With just less than six minutes remaining in the first half, the Houston Texans had already recorded 10 first downs.
Meanwhile, head coach Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers had only 10 plays by that point.
Shanahan and the Niners knew they were in for a tough challenge, as Houston's defense is particularly elite against the run, pointing toward running back Christian McCaffrey having a tough game.
But, no one thought things could have gotten as bad as they did, particularly early.
San Francisco failed to register a first down for the first 24 minutes of the game, setting a new record during Shanahan's tenure as head coach dating back to 2017 and as shared by the Associated Press' Josh Dubow:
#49ers have no 1st downs in first 24 minutes of this game. That's longest they have gone without a first down under Kyle Shanahan. Previous long was 23:31 vs Packers last season
— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) October 26, 2025
While the 49ers defense is unquestionably shorthanded because of injuries, and Houston's defense is awfully good, one wouldn't figure to see that kind of bad record set.
The Niners finally got a first down with 49 seconds left before the half. Sheesh.
49ers' 1st-half flatness leads to embarrassing loss to Texans
An ominous sign for the Niners' eventual 26-15 defeat at NRG Stadium was revealed when their first first-down conversion happened with 49 seconds left in the first half. And it seemed as if anything Shanahan and Co. tried operating against Houston head coach DeMeco Ryans wouldn't work.
The 49ers managed a mere 222 net yards of offense over all four quarters, going 3-of-9 on third downs.
This obviously didn't help coordinator Robert Saleh's defense, which had zero answers for quarterback C.J. Stroud and the Texans offense, although the Niners finally ended their no-interception streak after picking Stroud off late in the second quarter.
That might have been the lone positive from San Francisco's defense, though, which continued its shorthanded efforts without the offense playing complementary football. And Houston took full advantage, converting nine of 16 third-down attempts against a defense that continued to lose players, this time, linebacker Dee Winters and defensive tackle Jordan Elliott.
Yet the lack of offensive thump by Shanahan and Co. ultimately hurt the most, and about the only relief is the knowledge some reinforcements may be returning soon.
Too bad that didn't help in Week 8.