4 winners and 4 losers from the 49ers loss to the Chiefs

It's difficult to beat a team as well-coached as the Kansas City Chiefs when you have one arm behind your back on offense. That's how the San Francisco 49ers played for most of the second half, without Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk.

It's impossible to win in the NFL when you turn the ball over and make mistakes as often as the Niners did on Sunday.

It was a winnable game for Kyle Shanahan and company, and you can't get there without a lot of winners. Let's look at the best and worst performances from Week 7.

winner

TE George Kittle

Kittle continues his consistency and dominance when targeted this year. He caught six of his even targets for 92 yards and Kittle is winning at all levels of the field. He recorded receptions at all four levels, becoming only the fourth tight end to achieve such a feat this season.

WR Jacob Cowing

For a player who hadn't received a reception all season, it was Cowing and not Ricky Pearsall who caused more of a stir on Sunday. Cowing caught a 41-yard reception that should have been a touchdown. He also caught a screen pass in the red zone, making it a second-and-short score for the offense.

RB Jordan Mason

Mason continues to exceed the demands placed upon him. He became the first running back to rush for more than 50 yards against the Chiefs this season. He did most of his damage early as the game script prevented Mason from getting anywhere near 100 yards. 56 of Mason's 58 yards came after contact. He averaged nearly four yards after contact and was +11 in rushing yards, exceeding expectations for the game.

loser

Special teams

Putting the 49ers special teams in the losers bracket is no longer an option. We can start using Sharpies.

Midway through the second quarter the score was 7-3. Through four possessions, the defense had forced a turnover on downs, a punt and an interception and allowed the Chiefs a touchdown.

Kansas City scored on its fifth possession but didn't have to go far. Mecole Hardman returned Mitch Wishnowsky's punt from 55 yards to San Francisco's 30. It was one of the most disappointing plays of the season as it burst the momentum balloon for the 49ers, and most of Levi's Stadium said, “Here we go again.”

Then Anders Carlson missed an extra point after a 55-yard field goal. The 49ers had chances, but that missed extra point meant another Chiefs score would make it a two-possession game.

San Francisco's special teams have been an atrocity this season. It's news if they don't make a mistake.

QB Brock Purdy

If you want to argue that Purdy deserves a lofty contract extension that makes him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in NFL history, you have to judge him when Purdy doesn't have all the weapons. Do you know why? Injuries happen to every quarterback in the NFL. It's part of playing the position.

Sunday was an extreme example. It's not often that a quarterback is missing four of his top five weapons in a game.

Without his top three wide receivers for most of the game, Purdy completed just five of 14 passes for 80 yards and three interceptions against man coverage. Of those 80 yards, 41 came via deep passes to Kittle. Most concerning was that Purdy was missing the key throws that got the offense going.

Purdy only completed three of his eleven intermediate passes. In several of them, the position of his throws was incorrect. He was hesitant and unsure for most of the game.

Kyle Shanahan said Purdy “just missed the throw” on the second interception against Ronnie Bell. Here is Brock's response to his game:

“I think I definitely need to play better, just with my shots and some decisions. This is pretty simple. Of course I have to watch the film and stuff, but my immediate reaction is that I have to play better. The second interception went my way again. Ronnie did his job. I thought he was just constricted. I didn't know where he was going to end up on his route, so I just tried to put him on and he ended up doing pretty well. So Ronnie did his job. It was up to me.”

It's not fair to write Purdy off after one bad game. This also doesn't mean that we can dismiss the problems that we have seen compared to the top competition. It's hard to win in this league if your quarterback isn't performing well.

S Ji'Ayir Brown

One of my favorite players on this team was thrust into the role of defender for a future Hall of Famer.

Brown allowed just two receptions, one for 22 yards. Both were first downs, and he allowed yards after the catch on each, including 22 on one. Tig was also penalized for holding on to Travis Kelce at the goal line.

Much like Purdy, a good player has had more work to do than usual – and that plate is generally full – and hasn't performed at the high level he set for himself this season.

Tackle

One of this defense's calling cards is its ability to attack, limit yards after the catch and force opponents into long, methodical attacks. That wasn’t the case with the Chiefs.

Kansas City had 103 yards after the catch. The 49ers missed nine tackles, but that doesn't take into account the times a defender ran over a ball carrier and never made contact. So the number of missed tackles is probably closer to 15 than 10.

Dee Winters will be the poster boy for Patrick Mahomes' absence from the sidelines. There aren't many excuses for this, no matter what you think about quarterbacks obstructing their defenders as if they were about to go out of bounds.

Your safety is the last line of defense. These players have to be attack-proof. Malik Mustapha missed three and Tig missed two, both leading to first downs. In total, seven players missed a tackle in the afternoon.

winner

Nick Bosa

Bosa and Maliek Collins are the only players putting consistent pressure on the 49ers this season. There will be one or two players randomly popping up, but these two are the only reliable pass rushers so far.

Bosa pressured Mahomes on 17.2 percent of his dropbacks and had two run stops. No other player wins at the clip that Bosa manages. And while that's to be expected, he's the one battling double teams and extra attention from opposing offensive lines, tight ends and running backs.

It might be tempting for the front office to add a pass rusher to back up Bosa at the trade deadline.