With their season slipping away, the Houston Texans dominated the San Francisco 49ers for a 26-15 victory on Sunday.
The Texans had a time-of-possession advantage of 41:22 to 18:38, the second-largest margin in the NFL this season.
The San Francisco offense produced four three-and-outs on nine possessions and had the ball for more than 1:43 on a possession twice – a 12-play, 76-yard drive that took 7:01 and ended in a touchdown and an eight-play, 70-yard series that took 2:17 and ended in an interception.
“Got a lot of respect for those guys,” 49ers quarterback Mac Jones said of the Houston defense, “and I’ve gone against them three times in the last year, and every time I’ve left the field thought they were the best defense in the NFL. …
“Really, it’s about us to be honest. When we do what we do, I think it can be pretty good. When we don’t, that’s what you get.”
Jones completed the 76-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jake Tonges with 28 seconds left in the third quarter. A 2-point conversion pass had Houston’s lead down to 23-15.
“That’s my goal every week is to get to the fourth (quarter),” Jones said. “We couldn’t do that this week.”
Houston added a field goal to its lead before Jones moved the 49ers 70 yards by completing 5-of-7 passes. But his eighth pass of the series was intercepted by former American Christian Academy standout Kamari Lassiter as the Texans cornerback came down with the throw to wide receiver Jauan Jennings at the Houston 1-yard line to seal the victory with 1:56 remaining.
“I don’t think that was either of our faults,” Jones said. “Like, I was going to throw that 10 times out of 10, and he usually comes up with it majority of the time. So just a good play by the DB, and that guy’s been playing well all year, No. 4, so he just made a good play.”
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Starting for the sixth time in the 49ers’ eight games this season with No. 1 QB Brock Purdy sidelined by a toe injury, Jones entered Sunday’s contest with an NFL-best average of 280.8 passing yards per game. Against the Texans, Jones completed 19-of-32 passes for 193 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
“He made some plays,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said, “and he missed some, too. I don’t think anyone on offense did that good. They held on to the ball as good as any team that I have been around. Just going against them, we had to really take advantage when we did get the ball and made too many mistakes. When the defense is out there for that long, we can’t go three-and-out. Had too many of those today.
“I thought Mac made some big plays. The touchdown at the end of the second quarter, the touchdown to JJ down the field, but just collectively as an offense too many mistakes.”
Coming in with a 2-4 record, the Texans outgained the 49ers 299 yards to 65 in the first half. Houston snapped 45 plays to 14 for the 49ers and had possession 24:31 of the first half’s 30 minutes.
But at halftime, the Texans led only 16-7 after San Francisco took advantage of former Alabama standout Brian Robinson Jr.’s 46-yard kickoff return. With 25 seconds left in the first half, Jones threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to tight end George Kittle.
Houston defensive end Will Anderson Jr. recorded one of the Texans’ two sacks and three of their quarterback hits against his former Alabama teammate.
“I’ve known Will for six, seven years or whatever it is now,” Jones said. “And have a lot of respect for him, and every time I play against them, you got to have a plan for him. But they definitely had our number today.”
At 5-3, San Francisco plays the New York Giants at noon CST Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in its next game.
A limited participant in practice in preparation for Sunday’s contest, Purdy could return to the lineup after missing the past four games.
San Francisco has a 4-2 record with Jones as the starting quarterback in 2025.
“I think I’ve played a lot of different roles in this league,” Jones said, “and, like I said, my process stays the same. You prepare as a starter and definitely wanted to just be better today. I feel like every game we’ve played when I’m back there, we’ve had a chance, and today, I just didn’t feel like we had a chance.”
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