The injuries keep on piling up for the decimated 49ers.
At halftime Sunday, cornerback Mooney Ward was ruled out with a groin injury and right tackle Mike McGlinchey was ruled out with a left calf injury. The 49ers were already down six starters on defense before the game started and ended up losing 28-14 to the Atlanta Falcons.
The Niners got a pair of first-half touchdowns from Brandon Aiyuk but were held scoreless after halftime, as the Falcons controlled the second half with their running game and doubled their seven-point lead at the break. As Shanahan noted, the Falcons outrushed the 49ers 40-16.
"It was pretty easy to talk to them after the game, because it was real obvious what happened," coach Kyle Shanahan said. "We knew going into this game, how that team was built. We knew it’d have to be a physical game and we knew we’d have to protect the ball. We didn’t want them to get up, because of they’re wired to run the ball. Especially going in a little depleted, we knew we had to come out strong."
Without Mooney Ward, the 49ers were using Samuel Womack and Deommodore Lenoir on the outside, with Dontae Johnson in the slot. Second-year cornerback Ambry Thomas was noticeably absent from the rotation.
Shanahan said the 49ers are hopeful Ward won't miss significant time.
"We're not sure yet," Shanahan said. "We hope not, but he couldn't go, which is usually not a good sign. We gotta see how it is (Monday)."
McGlinchey was replaced by Blake Hance after injuring his lower left leg trying to throw a block for Kyle Juszczyk on a screen. McGlinchey briefly returned before halftime, but then was ruled out.
"Same thing," Shanahan said of the uncertainty regarding the severity of McGlinchey's injury. "It was his calf. Not exactly sure. Gonna do some testing on it. He went out and he came back in at the end of the second quarter and tried to tough it out. I think he came in at halftime and stopped moving a little bit, he realized he couldn't go."
All-Pro defensive end Nick Bosa (groin) and defensive tackle Arik Armstead (foot/ankle) were already unavailable, though Shanahan said Bosa "had a chance" to play. Defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw (knee) was recently placed on injured reserve. Cornerback Emmanuel Moseley tore his ACL and free safety Jimmie Ward broke his hand last week, while linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair (MCL sprain) remains out.
According to FOX Sports, the 49ers were the most banged-up team in the NFL heading into Week 6.
The 49ers entered Sunday’s action leading the league in points allowed (12.2 per game) and yards allowed (249.2 per game), but this many injuries would be brutal for any team to overcome. At this point, San Francisco is essentially running out its second-string defense, as the lone healthy starters remaining are defensive end Samson Ebukam, linebackers Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw and safety Talanoa Hufanga.
"Yeah, that's a big deal missing those people," Shanahan said. "But we had every chance to still pull that off."
Even Ebukam and Hufanga got dinged up Sunday, though.
Ebukam was also slow to get up twice, initially on the game’s opening drive, when he briefly lay prone on the turf while the training staff attended to him. In the second quarter he limped off the field, but returned again.
Hufanga also missed the bulk of the opening drive being evaluated for a concussion but he returned the following drive. Perhaps it’s no surprise that the Falcons were able to execute a scoring drive to open the game, as the Niners gave up their first first-half touchdown of the year.
On offense, the 49ers are already without All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams, who has since been replaced by Jaylon Moore. In Week 1, the offense lost running back Elijah Mitchell to an MCL sprain and quarterback Trey Lance (foot/ankle) for the season in Week 2.
