49ers' season in jeopardy after losing Fred Warner to injury

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers overcame a rash on injuries to star players to get off to a fast start to the 2025 season.

The season-ending ankle injury to four-time All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner might be too much as evidenced by how San Francisco's defense collapsed without its leader in a 30-19 loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday.

Warner got hurt on Tampa Bay's third offensive drive of the game and San Francisco (4-2) did manage to force a punt on that drive and the next before getting overwhelmed.

The Bucs then scored three touchdowns, one field goal and had one missed field goal on their final five drives as a young defense missing Warner and star pass rusher Nick Bosa had no answers.

Tampa Bay averaged 7.2 yards per play after Warner's injury, which would be the fifth worst for an entire game in nine seasons with Kyle Shanahan as coach as Baker Mayfield and the Bucs took advantage of some coverage busts that might not have happened if San Francisco had its defensive leader on the field.

"I don’t really try to get us to focus on anything in the past. It’s what’s happening going forward,” Shanahan said Monday. “The reality is we lost another really good player. What are we going to do about it. ... What type of team are we going to be going forward? I think we have players here we can win with, but it makes it harder to make mistakes and things like that. I thought that was something we did too much of yesterday.”

The 49ers also lost Bosa to a season-ending knee injury and Week 3 and have played significant time this season without starting quarterback Brock Purdy, star tight end George Kittle and receivers Ricky Pearsall and Brandon Aiyuk among others.

“These are moments guys have to step it up,” Shanahan said. "I'm glad that we’ve played some decent football to put us in this position at least with our record. Now we have to find a way to get better everywhere else throughout this year.”

Passing to Kendrick Bourne. With several top pass catchers out with injuries, Bourne has stepped up in a big way the past two weeks. He had five catches for 142 yards for his second straight game with at least 140 yards receiving. Bourne's previous high was 100. He became the first San Francisco wide receiver with back-to-back games with at least 140 yards receiving since Terrell Owens in 2002.

Run game. The Niners averaged just 3.0 yards per carry and were held to 67 yards on the ground. San Francisco has gone five straight games with fewer than 85 yards rushing for the first time in franchise history as the line has been unable to create holes for Christian McCaffrey. He has just 336 yards on the ground in six games and is averaging a career-low 3.1 yards per carry.

Eddy Pineiro. The Niners have clearly solved their kicking woes after signing Pineiro to replace Jake Moody after the opener. Pineiro tied a franchise record with two field goals from at least 50 yards against the Bucs and is 15 for 15 on the season. He has the most makes without a miss for any kicker in NFL history in his first five games with a team.

Pass rush. With Bosa out, the 49ers have struggled to generate any pass rush. They had one sack on Sunday and they had no other official QB hits with Upton Stout being called for roughing the passer when he hit Mayfield on a TD pass in the first half. San Francisco has only three sacks in the past four games after getting three in Week 2 against New Orleans in Bosa's last healthy game.

Warner is set for surgery on Tuesday and Shanahan said he should be back for the offseason program. ... Purdy (toe) and Pearsall (knee) will be re-evaluated Wednesday and could return to practice this week after missing the past two games. ... Kittle (hamstring) will have his practice window opened this week and could return from IR. ... DL Yetur Gross-Matos (hamstring) is expected to miss at least another week. ... WR Jordan Watkins (calf) will return to practice this week.

3. With Bosa and Warner done for the season, the 49ers are left with only three players who played more than one defensive snap in the Super Bowl following the 2023 season. Deommodore Lenoir is the team's top cornerback with Ji'Ayir Brown a contributor at safety and defensive tackle Kevin Givens hoping to return from a pectoral injury next week.

The 49ers host Atlanta on Sunday night.

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