3 Takeaways from 49ers' Week 6 Loss vs. Browns

The San Francisco 49ers came into Week 6 with an undefeated record and looking like the best team in football. They had won four of five games by double digits and the fifth by a touchdown.

When Jake Moody's potential go-ahead field goal at the end of the fourth quarter sailed wide right, San Francisco suffered its first loss of the 2023 season—and perhaps even more.

As one might have expected, the 49ers had their hands full against a stout Cleveland Browns defense. However, San Francisco was playing against a practice-squad quarterback in P.J. Walker and a Browns offense without its biggest playmaker in Nick Chubb.

It was a makeable 41-yard attempt for Moody, but few could have seen this game coming down to a last-second kick coming in. Due to injuries and miscues, however, that's exactly what decided the game.

Here are our biggest takeaways from the 49ers' Week 6 loss to the Browns.

It's fair to believe that the 49ers would have won this game with their entire offensive skill group on the field. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel left early with a shoulder injury, while star running back Christian McCaffrey exited in the second half with an oblique injury.

This left Brock Purdy and the offense short-handed against a very aggressive Cleveland defense.

The injuries may have led directly to San Francisco's loss, but they'll loom even larger if either is long-term. San Francisco is on the road next week against the unpredictable Minnesota Vikings, then face the surging Cincinnati Bengals in Week 8. The 49ers are three weeks out from their bye.

The good news is that Samuel's injury may not be serious. According to NFL insider Jordan Schultz, the x-rays were negative and the 49ers believe "he will be fine."

McCaffrey's situation may be more concerning. He briefly returned to the game but was unable to play through the injury. He's become the focal point of the 49ers offense, and if he isn't at 100 percent over the next two weeks, San Francisco could have problems.

The 49ers cannot do much on the injury front aside from providing treatment and hoping for the best. Head coach Kyle Shanahan, however, must place a large focus on cleaning up the mistakes.

San Francisco came into Sunday tied for ninth in the NFL with 33 penalties, and two of the teams ahead of them played their sixth games on Thursday night. Against Cleveland, the 49ers were flagged 12 times for 105 yards.

A pair of defensive penalties—one of them a very questionable unnecessary roughness call on Tashaun Gipson Sr.—aided the Browns on their late go-ahead scoring drive.

While some of the calls we saw on Sunday were dicey, there were called on both sides. Cleveland was flagged 13 times for 119 yards.

Until this point, the 49ers' talent has been too overwhelming for the team to suffer too heavily from mistakes. In a close road game against a great defense and without two key playmakers, penalties were a difference-maker.

There will be more games like this one at some point, and the 49ers have to clean things up if they hope to push all the way to a Super Bowl.

It took 11 regular-season starts, but Purdy finally had his first bad one as a pro. He finished the game 12-of-27 for 125 yards, one touchdown, one interception and a 55.3 passer rating.

However, no one should be questioning Purdy's ability or his position as San Francisco's starting quarterback. He spent most of the game without two of his most reliable targets and was facing a defense that came in ranked first in passing yards allowed and first in total yards allowed.

Despite all of this, Purdy still put his team in a position to win.

San Francisco took over with less than two minutes remaining and facing a two-point deficit. Aided by a pass-interference call and several clutch throws from Purdy—including a beautiful third-down strike to Jauan Jennings—the 49ers dove into field-goal range.

In the biggest moment of the game, Purdy did exactly what he needed to do. Had Moody's kick gone through, he would be hailed for his clutch play. Purdy doesn't deserve blame just because Cleveland is a notoriously difficult place in which to kick.

*Advanced statistics from Pro Football Reference.