The San Francisco 49ers suffered another disappointing loss on Sunday afternoon, falling short in a 20-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, dropping them to 5-5 on the year and 1-3 in the division.

It was a game in which the 49ers held a lead for most of the day but ultimately couldn’t seal the deal, with the Seahawks pulling off the comeback by scoring a touchdown with just 12 seconds left on Sunday.

Sunday’s loss brought with it a recurring problem for the 49ers: finishing games.

Looking at San Francisco’s five losses in 2024, four of them are where the team is either down by one score or ahead entering the fourth quarter. Ultimately, they are now at .500 in a competitive NFC playoff picture, with oddsmakers now favoring them actually missing the postseason for the first time since 2020.

Is finishing games the biggest problem for the 49ers right now?

Given the way they’ve struggled with losses, and even some of their close wins, it’s hard to say otherwise.

Looking specifically at the fourth quarter, the 49ers really struggled offensively when they had a one-score lead, as they only scored on two of their nine drives in those situations. Those two scores came in San Francisco’s 36-24 win over Seattle in Week 6.

Apart from that? They have been failures, allowing teams to crawl back and pull off improbable comeback wins against San Francisco, leaving them in their current dilemma.

Looking specifically at Sunday, the 49ers had a 17-13 lead with just over nine minutes left and even had a chance to dish out the kill shot when Seattle turned it over on downs, putting the ball in the hands of San Francisco was left with less than four. minutes left.

Well, the 49ers had chances and even got inside Seattle territory on a 1st and 10 at the Seahawks 46 yard line. But the offense sputtered from there, with Brock Purdy losing Deebo Samuel high on a dig on 2nd-and-11, leading to a punt that led the eventual game-winning drive for the Seahawks.

“I’m just extremely disappointed,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said after the game. “I thought we had a chance to put them away a number of times throughout the game. I thought the fines we got for some of the trips would only get us killed. I thought we had good momentum and then got a penalty that ended the game on two big drives. That cost us both points.

“I should have put it away there on that last ride and had every opportunity to do so, and missed a few opportunities to do so. And when we did, we gave them a chance. I thought our defense played great the entire game, until that last drive. But let them hang out, and if you let people hang out, that’s what happens.”

However, as Shanahan said, the only problem isn’t finishing games; it’s also a position where the team must constantly find a way to actually finish them, which ties into the struggles during games.

On Sunday, two scoring chances were derailed by penalties, as the 49ers had to settle for a field goal in the red zone (again) and then were taken completely out of field goal range on another opportunity.

If those drives are converted to something else, it’ll be a different story on Sunday, but for San Francisco it’s been that way all year.

In Week 3 against the Los Angeles Rams, the 49ers had a 21-7 lead. They then kicked a field goal deep in the red zone and had a missed field goal on consecutive drives, allowing the Rams to pull away and tie the game. Add to that a struggle to close with a big Ronnie Bell drop on San Francisco’s final drive and a defensive pass interference from De’Vondre Campbell on the other end and it’s a 27-24 loss.

Against the Arizona Cardinals, the 49ers had a 23-10 lead at halftime, which should have been much more had it not been for three field goals in the red zone. Then in the second half, San Francisco had an interception, turnover on downs and a fumble, with the last two coming in Arizona territory, allowing the Cardinals to come back. Add another interception to close the game and you get a 24-23 loss.

In Week 7 against the Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco went into halftime trailing 14-6, thanks to them not once taking advantage of good field position and kicking a field goal deep into the red zone. They had a chance to get back into the game in the second half, but Purdy had an interception as the 49ers drove into opposing territory trailing 14-12. That was followed by another pick at the Chiefs’ five-yard line on the ensuing drive, ending any chance of a comeback.

Which brings us to Sunday’s meltdown, where the 49ers didn’t do enough early and then again couldn’t finish.

The biggest problem is that the 49ers just aren’t a good football team right now. They are unable to play consistently well over four quarters and it even shows in some of their wins where they have to fend off comeback efforts from teams.

They don’t take enough chances early on and then it really comes back to bite them when teams back down because they aren’t a good finishing team. Until that is resolved, the rollercoaster ride will continue this season.