No play was more symbolic of the 2024 season for the San Francisco 49ers than Mitch Wishnowsky's onside kick at the end of Sunday's 28-18 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Wishnowsky got off to a slow start — like the 49ers' 1-2 start to the season — by avoiding a tee shot and putting the ball flat on the ground. After “kicking” the ball, the ball kept spinning and doing a lot of work – like the 49ers had a 10-point lead against the Rams and Cardinals. But despite all the rotation, the ball stopped after four yards, well short of the ten-yard goal.

After the loss in Week 7, the 49ers have fallen well short of their goal and are now just 3-4 on the season. So let's recap San Francisco's fourth loss Sunday of the season, this time against a team they've been falling short against of late.

Brock Purdy: the momentum killer

After going the first 19 starts of his career without three interceptions in a game, Sunday was Purdy's second game in his last eight games with three picks, dating back to Christmas Day last season against Baltimore. And while there's never a good time for an interception, the timing of Purdy's three interceptions against the Chiefs couldn't have been worse.

Purdy wasted no time, throwing his first interception on Sunday and giving the ball back to Kansas City on San Francisco's second offensive attack. After the punt unit prevented a fake punt, Purdy and the 49ers offense started with the ball in plus territory. The quarterback tried to push the ball downfield on the first play of the drive, targeting George Kittle, but didn't see safety Justin Reid lurking, who jumped the route for Purdy's first interception.

It wouldn't be until the second half that Purdy would throw his second interception. The Niners' defense forced an interception on Kansas City's first drive of the second half, followed by a three-and-out that allowed the offense to get the ball back and leave the Chiefs trailing by two. The offense put together a nice drive and needed seven plays to get the ball from San Francisco's 20 to Kansas City's 34. On a third-and-6, Purdy shot over Ronnie Bell near the sideline and landed in the waiting arms of cornerback Chris Roland-Wallace, abruptly ending the drive.

Kansas City's offense took advantage of Purdy's second interception and turned it into a touchdown, giving San Francisco the ball back and leaving the Niners down by nine points. Again, Purdy would move the 49ers down the field, this time getting the ball inside the Kansas City five-yard line. Once again pressured by George Karlaftis, Purdy forced the ball to Chris Conley, only to be intercepted a third time, this time by cornerback Jaden Hicks.

Purdy's performance on Sunday was terrible overall, but the timing of the interceptions was bone-crushing for a 49ers team that needed every break possible.

Kansas City's defense harassed the line of scrimmage

Jordan Mason entered Week 7 as the NFL's second-leading rusher, and Kansas City held him to the fewest rushing yards and lowest yards per attempt. While Mason managed a 26-yard run in the third quarter, the Chiefs stopped five of his 14 runs at or behind the line of scrimmage.

Facing a second-and-2, the 49ers were nearing midfield on their third drive of the game. Kyle Shanahan trusted Mason on both second and third downs, but Mason was stopped on second down attempts by Derrick Nnadi and Nick Bolton for a lead and won on third down stopped by Leo Chenal and Karlaftis, nothing. San Francisco had to punt after starting the game with three consecutive drives without scoring.

At halftime, Mason had just three yards on five carries while the San Francisco offense was held to 21 yards on eight carries, with 14 yards gained on a rush by Kyle Juszczyk. The second half improved, but wasn't enough. The 49ers finished the game with 101 yards on 24 attempts. Without Mason's 26-yard run in the third quarter, the 49ers' yards per rush attempt fell from 4.21 to 3.07 on Sunday.

Without Deebo Samuel or Jauan Jennings (and later Brandon Aiyuk), the 49ers already faced a tall order against the Chiefs' defense. Add to that the lack of a running game, and it should come as no surprise that San Francisco had the second-lowest scoring output this season.

A waste of the best game of the season by the 49ers defense

San Francisco's defense kept Patrick Mahomes in check all day Sunday. The quarterback's 154 passing yards were the third fewest he has thrown in a game in his career. Unfortunately for the Niners' defense, the Chiefs went 9-1 in the 10 games of Mahomes' career in which he threw for fewer than 200 pass yards.

But Sunday was easily the best performance for a defense that has had its fair share of struggles this season.

While the 49ers' offense only played eight plays in the first quarter, San Francisco's defense was on the field for nine minutes in the first quarter and had 15 plays to play. Of those 15 plays, Kansas City played just five inside San Francisco territory, all of which ended in an interception by Kalia Davis as Kansas City approached the red zone.

The Chiefs finally got into the game in the second quarter, ending a seven-point streak that began in the first quarter. Kansas City would score again on the next drive, but the defense could not be at fault as the punt unit allowed a return by Mecole Hardman to start the drive in plus territory for the Chiefs.

The San Francisco defense would then hold off Kansas City with a punt, an interception and a punt on the next three drives, allowing the offense to cut its 11-point deficit to three. However, this would be the last help the defense would get from the offense, as Purdy ended consecutive drives with an interception after the 49ers defense's third stop. Kansas City's offense took advantage of these breaks and turned both into points as the defense could no longer hold, extending the two-point lead to an insurmountable 16 points.

The Chiefs' 329 total yards matched their lowest output of the season, but the 28 points were Kansas City's highest single-game total. Mahomes threw another pair of interceptions – his second multi-interception game of the season – but the 49ers' offense was only able to score seven points on the turnovers.

Despite everything, the 49ers lost another winnable game

Of the 49ers' 11 offensive attacks, eight occurred with San Francisco within a score. The result of these eight trips?

• punt
• Interception
• punt
• Field goal
• punt
• landing
• Interception
• Interception

Of the Chiefs' 11 offensive attacks, the 49ers defense allowed four points. The 49ers offense after the six – Kansas City's last drive ended the game – drives without scoring?

• Interception
• punt
• Field goal
• Field goal
• landing
• Interception

Despite the eight one-score drives, the 49ers didn't have a lead the entire game against Kansas City. And even when the defense made a stop on Mahomes, the offense had more interceptions than touchdowns in response.

Even when the 49ers had chances to play aggressively and score points, Kyle Shanahan once again proved to be conservative in his play. The first opportunity to be aggressive came in the final moments of the first half. Facing a third-and-1 inside the Kansas City five-yard line with no timeouts, Shanahan called for a Mason run instead of throwing inside the end zone. Trent McDuffie pushed Mason behind the line of scrimmage, and with no timeouts, San Francisco had to force the field goal unit onto the field to secure the three points before halftime.

The run call seemed safe for a team trailing by 11, and Shanahan seemed content with the field goal instead of going for six.

With Shanahan settling for three points, San Francisco made its next offensive attack with an eight-point deficit. The 49ers took advantage of Mahomes' second interception and cut the lead to two with the point still to play. Shanahan felt it was too early to go for points and sent out the kicking unit to cut the lead to one rather than go for the tie. New kicker Anders Carlson would smash the post at his point after an attempt, keeping Kansas City's lead at two. The Chiefs would score a touchdown on the next drive, making it a two possession game, something San Francisco couldn't overcome.

Kansas City was a dragon that Shanahan was unable to defeat during his time in San Francisco. On Sunday, the Chiefs essentially handed him and the 49ers the sword to get the job done, but San Francisco couldn't put the sword in the killing spot, and Kansas City made them pay.