SANTA CLARA, Calif. — In a hard-fought game against yet another contender, there were plays available for both teams to make.
And in the Broncos' 24-14 Week 4 loss, the 49ers were the team that made more of them.
"Obviously, not the result that we wanted," Head Coach Sean Payton said Sunday. "Good football team. We knew it was going to be a tight game. I thought we played hard. The margins become very slim. There's a couple of plays always, when there's a game like that, that can go either direction. Those guys made 'em. We didn't. It's a tough loss, and then we go from here."
For most of Sunday's game, the teams exchanged body blows. Denver struck first with a field goal. The Niners answered back with a lengthy first-half drive — and then the Broncos forced them to settle for a field goal. The Niners came up with a stop in the two-minute drill at the end of the first half, and Denver's Zach Allen swatted away San Francisco's go-ahead field-goal attempt in the moments before halftime.
In the second half, the stalemate continued. The Broncos forced a punt. Then punted back to the Niners. Then Denver forced another three-and-out.
The nature of the game required one of the teams to make one or two game-changing plays — and it was the Niners that made them.
Defensive back Siran Neal forced a fumble on a third-quarter Marvin Mims Jr. punt return, and the Niners would score on the ensuing drive after recovering at the Denver 28-yard line. The 49ers converted a fourth-and-1 on the drive as part of a 9-play, 28-yard drive.
"I can't do that," Mims said. "… It's a big play that can't happen."
Payton pointed to the moment as one that flipped the game, and it began to push the time-of-possession battle in San Francisco's direction.
"I think we've got plays to be made," quarterback Bo Nix said. "As a team, we would all look ourselves in the mirror and say there's plays out there for us to make. They were a good football team. They made their explosives, and we've just got to find ways to make more. Our defense played really well throughout the game, and we just made it be a four-quarter game for too long. We didn't help them out. Overall, we'll go back and watch the film, see what needs to be improved on. I know our team is going to work at it to fix things. That's the positive."
Denver's offense responded with an 11-play, 63-yard field goal drive, but the Broncos were unable to turn a first-and-10 at the San Francisco 30-yard line into a red-zone trip. In Denver's first three trips across midfield on Sunday, the Broncos posted a pair of field goals.
"I just don't think we finished enough drives," tackle Mike McGlinchey said. "We moved the ball relatively well on a number of drives today and just couldn't get past the fringe-ish area and punch one in and get deep into the red zone. We've got to make sure we do that better.
"… If you commit too many errors and you don't capitalize on opportunities and things like that, that's why you wind up losing games."
The Broncos — at that point playing without cornerbacks Pat Surtain II and Riley Moss — eventually allowed a 9-play, 74-yard touchdown drive that pushed the lead to double digits.
"There were a lot of things we did well defensively for a good portion of the game," Payton said. "I felt like the time of possession began to affect us."
The Broncos' ensuing touchdown drive and two-point conversion suggested Denver's fourth-quarter heroics could surface once again. With 4:05 to play, San Francisco led by just three points. But in a game decided by just a few plays, the Niners again were the team that made the ones that counted. On a second-and-8 from the San Francisco 44-yard line, tight end George Kittle all but iced the game with a 56-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown.
"We put ourselves in position to win the game but [it was] just little things and miscues on our end that kind of cost us," outside linebacker Nik Bonitto said. "… Credit to them. They're a really good football team, and obviously it's hard to win in a place like this."
As the loss drops the Broncos to 2-2, Nix again emphasized there isn't a need for panic. There is, however, an urgency in the understanding of the improvement that must come.
"I think the frustrations just come within the losses," Nix said. "Obviously, we want to have a really explosive offense. That'll come, but we've played really good teams. We've played four really good challenges so far, and we're sitting here at 2-2. I definitely don't think we hit the panic button, but at the same time, we've just got to continue to grind and find ways to get better."
