The 49ers hit the ground with a thud Sunday night as backup quarterback Nick Mullens turned the ball over three times in a 25-20 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at Levi's Stadium.
The 49ers now sit at 2-2 with a treacherous schedule in front of them beginning in two weeks against the Los Angeles Rams. Kyle Shanahan's team has been devastated by injuries, but that is no excuse for a supremely talented team to put up a stinker against a struggling Carson Wentz and the Eagles.
As we head into the middle of the season, 49ers legend Jerry Rice believes it's time for those who have been on the field to make an honest assessment of their performance during the team's middling start.
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"You have to look at the film and be critical of yourself," Rice told 95.7 The Game on Monday. "That's the most important thing. If you came out of this game with this loss and you think you played well, there is something wrong with your thinking. So, the players have to be critical of themselves."
There's no doubt the 49ers will have to take a long look in the mirror after the disappointing loss. Yes, Jimmy Garoppolo missed his second straight game, as did Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman. Richard Sherman missed his third straight game on IR and Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas are done for the season.
But nobody cares. No one feels sorry for the defending NFC champions.
The truth is that the 49ers, even with their injuries, still are one of the more talented teams in the NFL. When Garoppolo returns, he'll have a deadly triumvirate of George Kittle, Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk to attack defenses with. The offensive line, while it has struggled, still has the best left tackle in the league in Trent Williams and a right tackle in Mike McGlinchey who is talented but is struggling to measure up to that talent.
San Francisco 49ers
On defense, the 49ers still have Arik Armstead, Kwon Alexander, Fred Warner, Jimmie Ward and Jaquiski Tartt. Sherman hopefully will return soon.
The 49ers aren't some team bereft of talent getting beat by better teams. Injuries aside, they had no business losing to Wentz, who had been one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL through the first three weeks, and a bunch of receivers no one has ever heard of.
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The NFC is going to be brutally tough this season. The 49ers can't afford the slip-ups they've had early in the season, especially with a murderer's row of contenders coming up on the schedule.
As Rice said, it's gut-check time in the locker room. Plain and simple.