San Francisco 49ers: Penalties, Lack of Discipline Lead to 2nd Straight Loss

San Francisco 49ers fans should not be annoyed about losing a close game on the road against the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals are a very good team who are legitimate playoff contenders this season, and that defense is dominant.

Niners fans should be extremely annoyed about the way in which their team lost this game. The 49ers lost their cool and shot themselves in the foot multiple times on their way to this defeat.

For the second straight week, penalties destroyed the team. There were only nine accepted penalties against Arizona, as opposed to the 16 against Chicago, but my oh my, did they come in crucial situations. 

They cost the 49ers at least three points and were likely the deciding factor between winning and losing on Sunday.

Tony Avelar/Associated Press

Ignore, for a moment, the roughing penalties against Drew Stanton. Both of them were borderline and the results of an overzealous defense. Ignore the pass interference penalty in the fourth quarter that extended the drive which ended the game for the Cardinals, as that was borderline at best as well.

Yes, all of those hurt, but they were a result of football players playing football.

No, I want to focus on the two after-the-play penalties committed by Anquan Boldin and Chris Culliver in the second half.  Those were symptomatic of a general loss of discipline and focus that I think directly resulted in the 49ers' loss.

The Boldin penalty, you’ll remember, came after the 49ers were set to score their first second-half touchdown of 2014.

With the third quarter winding to a close, Boldin caught a tough pass in traffic to bring the ball to the Arizona 6-yard-line, setting up 1st-and-goal.

Then, Boldin threw a headbutt at an Arizona defender. It looked like he was responding to some trash talk or instigating some of his own, which is all well and good. You can be pumped and excited—it was a big play that set up what looked like a situation for the 49ers to take the lead.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

But to actually throw a headbutt? Even just a demonstrative one? That’s a huge, unbelievable lack of discipline. That pushed the 49ers back, and the eventual field-goal attempt was blocked.

Even if you assume the 49ers wouldn’t have been able to punch the ball into the end zone from the 6-yard line, that field position would almost assuredly have led to a field goal—the angle at which you have to kick a 20-yard attempt is massively different than that of a 45-yard attempt.

It was essentially as bad as taking points off the board.

The second penalty doesn’t show up as much on the stat sheet, but it’s equally frustrating. On the ensuing Arizona drive, the Cardinals had a big holding penalty against John Carlson. Of course, the play continued, and the running back was knocked out of bounds.

A good seven yards out of bounds, Culliver got up in Andre Ellington’s face, taunting him—after a 10-yard gain, to boot. That caused offsetting penalties, so rather than facing a 1st-and-20, the Cardinals got another shot at 1st-and-10.

That showed a total lack of discipline and focus.

It’s one thing to lose a game where your opponent finds and exploits a matchup, like the Chicago Bears did by putting Brandon Marshall against Jimmie Ward. It’s one thing to lose because your offense sputters and explodes in the second half with four turnovers, like Colin Kaepernick did against Chicago.

Neither of those things happened in this game, though. Ward had a much cleaner game. Kaepernick didn’t turn the ball over at all and had a very good game overall.

Yes, the Cardinals stopped both Frank Gore and Carlos Hyde cold, but the 49ers had enough success moving the ball in this game that I truly believe they would have won if not for the loss of control and discipline.

Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

It wasn’t just Boldin and Culliver, either.

The frustration was palpable throughout the third and fourth quarters—players were visibly annoyed and angry, and lost their cool on multiple occasions. I’m not one for overly examining the body language of players, but the 49ers simply looked like a team that hated being out there throughout that second half.

It doesn’t help that the 49ers went into an offensive shell after their early success on offense, but that’s not the biggest problem the coaches have.

These stupid penalties and losses of control reflect badly not only on the players in question, but on the discipline handed down from the coaching staff.

Before the game, I did predict the 49ers would lose, but also that they would bounce back to be a division-winning team with double-digit victories. Now? I’m less sure. After the first half, during which the 49ers were unstoppable, the team's play devolved—for the third straight week—into an ugly performance.

The 49ers no longer control their own destiny in the division, and at this point, they shouldn’t even be thinking about the division.

If they don’t get these issues with penalties under control, there won’t be a postseason for San Francisco.

All the 49ers have to do is go about .500 until Aldon Smith and NaVorro Bowman get back, but the way they’ve been playing in the second halves of games, you really have to wonder if that’s possible.

It’s not time to jump off the bandwagon just yet, but it’s time to start looking at Jim Harbaugh and his staff. If they can’t get the ship righted, and soon, this team won't go anywhere in 2014.

Bryan Knowles is a featured columnist covering the San Francisco 49ers for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @BryKno.