes down to, you can do a lot of things throughout a game, but when it comes down to the end when we need to close people out and we need some closers to do that. We’ve had some opportunities to do it.”They had plenty of chances against the Cardinals on Sunday, starting when they had the ball on first-and-goal at the Cardinals 4 trying to add to a nine-point lead.A botched zone read led to no gain on first down on the last play of the third quarter, before Matt Breida was hit for a loss on second down and C.J. Beathard was forced to scramble for just 2 yards on third down. San Francisco settled for a field goal and a 15-3 lead.That figured to be safe against the league’s lowest-scoring offense led by rookie quarterback Josh Rosen. But the Cardinals drove 75 yards and scored on a 13-yard TD pass to Larry Fitzgerald to cut the deficit to five.The 49ers gained two first downs on the next drive before punting but seemed to be in good shape when they recovered a fumble with 4:44 to play. They got one first down on a penalty before Beathard was sacked on third down, leading to another punt and setting the stage for Rosen’s comeback in the final 2:16.Rosen led the Cardinals on a 73-yard drive for the go-ahead score on a pass to Christian Kirk with 34 seconds left. The 2-point conversion made it 18-15 but the Niners managed to get the ball to the Arizona 45 before Erik Magnuson’s snap went over Beathard’s head to end the game.“In order to win an ugly game in the NFL, you’ve got to be good on four-minute offense and four-minute defense, and we weren’t there at the end, Shanahan said. “We went into that game knowing that we had to protect the ball and not turn it over and hoping to get turnovers. We accomplished that goal. That’s why I think we had a very good chance to win at the end of the game.”The Niners have three close losses this year Solomon Thomas Color Rush Jersey , all after Beathard took over as starting quarterback in Week 4 following a season-ending knee injury to Jimmy Garoppolo.They blew chances on both sides of the ball in all three of those losses, leaving plenty of blame to hand around.After giving up the go-ahead field goal in the fourth quarter of a 29-27 loss at the Chargers on Sept. 30, the offense went three-and-out on the next drive before Beathard threw an interception. The defense was unable to force a kick on the final drive and the Chargers ran out the clock.The situation was even worse at Green Bay on Oct. 15 when the 49ers were unable to hold on to a 30-23 fourth-quarter lead against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. San Francisco had two three-and-outs with a chance to either run down the clock or add to the lead and allowed the Packers to drive 58 yards to the game-tying score.Beathard then threw an interception with the 49ers driving for a go-ahead field goal and Rodgers drove the Packers from their own 10 into range for Mason Crosby’s game-winning field goal in the final 1:07.San Francisco almost blew another close game with Garoppolo at quarterback only to have a potential interception overturned by a defensive holding call on Detroit, allowing the 49ers to hold on for a 30-27 victory.NOTES: Shanahan said there has been no movement on potential trades before Tuesday’s deadline, with receiver Pierre Garcon one of the players who has been discussed as a possible target for other teams. “I know those guys are talking nonstop right now and they’ll probably do it all the way up to the deadline tomorrow,” Shanahan said. … The 49ers had several players nursing injuries who would have missed practice if they had one: Beathard (right wrist), S Antone Exum (concussion), LB Reuben Foster (hamstring), RB Raheem Mostert (ankle), G Mike Person (ankle), C Weston Richburg (knee) https://www.49ersfanshop.com/Mike-Mcglinchey-Jersey , CB Richard Sherman (calf, heel), T Joe Staley (ankle), S Jaquiski Tartt (shoulder). The never-ending question for the San Francisco 49ers has become, what’s the deal with Solomon Thomas not getting more opportunities inside as a pass rusher. And while we regularly hear that the thought process is to move him in there, we do not see it happen with any regularity.Over the past year and a half, we have heard repeatedly that Thomas is best suited as a pass rusher to be playing in a defensive tackle role. Last December, defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said the plan is to eventually get Thomas inside, stating, “inside is where he’s going to make his hay.” Earlier this week, John Lynch said as much on 95.7 The Game.On Wednesday Jimmie Ward Jersey , Saleh was asked about how they evaluate Thomas, and whether changes need to be made in how he’s deployed.The final six weeks will provide plenty of opportunities to assess who will contribute what in 2019. DeForest Buckner is locked into one of the two starting defensive tackle roles. He occasionally gets some work on the edge, but it is rare. Of his 521 defensive snaps, 277 have come at either left or right defensive tackle, per Pro Football Focus. 180 have come at what PFF describes as right or left end, which they view closer to DT in terms of lining up over the inside shoulder of the tackle. 51 have come in the traditional edge rusher role.Solomon Thomas has played 358 total defensive snaps, and 277 of them have come in the edge roles. He has played 40 in the right/left end roles, and 33 between nose tackle and left and right defensive tackle. Sheldon Day has played 144 snaps in the LDT, RDT, and NT roles, and another 63 at left and right end. Arik Armstead has played 47 snaps in the defensive/nose tackle roles Dwight Clark Color Rush Jersey , and 101 in the left and right end roles.Earl Mitchell is gets all his work inside as well, but it is primarily on base downs where Thomas has shown success as a run-stopping edge. The problem is that Thomas cannot move past Day and Armstead for DT or end work. Patience is a virtue to a certain degree, but it strikes me as fairly reasonable to expect a third overall pick to be able to force the situation a bit more.This coming offseason is an interesting one for the 49ers as it relates to players with whom Thomas is competign. The easiest decision will be to exercise DeForest Buckner’s option. This offseason is the first time they can sign him to an extension, so that is an option as well. They have to also decide if they want to have Arik Armstead playing on the fifth year option in 2019 that they exercised last year. He’s having a very solid season, but will it be enough in their minds to justify a $9 million salary?The final issue is what they do with Sheldon Day. He was a fourth round pick in 2016, which means this offseason is the first time he can negotiate a contract extension. He is signed through 2019, but will the 49ers push to ink him longer? They seem to like what he is doing, giving him quite a bit of work, often over their third overall pick. How his contract is approached could tell us a bit about what may or may not be in the works for Thomas next year.