Head coach Kyle Shanahan
On QB C.J. Beathard’s performance today:
“I thought he played well. We came up short there at the end. The last play was unfortunate. Wish we would have solved that and got rid of it. He gave us a chance to win today. Played very tough. Made some big plays, especially in some of the situations with guys going in and out. He handled a little adversity well, and a lot of chaos with some of the injuries. I was proud of how he played.”
On if he felt Beathard performed differently today than he did last year:
“I thought he looked the same way. I thought he did some good things last year, too.”
On if Beathard could have protected himself more on the play where he got the wind knocked out of him:
“Yeah, obviously if you slide, you don’t get hit.”
On if he has talked to Beathard about not putting himself in harm’s way:
“Yeah. You talk to everyone about it and hope for the best.”
On the team’s performance when they were hit with adversity today due to injuries:
“I thought the guys fought hard. I know it wasn’t perfect. I know we need to play better. I was happy when I watched how hard the guys battled. Losing both of our tackles there for a while was scary. We had to finish the first half without them. [Joe] Staley wasn’t able to return. I was happy [T Mike] McGlinchey toughed it out there. His obviously wasn’t as bad as Staley’s [injury], but I know it was hard for him to go that second half. Real proud of our center. He got hurt on the first play of the game and had to come out. He battled through that entire game and we needed him to because there weren’t many guys left. Guys were going down, especially losing both [WR Marquise Goodwin and WR Dante Pettis] also. [WR Kendrick] Bourne and [WR] Trent [Taylor] stepped it up and played some positions they hadn’t played yet. They did a pretty good job on their assignments, just being ready for that. When you lose guys like that — I haven’t been around too many of them — but I was glad the guys still battled and gave us a chance to win there at the end. Just came up short.”
On the resilience of the team:
“I appreciate you pointing it out. We have good guys in our locker room. Our guys aren’t going to fold, they are going to try their hardest every week. We are disappointed we came up short and upset that we didn’t get the win.”
On what is the most disappointing part of not being able to close the game out and get the win:
“That is what we are all working for, to get wins and we only have one of them right now. We had an opportunity to win that game. There were lots of ups and downs throughout the game in all three phases. We had a chance [to win] at the end and we came up short. That’s disappointing.”
On what he thinks about the defense’s performance:
“I think it was similar to the offense and special teams too. We had some misses [on both sides]. There were a number of three-and-outs like that on defense, they got a score for us with a pick six. We started the first couple of drives playing at an extremely high level. On offense, it seemed like we had a number of three-and-outs and we had a number of drives where we went down the field extremely fast. I think we are close. We have people who have the ability to do it and we are showing that at times but we have to be a lot more consistent. It can’t be hit or miss and I think it’s been hit or miss on both sides.”
On his thought process about rotating through cornerbacks:
“We had a plan to put [CB Greg] Mabin in going in. It was more about Mabin and how he has been practicing the last couple of weeks. He had a great week at practice and we thought he deserved it. We planned on him going in the game spelling [CB Ahkello Witherspoon] inward a little bit. When he did go in and got his opportunity, he was playing at a pretty high level so we kept him in.”
On why DB D.J. Reed Jr. started at free safety:
“Just because [DB Adrian] Colbert didn’t practice much throughout the week, was limited throughout the week and had to take some of his reps off, which he didn’t get many of at all. We wanted to go with the healthier guy.”
On why DB Adrian Colbert was still on special teams:
“He did get, I don’t know how many plays, but we did use him on special teams and he was going to have to go if D.J. [Reed Jr.] went down.”
On why he chose to play Colbert on special teams:
“Just because you only get a certain number of guys up on game day and we try to use all of them. He was good enough to go but he’s been banged up these last couple of weeks and didn’t practice for almost two weeks, he practiced a little bit but not as much as [DB] D.J. [Reed Jr.]. You want to put the guy in who has had the reps and is a little bit more prepared. Colbert felt good enough to go towards the end of the week but he wasn’t as prepared for safety as D.J. was.”
On if he was disappointed with the team’s tackling after emphasizing it as something to work on last week:
“Of course, it’s disappointing and I’ll watch the tape to get a better idea, I don’t see all of them. From what I saw, I was pretty happy with it in the first half. I thought we were scoring on the ball, hitting well and wrapping guys. I did see a number of times when we bounced off of them and they got some longer runs than they should have in the second half. We will address it again and keep trying to get better.”
On his thoughts about the number of injuries and if it is just bad luck:
“I would guess so, I am not God so I don’t know why injuries happen but they have been legit injuries. I think we have tough guys who try as hard as they can to play when they are hurt. It’s tough when you’re injured and you just can’t go. It’s happened to a number of guys, it happened to us a little bit last year too and unfortunately, it’s happening again so far. Fortunately, it is a long year and hopefully these guys will recover. I don’t know how bad they are right now, hopefully we will get a number of them back for next week but we will have to see tomorrow.”
On if he was worried QB C.J. Beathard was not going to go back into the game:
“When he was laying there after the hit he took, I was extremely worried. By the time we got to him, I saw on the replay that he didn’t get hit in the head. When I got out there you could tell he got the wind knocked out of him pretty badly which takes a little bit of time to recover, but he was good.”
On if they will be looking into signing another quarterback:
“Yes, we are going to have to look into all of it. We are banged up at offensive line, safety, receiver and quarterback — so it all plays out but we are going to try to get enough guys out there to play.”
On what was the correct play on the final play that resulted in an interception:
“We just had five guys out, scat protection, I think we need to see that he is blitzing and get rid of the ball.”
Quarterback C.J. Beathard
On overall feeling of the game:
“We just lost a game. It doesn’t feel good. We just have to get back to work and watch the tape to correct our mistakes so we can fix them for next week.”
On what he saw on the field today compared to last season:
“I felt a lot more comfortable being out there in control. I definitely felt a lot more comfortable than last year.”
On his interception in the fourth quarter:
“I was trying to see if I could get it out before, but [S] Derwin James is a good player and made a nice play.”
On when he was hit hard:
“I knew I was okay. I just couldn’t breathe because I got the air knocked out of me pretty bad. I knew it would come back eventually. I knew I was going to be fine.”
On losing LT Joe Staley:
“It wasn’t on my mind. Joe is a really good player and he is out, but it is the next man up mentality. You don’t really think about it when you are in the pocket.”
On losing a number of teammates due to injury:
“I think we have a lot of guys who battle through little injuries like [WR] Marquise Goodwin. He was tough to keep playing even though he was hurting. It is also great to have guys who play different positions.”
On concussion protocol:
“They just checked out my head. It was protocol and they just made sure I didn’t have a concussion.”
On if he was too aggressive putting himself in harm’s way:
“Not really a debate, especially in a situation like that on third down when you’re inches away from converting, you know it could change the game if we get that first. If I could do it again, I would do the same thing.”
On his chemistry with TE George Kittle:
“We’ve gotten even better. I know the guy and his tendencies and what he’s good at running. I know how he gets open and it’s just kind of a feel thing, we gel together.”
On what kind of communication he had with QB Jimmy Garoppolo this week:
“He was in meetings and stuff, so I talked to him. He was really positive and I just assume he wishes he could have been here, but unfortunately with the surgery coming up, they won’t allow him to play. He was really supportive and he’s great.”
On if he texted with Garoppolo last night:
“I didn’t get to text him last night, but throughout the week I talked to him.”
On his 82-yard touchdown to Kittle:
“I just felt like we were moving the ball, converting on third downs and if it’s working, you just keep doing it. You get a nice drive going, we decided to take a shot on that one drive and we had a big play.”
Running back Matt Breida
On the offensive performance:
“I feel like we could have done a lot better on offense. We just have to clean some things up and be able to execute better.”
On QB C.J. Beathard:
“He is a tough competitor, as you can see. He’ll take the ball and run it, take big hits and get up and get back in the game. It is going to be hard to get C.J. [out of] the game. That is what is going to make him a great quarterback.”
On Beathard taking hits and making throws compared to last year:
“He is going to be a great quarterback in this league. Especially the one he threw to [TE George] Kittle, he was able to get the safety off all the way to the side of the field and Kittle was wide open.”
Defensive back Antone Exum
On his pick-six:
“It was just a really good call by our coach. He saw [QB] Philip Rivers looking that way and just by the grace of God I was in the right place at the right time. I tried to bait him a little bit to make him think I was not there and he threw it right to me.”
On pick-six effecting rest of team:
“Any time you have a turnover or a big play happens, it is kind of a momentum change. I hope that is what it did to the team. I think it did. Everybody was excited.”
On earning a starting job:
“I just tried to step in and do the best job I can. [S Jaquiski] Tartt got hurt. He is a great player. I did not take his position or anything. I just stepped in and am just trying to play the best that I can to help the team win. [We] fell short today.”
Linebacker Reuben Foster
On what he can improve on:
“I’ve got to work on a few things and just get better. One thing is tackling and reading our keys better, and just having that mentality to just go out there and be a dog, step on some toes.”
On the energy of the defense:
“There was a lot of energy in the first half. We have great defense, but at the end, it was slow motion. That’s not our defense, so we have to sharpen the iron really and just go out there and play our ball really.”
On how else he can improve on tackling:
“We need to just do our job really and play the sport we love. I can say we’ve got to work on tackling, but at the end of the day, that’s what we do, and we’ve got to really harp on that.”
On Chargers RB Melvin Gordon III:
“Gordon was playing well. He opened up in the second half. In the first half, he was kind of stumbling, but he still did great at the end of the day. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish and that’s what we need to do. We need to finish better.”
On the performance of C.J. Beathard:
“There ain’t nothing sweet about C.J., so that’s why we have faith in him and we believe in C.J. At the end of the day, that was really not surprising. It was surprising, [too], because I could see it in his eyes every time he came to the sideline about defense needing to go and jump back, saying we run with you all. Just by him saying that means a lot to me and the defense because we know where their heads were.”
Tight end George Kittle
On if he thought 82-yard touchdown run was a comeback play:
“After I caught my breath, yes. I was ready. The defense got a three-and-out and we got a field goal the next time to put us in the lead. I was pretty excited about that.”
On the touchdown:
“It was something we’ve been practicing all year. We finally got it called. Safeties playing on the opposite hash, the guy drops me because he thinks I’m running vertical, [QB] C.J. [Beathard] finds me and got a good cut on the safety, he kind of stumbled, and just got a run from there.”
On QB C.J. Beathard:
“C.J. is one of the most competitive people I’ve ever been around. He hates losing more than anybody I know. He played the game angry, that’s just how he plays it. It’s awesome. I feel like he is more mature. I feel like we all are after getting a year under our belt. The guys responded to C.J. being out there and I think we responded really well. We’re looking forward to having C.J. lead us from here on out.”
On Beathard taking hits:
“He’s a bad ass. He’s good. C.J. has more grit than anyone that I know.”
On Beathard’s build:
“He’s got a severe ‘dad bod.’ He can run longer than anybody I’ve ever known — which is kind of crazy — and he can take any hit. It’s pretty cool. Don’t know how he does it.”
On his shoulder:
“I was fine, perfectly fine.”
On the interceptions:
“I didn’t see either of them because I was running a route. I came on the sideline and I didn’t know what happened. It’s even more frustrating when I don’t know what happened and the ball is going the other direction. It’s not fun. You can’t make those mistakes and expect to win a game in the NFL.”