49ers lose overtime thriller to Seahawks, fall to 8-1 on Monday night

The San Francisco 49ers couldn’t keep their perfect 2019 season intact, falling to the Seattle Seahawks 27-24 in overtime on Monday Night Football. Niner Noise recaps what happened.

The San Francisco 49ers are now 8-1 following their prime-time Week 10 Monday Night Football 27-24 overtime win/loss versus the Seattle Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium.

The Niners were shorthanded at some key positions entering the contest, playing without tight end George Kittle (knee) and kicker Robbie Gould (quad), and the team had to endure even more injury setbacks on Monday night. Wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders exited with a ribs injury, while defensive tackle D.J. Jones also came out with a groin injury. Then rookie linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair suffered a head injury early in the second half. All three were ruled out shortly after leaving the game.

Defensive end Solomon Thomas and center Weston Richburg were also banged up in the contest, yet returned.

The 49ers took an early 3-0 lead, thanks to a field goal from fill-in kicker Chase McLaughlin on their opening drive. San Francisco was able to increase its lead to 10-0, thanks to a 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to wide receiver Kendrick Bourne later in the first quarter:

https://twitter.com/49ers/status/1194069621751480320

Things were going well for San Francisco early, and the Niners were defensively thwarting Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and Co. enough.

Yet momentum shifted towads the Seahawks’ favor in the second quarter, as defensive tackle Jarran Reed knocked the ball loose from Garoppolo, and outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney recovered it for a touchdown to make it 10-7.

Clowney was a force in the game, responsible for a lot of the pressure resulting in Garoppolo being sacked five times.

Seattle nearly took the lead late in the first half. But safety Jaquiski Tartt managed a crucial forced fumble up against the goal line by stripping the ball loose from rookie wide receiver D.K. Metcalf to ensure the Seahawks wouldn’t get into the end zone:

Turnovers were problematic for San Francisco, too, and the problem continued in the second half. Garoppolo tossed his first interception of the night off a deflected pass intended for Bourne, which eventually resulted in a Seahawks touchdown.

Following another Garoppolo fumble, Seattle managed yet another seven points to increase its lead 21-0.

Just like that, 21 unanswered points from the Seahawks and their defensive efforts and takeaways. The 49ers looked as if they’d completely fallen apart in the third quarter. But that was before cornerback K’Waun Williams sacked Wilson, whose fumble eventually found its way into the hands of defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, who ran it in for a much-needed 49ers touchdown:

San Francisco went for two points and succeeded, cutting the lead to 21-18 in favor of Seattle. And after a Seahawks 3-and-out, the 49ers were able to get back into field-goal range and tie things up.

Seattle worked the clock late in the fourth quarter, managing a go-ahead field goal with 1:45 remaining to make it 24-21.

Garoppolo would be responsible for engineering a would-be game-winning drive, and he was able to get into field-goal range for McLaughlin. And he connected, tying things up again and sending Week 10 into overtime.

Seattle won the overtime toss and elected to receive, then moved the ball deep into 49ers territory.

Then, linebacker Dre Greenlaw happened:

The 49ers were then able to get into McLaughlin’s field-goal range with 3:26 left in the extra frame.

But he missed wide left.

San Francisco got the ball back again with less than two minutes remaining. But the Niners were then forced to punt, too, letting Wilson have yet another chance to seal the victory.

And Wilson managed to move the Seahawks offense into field-goal range, where kicker Jason Myers converted to give Seattle the 27-24 overtime win.

The 49ers are no longer in the ranks of the undefeated, and they’ll spend the short week questioning what could have been if they had avoided some key drops, turnovers and injuries during the contest.