Niners Nation
The San Francisco 49ers lost more than a football game in Tampa Bay on Sunday.
While the scoreboard reads a 30-19 win for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, dropping the 49ers to 4-2 on the season, the headlines will be all about the loss of Fred Warner, who went down with a season-ending ankle injury in the first quarter on Sunday.
The emotional blow proved to be too much for the 49ers to overcome, as they just couldn’t find a response to Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay offense. With that said, these are the three stars from Sunday’s emotional loss:
Third star: WR Kendrick Bourne
Like in Week 6, Bourne’s day started with a mistake but would later turn into a big game.
Against the Rams last week, Bourne had an early third-down drop, but finished his game with a career-high 142 receiving yards. The story was the same on Sunday, when Bourne appeared to run the wrong route on his first target of the game, leading to Kindle Vidor’s interception of Mac Jones.
Bourne wasted little time making amends for the mistake, getting a target on the 49ers’ next play from scrimmage with a 41-yard catch on a deep shot from Jones to move the 49ers into field goal range. San Francisco would get on the board with a field goal four plays later, thanks to Bourne’s field-flipping play.
The 41-yard catch wouldn’t end up being Bourne’s biggest play of the game either. After the first quarter ended with a near-disaster in which Jones was sacked and lost the ball, only to be recovered by Luke Farrell, Bourne would strike again. Bourne would make the reception in front of Jamel Dean before turning on the jets to outrun Lavante David and Jacob Parrish, before being caught by Parrish. When it was all said and done, the result was a 56-yard gain. Nine plays later, the 49ers would score their lone touchdown of the game.
Bourne finished the day with five receptions on nine targets, again matching his new career-high with 142 yards. On a day when the 49ers’ offense was rather hapless, Bourne’s game kept the offense afloat.
Second star: K Eddy Pineiro
When a player is responsible for 68 percent of the 49ers’ scoring, that’ll be enough to earn a star.
Pineiro extended his field goal streak to 15 makes in a row to start his career with the 49ers, with a spotless four-for-four game against Tampa Bay on Sunday.
The kicker started his day with a 52-yard make on the 49ers’ second drive of the game, shrinking Tampa’s early lead to four points. San Francisco wouldn’t call on him again until the second quarter for a 54-yard attempt. The ball had some English on it, looking like it was heading left, but suddenly knuckled back right, going right through the uprights for Pineiro’s longest kick of the game.
There was even some adversity to Pineiro’s game. With the 49ers trailing by seven before the half, Pineiro was...
