Bosa says 49ers ‘find ways to lose’ after recent collapse originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SANTA CLARA – The 49ers blew a 13-point lead in their 24-23 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, proving once again that the team as a whole must learn how to finish the game.

The 49ers appeared to be in full swing as they headed into the locker room at halftime with 23 points and a two-point lead. No one could have predicted that the offense wouldn’t put any points on the scoreboard for the rest of the game.

Several mistakes, including missed tackles, turnovers and poor kickoff coverage, plagued the team in the second half, and not even Nick Bosa would be blameless in the loss.

“I think as a whole, as a team, we’ve always been an organization and a team that finds ways to win, and so far we’re kind of doing the opposite,” Bosa told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Laura Britt after the game. “We find ways to lose.

“It doesn’t matter how good the players are, it doesn’t matter how explosive the offense is – if you let teams hang around and don’t play the best ball later in the game, then you’re going to get in trouble in those situations.” “

The 49ers gave up 14 points in the second half and were unable to score. Cardinals running back James Conner, who had just six carries for 9 yards in the first half, registered 13 carries for 77 yards in the second half.

Deommodore Lenoir, who accounted for six of the 49ers’ 23 points after returning a blocked field goal for a touchdown, doesn’t believe there are any glaring problems on defense. The cornerback trusts his defensive teammates but believes the chemistry between them is still developing.

“We just have to come back and work out the little details,” Lenoir said. “We are right there. We just have to finish. We had a lot of new additions, so we were able to build that camaraderie. I feel like we’re slowly getting there, but we just have to get there.”

There’s also no panic from George Kittle, who has been involved in slow starts to seasons in recent years. The All-Pro tight end believes the 49ers have the right players to get the job done.

“We just have to go out there and prove we can do it,” Kittle said. “I’ve started seasons where we won all the games and we figured out how to win dirty, really bad wins that we still win. “We haven’t figured out how to do that as a team yet. We have to do that.

“I think all we have to do is keep the football, run the ball really well and then we’ll be fine.”

The general mood of the team is that it is still early and there is still a lot of football to be played. Even though Cardinals quarterback Kyle Murray was taken down just once on Sunday, Bosa believes in the players in the locker room.

“I still have a lot of confidence in the team and I’m happy that it’s starting early,” said Bosa.