Shanahan's message to 49ers after ugly loss to Browns

Shanahan's message to 49ers after ugly loss to Browns originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The 49ers lost their first game of the 2023 NFL season on Sunday, snapping a streak of 15 consecutive regular season wins dating back to last year.

After their 19-17 road loss to the Cleveland Browns, coach Kyle Shanahan was asked what his message to his team was following their first regular-season defeat in 357 days.

"We went in thinking it was going to be a grinding game like it was," Shanahan told reporters. "We would have felt really good initially, like coming in if we had made that [field goal attempt] on the last play, but my message to them was regardless of whether we hit that or not, there's a lot of stuff from this game that we have to improve on."

The high-flying 49ers offense that had scored at least thirty points in eight consecutive games was effectively neutralized by Cleveland's top-ranked defense.

San Francisco registered just 215 yards of total offense, marking the first time they had been held under 300 yards in a regular-season game since Week 3 of the 2022 season.

Shanahan pointed to the critical errors the 49ers made on that side of the ball, highlighting their inability to adjust after losing Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey to injury.

"I thought we made way too many mistakes on offense," Shanahan said. "Just losing a couple of guys in the game we had to switch a couple guys around and we weren't quite ready for that, which starts with me with too many mistakes. This is our first time having to come in after a loss in a long time, and it's time to get back in, go to to work and make sure we come back next week stronger."

The second half was particularly brutal, with the 49ers offense racking up a paltry 47 total net yards on seven possessions after halftime. Entering their final drive with minus-five net yards in the second half, they racked up 52 total yards on the possession, which ended in heartbreaking fashion as Jake Moody missed the potential game-winning field-goal wide right.

San Francisco now turns its focus to their Week 7 matchup with the Minnesota Vikings, with a chance to right the ship on the national stage when the two teams square off on Monday Night Football.

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