49ers-Cowboys final score: Loss marred further by NaVorro Bowman injury

The San Francisco 49ers season was at a bit of a fork in the road in Week 4, coming off a pair of ugly road losses to the Carolina Panthers and Seattle Seahawks. The 49ers faced the Dallas Cowboys in Week 4, and they decided to take the bad lane, and potentially drive things off a cliff. The 49ers lost to the Cowboys by a final score of 24-17, droppin and that isn’t even the worst news of the day.

As bad as things looked in the second half, it was made all the worse with the loss of NaVorro Bowman to a lower leg injury. Bowman was in coverage and as he moved forward, he went down with the non-contact injury. He limped off the field and trainers were looking down near his ankle or Achilles before he was carted to the locker room. The team ruled him out immediately, and we now await word on his injury.

Now back to the game. The 49ers jumped out to a 14-0 lead, and looked like they might be able to blow this thing open fairly quickly. They were flustering Dak Prescott on defense, and Carlos Hyde and Blaine Gabbert were looking really solid on offense. However, things took a turn for the ugly fairly quickly. The 49ers got the ball deep at their own 17 on the next drive, but a sack effectively killed any chance of that drive developing.

The Cowboys offense found life on the next two drives. They went 66 yards on eight plays, and then 58 yards on 11 plays, resulting in a pair of touchdowns and a halftime tie. The 49ers had gotten off to a strong start with six straight third down conversions, but things went south in a hurry. The 49ers offense had some moments here and there where they looked competent, but there was nothing remotely resembling consistency. It was fitting that Blaine Gabbert threw a fourth down pass to Torrey Smith short of the sticks on the 49ers’ final offensive series. The short passes were annoying as all get out, but part of the problem was 49ers receivers are not good enough to consistently get open. The passing game cannot find any kind of consistency for 60 minutes.

Up next - vs. Arizona Cardinals, Thursday Night Football

The 49ers will not have much time to lick their wounds. They turn around and host the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday Night Football. The Cardinals are down 17-13, and on the verge of a stunning loss to the Los Angeles Rams. With a loss, Arizona would be 1-3, and tied with the 49ers for last place in the NFC West. You read that right. It’s been a bad season for the Cardinals, and they’ll look to use the 49ers as a punching bag on Thursday.

For a day that started so great for the 49ers, things turned south badly in the second quarter. I’d say sums things up well right now for the 49ers.