San Francisco 49ers: 3 Big takeaways from loss vs. Chiefs in Week 3

The San Francisco 49ers not only lost their Week 3 clash with the Kansas City Chiefs, they also lost their starting quarterback. Here are our big takeaways.

The San Francisco 49ers‘ Week 3 defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs was a devastating one for their 2018 campaign as it cost Jimmy Garoppolo the remainder of the season, likely dooming their playoff aspirations.

San Francisco confirmed on Monday that Garoppolo suffered a torn ACL. The injury occurred when attempting to gain extra yardage on a scramble as the 49ers attempted to move within in seven points as they staged something of a second-half comeback from 35-7 down.

His absence means a campaign that appeared poised to be one of the most exciting in recent franchise history will now likely be one of the most frustrating.

Here, we look at the big picture takeaways from Sunday’s 38-27 loss and what they mean for the 49ers going forward.

C.J. gets the call with Garoppolo gone

Garoppolo was having perhaps his most impressive game of the young season when he suffered a cruel twist of fate. Though the 49ers had struggled to put up points to stay with the Chiefs in the first half, Garoppolo threw touchdowns to Kyle Juszczyk and Marquise Goodwin and made a series of impressive completions with pressure in his face to keep San Francisco’s hopes alive.

Now, with the franchise quarterback on the shelf, the Niners will turn to 2017 third-round pick C.J. Beathard, who took a beating in five starts last season, winning just one game and throwing four touchdowns to six interceptions.

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Beathard has the arm to make all the throws, as evidenced by his strike to George Kittle on the play after Garoppolo went out that was called back on a hugely contentious offensive pass interference penalty that effectively settled the game. However, he needs a lot more help from those around him than Garoppolo. For the 49ers to be competitive going forward in 2018 and for the team to get a fair evaluation of where Beathard is, his supporting cast has to step up.

Ground game gashes Chiefs

If there was a major positive to take from a chastening afternoon, it was the play of those in the backfield. Matt Breida — who is questionable for Week 4 with a hyperextended knee — enjoyed another strong outing, maintaining his place as the NFL’s lead rusher with 90 yards on 10 carries, and he was ably supported by Alfred Morris, who went for 67 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.

With Beathard now under center, Breida and Morris are likely to face eight-man or potentially even nine-man boxes, but if the duo can continue to have success on the ground, that will help set up the play-action throws that Kyle Shanahan does an excellent job of scheming for his quarterbacks.

San Francisco’s run game will be respected after its early success. As long as that remains the case, the 49ers should be able to scheme plenty of easier throws for Beathard and take some of the pressure off him.

Defense’s development frustratingly slow

One thing the 49ers will not be able to do during Beathard’s spell under center is turn games into defensive struggles. After almost surrendering a lead in Week 2 against the Detroit Lions, Robert Saleh’s defense endured a nightmare outing.

Though they only gave up 384 total yards, the 49ers were picked apart by Patrick Mahomes as his red-hot start to the season continued. The San Francisco defense produced an effort laden with penalties and missed tackles. Saleh’s unit, having started the game without one safety in Jaquiski Tartt, was certainly not helped by losing their other starter at that spot, Adrian Colbert, and Richard Sherman to injury.

Yet there was also plenty of inexcusable miscommunication, particularly between linebackers Fred Warner and Reuben Foster as their much-anticipated first game together proved a huge disappointment, and missed tackles, in which the 49ers lead the NFL, according to Jeff Deeney of Pro Football Focus.

This is an extremely young defense and, though it had a bad matchup in Week 3, it is clear it is a long way from the finished product. How Saleh’s group performs down the stretch will be one of the key storylines to watch on a team on which most of the intrigue for 2018 is gone.