{"id":25028,"date":"2025-10-27T05:21:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T05:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/25028\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T05:21:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T05:21:19","slug":"offense-defense-struggle-in-loss-to-texans-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/25028\/","title":{"rendered":"Offense, defense struggle in loss to Texans \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOX SCORE<\/a><\/p>\n

Not much went right for the 49ers in the first half on Sunday, and things didn’t get much better in the second half, as they lost 26-15 to DeMeco Ryans and the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium.<\/p>\n

The Texans (3-4) dominated the game for the first 29 minutes before the 49ers scored a late touchdown. But San Francisco (5-3) never could get the engine revving after halftime.<\/p>\n

With the loss, the 49ers no longer lead the NFC West<\/a>, falling behind the idle Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams, both 5-2.<\/p>\n

Mac Jones<\/a> and the 49ers’ offense managed just 65 total yards in the first half, with 35 of those yards coming on the final drive when the fifth-year NFL quarterback found tight end George Kittle<\/a> for a 17-yard touchdown. Houston possessed the ball for over 24 minutes in the first half and racked up 299 total yards.<\/p>\n

Jones, who threw a second-half touchdown pass to tight end Jake Tonges<\/a>, ultimately finished the game by completing 19 of 32 attempts for 193 yards and two touchdown passes with one interception.<\/p>\n

Christian McCaffrey<\/a>, coming off a massive breakout game last Sunday, was bottled up by the Texans. The All-Pro running back managed just 25 yards on eight carries. He also had three receptions for 43 yards.<\/p>\n

Jauan Jennings led the 49ers with 45 receiving yards, while Kendrick Bourne added 44 receiving yards and Kittle finished with 43 receiving yards.<\/p>\n

While the 49ers’ offense struggled, C.J. Stroud<\/a> and the Texans had no issues, as he completed 30 of 39 passes for 318 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.<\/p>\n

The 49ers went three-and-out on the opening possession of the second half, and when the Texans took over, they put together a methodical 12-play, 94-yard drive that ended in a 30-yard touchdown pass from Stroud to wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson<\/a>, effectively sealing the game midway through the third quarter.<\/p>\n

Without stars Nick Bosa<\/a> and Fred Warner<\/a>, the 49ers’ defense is going to have a hard time containing opponents, and that was the case Sunday.<\/p>\n

Here are Matt Maiocco’s takeaways from the 49ers’ third loss of the season:<\/p>\n

Finally, an interception<\/p>\n

There was not a lot of good to say about the 49ers\u2019 pass defense.<\/p>\n

Stroud and the Texans\u2019 offense moved the ball at will against the 49ers in the first half. But the 49ers ended the first half on a high note when cornerback Deommodore Lenoir<\/a> picked up the team\u2019s first interception since Nov. 17, 2024.<\/p>\n

Lenoir picked off Stroud on the final play. Time in the first half ran out before Lenoir returned it 26 yards to the Texans\u2019 30-yard line. The 49ers went 14 games — 469 pass attempts — between interceptions. Isaac Yiadom, now with the New Orleans Saints, had the 49ers\u2019 previous interception in Week 11 last year against the Seattle Seahawks.<\/p>\n

Stroud completed 22 of his first 27 pass attempts for 235 yards and a touchdown as the Texans built a 16-0 lead in the second quarter.<\/p>\n

Hard yards for 49ers\u2019 offense<\/p>\n

The 49ers did not have a first down until their fourth drive of the game. Their defense could not get off the field, and their offense could not stay on the field.<\/p>\n

Nothing was working against Ryans\u2019 defense, which came into the game allowing a league-best 14.7 points per game.<\/p>\n

It was not until the final minute of the first half that the 49ers got anything going. Brian Robinson had a 46-yard kickoff return to help build a little momentum after San Francisco fell behind 16-0. The 49ers finally got into the end zone on Jones\u2019 17-yard touchdown pass to Kittle.<\/p>\n

The 49ers had a little more success in the second half, but it wasn’t enough. After halftime, San Francisco’s offense totaled 158 yards, finishing with 223 overall. Houston piled up 475 total yards in the win.<\/p>\n

Too many empty possessions in the first half made the hole too deep to climb out of in the second half.<\/p>\n

Lacking a pass rush<\/p>\n

Bosa is out for the season, and Bryce Huff and Yetur Gross-Matos were inactive due to hamstring injuries.<\/p>\n

If the question was where the 49ers would turn for their pass rush, the answer was clear: Nowhere.<\/p>\n

Stroud has struggled this season behind an oft-criticized Houston offensive line. But Stroud was well-protected on Sunday, as he rarely was under pressure against a beleaguered 49ers\u2019 pass rush, which failed to record a sack in the loss.<\/p>\n

Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh tried to dial up more blitzes and a variety of pressure packages, but nothing seemed to work to generate pressure against Stroud in the pocket.<\/p>\n

With the NFL trade deadline coming up on Nov. 4, the 49ers will certainly keep their options open to add an outside pass rusher to provide a boost.<\/p>\n

Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOX SCORE Not much went right for the 49ers in the first half on Sunday, and things didn’t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[19257,17180,298,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-25028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-49ers-observations","tag-houston-texans","tag-mac-jones","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}