The San Francisco 49ers were edged out by the Denver Broncos on "Sunday Night Football," putting them at 1-2 on the year. In Week 4, the team has another primetime matchup on the schedule with the Los Angeles Rams headed to The Bay for "Monday Night Football."
San Francisco will look to bounce back without a couple more of its starters who have been sidelined due to injury. Left tackle Trent Williams suffered a high ankle sprain, and linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair sustained an MCL sprain in Sunday night's contest. Both players are expected to be out for several weeks.
In addition to overcoming those injuries, the biggest task at hand for the 49ers will be to jumpstart an offense that head coach Kyle Shanahan and several players said "never got into a rhythm" against the Broncos. Converting on third down and turnovers are a couple of the key areas San Francisco hopes to improve in its upcoming Week 4 matchup.
"It felt and looked exactly like what I had thought," Shanahan responded when asked about his game breakdown. "The first half was similar to what I thought. We missed some ops (opportunities). We should have had a lot more points than what our production showed, but the second half was exactly how it felt out there. There wasn't one position, there wasn't one thing in particular—everyone had their part. We could not convert a third down, which was the biggest reason for our troubles."
After Week 3, here's a look at the latest NFL power rankings from several national outlets:
Around the NFL Writer Dan Hanzus
"The 49ers are very fortunate to have Jimmy Garoppolo on the team after quarterback Trey Lance's season-ending injury... San Francisco's defense will keep the team in most contests, but the 49ers will need more from the other side of the ball."
ESPN NFL Reporter Nick Wagoner
"There's a reacclimation process that must take place after he (Garoppolo) didn't participate in the offseason or training camp and returned from right shoulder surgery, but the 49ers don't have much time to wait for that to happen."
NFL Writer Frank Schwab
"The good news is San Francisco's defense is awesome and will help them dig out of this 1-2 start."
The 49ers were not the only NFC West team to suffer a loss in Week 3. The Arizona Cardinals fell short to divisional opponent, the Los Angeles Rams. LA's 20-12 win in that contest improves their record to 2-1, but they remain at No. 6 in the rankings. The Cardinals dropped from their previous No. 14 ranking to No. 20. The Seattle Seahawks dropped their game to the Atlanta Falcons 27-23 and fell from No. 24 to No. 28 in the power rankings.
