After their 38-10 loss to the Packers at Lambeau Field in Green Bay on Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers felt like a team whose season was on the brink. They were just one game behind the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks in the NFC West standings after the loss, but a sluggish roster combined with their poor overall performance against the Packers made it look like the 49ers might be in legitimate danger of missing. the playoffs, especially with a tough road game on the schedule against the Buffalo Bills next week.

There was, however, at least one 49er who didn’t hang his head after the game. It was a tight end George Kittlewho displayed relentless optimism while discussing the state of the team with reporters.

“No,” Kittle said when asked if this season has tested his optimism. “Why would he?”

If Sunday’s game didn’t test Kittle’s optimism, it’s hard to imagine what would. Despite everything that went wrong against the Packers, Kittle kept a glass-glass-half-full view of the 49ers’ position.

“We are by no means where we want to be,” Kittle said. “To lose by… what did we lose by 28? To lose by 28, you know, it’s horrible. We don’t want to do that in any way… But my optimism is in no way shattered. We We still have “There are a lot of very talented players. We’re going to get some guys back (from injury), and I still have confidence in the coaching staff to put our guys in position to play, and I have no concerns about that.”

After the road game against the Bills, the 49ers have two winnable home games against the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams, assuming they have the healthy bodies back in the lineup they have need to be more competitive. But things will once again get tough near the end with a road game against a suddenly hot Miami Dolphins team, a home game against perhaps the best team in the league, the Detroit Lions, and the season finale on the road against the Cardinals. Making the playoffs in this situation isn’t an impossible challenge, but it’s at least starting to seem unlikely.

Kittle, however, is eager for the challenge.

“It’s definitely a difficult task and (we’re) going to see what we’re made of, which I’m looking forward to,” Kittle said.

Kittle was one of a handful of players to speak to reporters after the loss, although none of them were as optimistic. We have a summary of what some of them said in this edition of the 49ers Notebook.

Without mincing words

Linebacker Fred Warner wasn’t about to put any spin on how the 49ers played on Sunday.

Warner had more good times than bad in his seven seasons with the 49ers, but he still had his share of dismal games. Sunday’s game, however, was hard to match in terms of horror.

“It’s probably one of the worst I’ve been a part of,” Warner said. “It’s embarrassing.”

The 49ers started the game particularly poorly on defense, where they allowed over 200 total yards with 15 missed tackles in the first half, 10 in the first quarter. They managed to stay within reach despite this performance, as they led 17-7 at halftime, but the 49ers’ lack of toughness against the Packers was undoubtedly a sore point for Warner.

“This is about as bad as it gets,” Warner said. “Probably the worst I’ve been a part of. And you know, even then it was still what, 17-7 to end the first half, a 10-point game, we still had everything in front of us .We just didn’t make the plays we needed.

There were 20 total missed tackles in the game, which allowed Packers running back Josh Jacobs to rush for over 100 yards and three touchdowns.

“It’s just poor technique, poor execution across the board,” Warner said. “We knew the challenge the running backs were giving us before the game and we just didn’t execute.”

The defense began to find some traction late in the first half and into the third quarter before turnovers on offense helped the Packers pull away. But overall, it was a game to forget for the defense, who will have their work cut out for them once again against the Bills next Sunday.

“You have to take it on the chin, take it like a man and move on,” Warner said.

Another sketchy defensive moment

One of the most unfortunate moments of the first half for the 49ers came when they were flagged for having 12 men on the field on consecutive plays. Seeing this penalty on consecutive plays is rare and embarrassing, but head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters after the game that the defense was only responsible for one of them.

“The first one, they had 12 people, two tight ends in the group, which means we have base defense,” Shanahan said. “They sent another receiver out into the field to perform a sub, and when they sub, they’re supposed to allow us to sub. As soon as they did that, we started changing our personnel , then they rushed to the line and It was a strategic play on their part, but I think it should not have been allowed. They didn’t give us time to replace that, and that’s it. why I was upset about it.

The live TV broadcast showed Shanahan visibly upset after the second penalty, but that was at least partly because of what happened on the first penalty.

“Because they got away with it on the first play, they tried to do it again on the next play, and that’s when I went back there to argue again,” said Shanahan. “This time they allowed us to substitute. I was out there screaming the whole time, so I’m not exactly aware of what happened with our 12 guys. But obviously we had 12 guys out there that gave us time to sub, and we didn’t take one out, so the second one was for us.”

Warner blamed the entire defense for the second penalty, which preceded a Packers touchdown.

“It’s widespread,” Warner said. “There’s no one to point the finger at for this particular situation. It’s that we’re not all on the same page. We need to be better.”

Take responsibility

Sunday’s game was a low point in an otherwise stellar rookie season for the guard. Dominique Puniwhich turned out to be a bargain after the 49ers selected him in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Puni was flagged for two false start penalties and a holding penalty in the first half, accounting for three of the nine penalties the 49ers committed in the game. Speaking with journalists afterwards, Puni spoke spontaneously in favor of these sanctions.

“I have to be better,” Puni said. “I had three penalties in one half. It’s not efficient football. It’s difficult to win a football match when a player has three penalties. I just have to be better, really.”

I don’t blame Deebo

Wide receiver Deebo Samuel drew some criticism from fans for dropped passes during the game, one of which came on a third-quarter interception by Packers safety Xavier McKinney.

A pass from the quarterback Brandon Allen passed through the hands of Samuel on the play and into the hands of McKinney, whose game-changing return into 49ers territory led to a touchdown and a 24-7 lead.

Allen, however, told reporters after the game that the catch would have been difficult for Samuel and that he probably would have made the same decision to throw it back.

“Tight window,” Allen said. “I haven’t seen it yet, so I don’t know, but it’s obviously a tough catch. If he were to catch it, it would be a really tough catch.

“But you know, I have a lot of confidence in Deebo. I would probably throw it again, but it was definitely a tough catch. A tough throw, but it didn’t work out for us.”