The Chargers played hard against the 49ers on Sunday night and led the game into the fourth quarter, but they couldn’t finish the job.
The 49ers scored nine points in the final eight minutes to secure a 22-16 win and it was hard not to wonder if things would have played out differently had the Chargers had more of their pieces on hand. Wide receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams were ruled out on Friday, right tackle Trey Pipkins was deactivated ahead of kickoff because of a knee injury, and tight end Gerald Everett got hurt during the game.
Running back Austin Ekeler acknowledged those absences after the game, but said that wasn’t a reason for the team to come up short.
“We got some of our guys who are down,” Ekeler said, via Jeff Miller of the Los Angeles Times. “I get it. That doesn’t matter. . . . No one really created today. We need more playmaking. We didn’t have that in the second half. We can’t just go out there and play hard. That doesn’t win in the NFL.”
The Chiefs are on tap in Week 11, so the Chargers will need to find that playmaking in a hurry if they want to avoid falling to 5-5 on the season.