Jessie Bates III (3) of the Atlanta Falcons punches the ball out from George Kittle (85) of the San Francisco 49ers during the fourth quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, in Atlanta. (Todd Kirkland/Getty Images/TNS)
Jessie Bates III (3) of the Atlanta Falcons punches the ball out from George Kittle (85) of the San Francisco 49ers during the fourth quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, in Atlanta. (Todd Kirkland/Getty Images/TNS)
Cam Inman, 49ers beat and NFL reporter, San Jose Mercury News, for his Wordpress profile. (Michael Malone/Bay Area News Group)
Cam Inman, 49ers beat and NFL reporter, San Jose Mercury News, for his Wordpress profile. (Michael Malone/Bay Area News Group)
ATLANTA – Fred Warner acknowledged the obvious: “Unfortunately, we’re not going undefeated this year.”
The 49ers’ 29-20 defeat here against the Falcons prevented a 7-0 start — and a 20-0 season.
Warner, a ninth-year veteran, next said something surprising about the guys in the locker room, considering all his past playoff-contending teams.
“I love that group in there. This is the most fun I’ve had playing football, playing with this group,” he said. “We have so much talent, so many guys that play the right way.”
This game didn’t go right. But this loss didn’t devastate the 49ers, like their last one some nine months ago in Seattle in the playoffs.
This didn’t kick them out of first place, where they’re two games up on the Seahawks and three on the Rams. All this did was prompt leaders such as Warner, George Kittle and Brock Purdy to take the postgame podium and relay an all-is-well, remain-calm message.
“I just love the blend of the older veteran leadership and the younger guys who’ve been asked to play a lot of snaps and were competing their tails off,” Warner said. “The blend right now is great. We have to get healthy to have all our weapons out there to compete to win these games.”
Sunday, the 49ers missed their most talented wide receivers, not to mention defensive end Nick Bosa for a fifth straight game. Mistakes came in the form of turnovers, penalties, miscommunication and physical errors, blocking their path to rivaling the 1972 Miami Dolphins’ perfect season. Don’t blame this on owner Jed York’s first appearance all season.
The 49ers may have won a Super Bowl berth in this town 14 seasons ago, but a regular-season win has eluded them since their final appearance before NFC West realignment, when Terrell Owens had an overtime touchdown in 2001.
Here are 10 things that caught my eye in this visit:
1. McCAFFREY’S PAIN
Best sight of the day was Christian McCaffrey returning in the second half, after a thigh injury sidelined him for most of the first half. He got hurt amid his 69-yard output on the opening drive, which he capped with a 1-yard touchdown vault. “My leg just died on me and I tried to get it going for the whole rest of the game,” said McCaffrey, who had 31 yards after that opening drive.
It was the 49ers’ only reported injury. And it was stunning, at one point, to see coach Kyle Shanahan crouch down to the turf and show his video tablet to McCaffrey, whose left leg was treated after a first-series hit. McCaffrey’s touchdown run marked his 38th since joining the 49ers four Octobers ago, and that passed him by Steve Young and J.D. Smith (1957-64) for fifth in 49ers history.
2. BLACK’S FIRST FUMBLE
Four turnovers in nine possessions? Yikes. The first came on rookie Kaelon Black’s first fumble in 58 NFL touches after none in 495 college touches over four seasons. And it came one play after Jordan James’ fumble was recovered by Luke Farrell.
The 49ers are 18-52 when committing multiple turnovers in Kyle Shanahan’s 10 seasons, and 79-21 (.790) when committing one or fewer, according to the Associated Press’ Josh Dubow.
3. PURDY PICKS
Brock Purdy is 3-8 when throwing more than one interception in a start, including two in last season’s wild-card playoff win at Philadelphia. Sunday’s first came on a throwaway down the sideline that got snared at the 10-yard line by Jesse Bates, who later forced Kittle’s last-minute fumble. The most damning turnover was the third-and-9 pass Kendal Daniels stole with 2 ½ minutes to go.
4. EDDY’S EXPLANATION
Kicker Eddy Piñeiro sat at his locker and waited for reporters to ask him about his fourth missed point-after kick this season. Four times, he explained he simply has to go back and watch game film, because “everything happens quick.”
Piñeiro also has missed three of nine field-goal attempts. That’s alarming, but not fireable after he signed a four-year, $17 million contract in March.
“Got to make kicks. Yeah, just part of the game,” Piñeiro said. “Got to go back in tape in this bye week and figure it out.”
With a 90.5% PAT conversion rate, he ranks 47th of 49 kickers with 100-plus attempts since 2015, according to Dubow, who added that Piñeiro is the first 49ers kicker to miss a kick in five straight games since Ray Wersching did it six straight in 1986.
5. TRADE OUTLOOK
The 49ers surely will spend the bye week plotting a trade or two before the Nov. 10 deadline. They love dealing for defensive linemen, so retrieving DeForest Buckner from the Colts makes some sense. But perhaps the Colts player who might make a bigger impact in the trenches is left guard Quenten Nelson, who’s on an expiring contract. The 49ers don’t pay guards. But renting one for a stretch run would be worth it.
6. WIDE RECEIVER CREW
Dealing for a wide receiver? As scarce as they were this game, the 49ers could suit up Mike Evans (Achilles), Deebo Samuel (hamstring) and Demarcus Robinson (ankle) against the Raiders on Nov. 8 after the bye. Evans’ instant impact was pivotal to the 49ers’ 6-0 start, but it’s doubtful a trade could bring a wide receiver who’d immediately fit into Shanahan’s timing-based system (see: Christian Kirk’s zero-target debut Sunday). As for Jauan Jennings, the Minnesota Vikings (6-0) surely won’t return him to sender, not with a Nov. 22 matchup looming in Mexico.
7. WATKINS’ HIGHLIGHT
A replay review robbed Jordan Watkins of an acrobatic touchdown catch, which he couldn’t secure upon hitting out of bounds. He also had a replay confirm he failed to catch another red zone target.
But Watkins did throw a block at the 10-yard line to give Black safe passage on his touchdown run. George Kittle immediately congratulated Watkins, who said Kittle has been a big supporter as far back as the first congratulatory text he got on draft day last year.
“To have him come up after that block was huge. It means a lot,” Watkins said. “Obviously he’s one of the best tight ends in the NFL. To have him on my side and support me, it’s been awesome.”
8. PENALTY WOES
A lot should be made of four defensive penalties that enhanced the Falcons’ midgame scoring spree, including Osa Odighizuwa’s offside fiasco on fourth-and-4 and Jack Jones’ two penalties that got him benched.
The 49ers’ offense was not exempt: Trent Williams’ false start before the first snap, Connor Colby’s holding call to nullify a McCaffrey 10-yard gain, and, in what was a big blow, Brandin Cooks’ false start that preceded Brock Purdy’s third-and-9 interception to seal the 49ers’ fate.
After an NFL-low 17 penalties through four games, the 49ers have 26 in their past three games.
9. CORNERBACK DEPTH
Jones, a veteran training camp superstar, had a bad game as the No. 3 cornerback while Upton Stout stayed out with a shoulder injury. Ashtyn Davis replaced Jones, then rookie Ephesians Prysock did.
Renardo Green has all three of the 49ers’ interceptions this season, against 248 passes. Only one of Michael Penix Jr.’s 144 passes has been intercepted this season, and Penix completed 73.5% of Sunday’s 34 passes, with three touchdowns.
10. FALCONS’ PATIENCE
Atlanta’s longest play was Drake London’s 21-yard touchdown catch to open the fourth quarter, with London initially covered by linebacker Jaden Dugger before Green delivered a goal-line hit. “We knew with this defense, they don’t really give up too many explosives. They do a good job with that,” Penix said. “So, for us, I just had to be smart and find my checkdowns, find the guys that’s open and obviously deliver a good ball for them. Just making sure we didn’t make any mistakes.”