The 49ers faced one of the NFL’s toughest three-game stretches recently and came out of it sitting pretty.
With Green Bay, Baltimore and New Orleans on their schedule, the Niners responded with two victories, the only loss a close one to the Ravens.
But the 49ers, who have clinched a playoff spot but want to keeping winning to claim the NFC West title, stumbled Sunday against the Falcons, who came into Levi’s Stadium with a 4-9 record.
The 29-22 loss to Atlanta was a painful outcome for San Francisco, which dropped from the projected top seed in the NFC to No. 5. The now-top-seeded Seattle Seahawks beat Carolina 30-24 Sunday, to go to 11-3, the same record as the 49ers, but have the tie-breaker having beaten San Francisco earlier this season.
The 49ers and Seahawks will close the regular season with a game in Seattle on Sunday, Dec. 29. The Seahawks play the 4-9-1 Cardinals this Sunday; the 49ers play the 8-6 Rams at Levi’s Stadium Saturday night.
It could be argued that the 49ers fell into a trap game in losing to the Falcons. After coming through that three-game stretch against some of the NFL’s elite teams, perhaps they had a letdown?
“No,” said 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. “I think they’re all like that now. No, I don’t see that by any means if you think about that right away and we address it early in the week, I didn’t feel, throughout the week in practice, I didn’t feel (that) today on the field.
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“Guys were into it and competing. When you play a team like that who, to me, played very well today, you better also, and we didn’t. That starts with me and it goes to everyone else. We’ve got to play better. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing or when we’re playing.”
It was an especially painful loss for the 49ers, considering they led going into the final minute. But the Falcons scored a touchdown to take the lead, and then scored another seconds later on a fumble return when the Niners attempted to keep a kickoff return going with a series of laterals.
The 49ers, with 11 victories, suffered a notable loss, becoming the first NFL team since 2000 to have 10 or more wins in a season with three or more losses all coming in the final 10 seconds of regulation or overtime.
The 49ers-Rams game Saturday is set for a 5:15 p.m. kickoff.
