49ers waste strong defensive outing in loss to Russell Wilson, Broncos

The 49ers did plenty of work frustrating Russell Wilson and the Broncos offense, yet the Niners’ own offense struggled to take advantage on Sunday night.

The San Francisco 49ers wanted nothing more than to put a complete end to the 10-year dominance now-Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson had over them during his tenure with the Seattle Seahawks.

And from the Niners’ vantage point, at least defensively, that seemed to be trending when both teams squared off on Sunday Night Football in Week 3.

Amid some notable struggles from Wilson and the Broncos offense, however, San Francisco’s offense all but collapsed en route to a 11-10 defeat to go 1-2 on the young season.

Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, making his first start of the year after relieving an injured Trey Lance a week ago, found some rhythm on the 49ers’ second possession, hitting wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk for the game’s first points.

The only ones the Niners offense managed over the first half.

With Denver adding five defensive linemen to shut down San Francisco’s rushing attack, the onus was going to be on Garoppolo to effectively move the ball and keep Wilson and Co. off the field.

Well, things have gone better in other games than they did Sunday night.

Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers offense goes stagnant after opening touchdown

Week 3 was a contest in which statistics can be misleading.

Garoppolo finished the game going 18-of-29 for 211 yards with a touchdown against a brutal interception, all for a passer rating of 81.2.

He played much worse than that, though

Jimmy G forced an incomplete pass to Aiyuk instead of seeing a wide-open wide receiver in Deebo Samuel to his right, and Samuel would have had an easy touchdown. On a subsequent completion to Samuel, one that went for 32 yards nonetheless, Garoppolo could have tacked another touchdown on the board if he hit the All-Pro receiver in stride.

In the third quarter, Garoppolo was directly responsible for one of the odder plays in football, a safety by stepping out of the back of the end zone:

That led to a missed Broncos field goal on the ensuing possession, which kept the score 7-5 in favor of the 49ers at the time.

But it wasn’t the worst news from the play. And with Garoppolo tossing yet another questionable interception once Denver took the lead late, it might not have been Jimmy G’s worst play either.

49ers lose Trent Williams to injury on safety play

One can hope the Niners’ recent history of significant injuries will end soon, and the next hope will be for All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams.

Williams suffered what appeared to be a lower-leg injury on the same play where Garoppolo stepped out of bounds for the safety. Initially, the cart came out to assist Williams off the field, but he was able to walk off under his own power.

Albeit very gingerly and in need of some help.

Read More: Niners face some old teammates in Week 3 vs. Broncos

The right side of San Francisco’s offensive line had some issues during the game, too, namely with right tackle Mike McGlinchey committing a holding penalty late in the second quarter and rookie right guard Spencer Burford having the worst game of his young career.

Swing tackle Jaylon Moore, filling in for Williams, gave up a sack to Broncos EDGE Randy Gregory on his first pass-blocking snap in relief.

49ers defense did its job vs. Russell Wilson, Broncos

Denver entered the game having scored an average of 16 points per contest over the first two weeks.

So, while the 49ers’ own offense struggled, Wilson and the Broncos offense didn’t exactly fare much better. As was the case in Week 2 when Denver narrowly squeaked out a win over the lowly Houston Texans, Broncos fans booed the frequent 3-and-outs from Wilson and the offense, further highlighting the struggles under first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett.

In total, Denver went X-of-X on third downs, yet the Niners were X-of-X here, too.

Safety Talanoa Hufanga continued his strong start to 2022, finishing with four tackles, one of which was for a loss, and that was a big reason why the Broncos managed only 3.7 yards per play and 261 net yards.

And with San Francisco sacking Wilson four times, including EDGE Nick Bosa continuing his sack streak and rookie Drake Jackson getting his first at the NFL level, the 49ers pass rush remained an effective force.

Except that pass rush couldn’t quite get home enough against Wilson on the Broncos’ go-ahead possession late in the fourth quarter to make it 11-10 in favor of Denver.

Garoppolo’s interception late in the fourth quarter, combined with a game-sealing fumble by running back Jeff Wilson, put a cap on one of the Niners’ most frustrating defeats in recent memory.