SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Saints' offense has been a problem all season, and the black and gold couldn't cash in on numerous red zone opportunities against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, which culminated in an ugly 13-0 loss.
It's the first time the Saints (4-8) have been shut out since 2001.
The game was characterized by brutal mistakes, bad luck, perplexing calls, and sloppy play. On the Saints' first drive, running back Alvin Kamara had the ball punched out by 49ers (7-4) linebacker Fred Warner for a fumble that the 49ers recovered at around midfield.
The Saints' defense held on to force a field goal.
Early on in the second quarter, the Saints found themselves in a prime scoring opportunity when Taysom Hill threw a 30-yard pass to wide receiver Chris Olave at the 49ers' eight-yard line.
However, the ball appeared to pop out of Olave's hands after he hit the ground. The 49ers challenged the play, and the catch was ruled incomplete, which removed what would have been a key big play for the Saints, who would end up punting at the end of that drive.
"I'm going to be honest with you, I don't know what a catch is in our league", head coach Dennis Allen said after the game.
The defense played well, even getting a goal-line stand when the 49ers had the ball inside the New Orleans 10-yard line midway through the second quarter.
The defense, which has struggled to stop the run in the last three weeks, held the 49ers' top-tier rushing attack to just 96 yards total.
But the Saints' offense completely failed at taking advantage of any opportunities the defense gave them. After Kamara's turnover, the Saints punted on their next four drives in the first half.
The 49ers' offense did not replicate the explosive performance they had against Arizona in Mexico City on Sunday, but their defense, which has not allowed points in the second half of a game since week 7, was lights out the whole afternoon.
After receiving a punt with under two minutes in the first half, San Francisco drove down to the New Orleans 32-yard line.
RB Elijah Mitchell ran up the middle for a 32-yard touchdown that was nullified due to a holding penalty on 49ers tight end George Kittle.
But San Francisco eventually got into the red zone and scored with under 30 seconds left in the half as 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo threw a pass to the corner of the end zone that was tipped by a Saints defender but caught by WR Jauan Jennings to give the 49ers a 10-0 lead at halftime.
The 49ers got the ball first in the third quarter.
Early into that drive, Garoppolo threw an interception to Alontae Taylor that was returned to San Francisco's 8-yard line, but it was nullified due to an illegal contact penalty on Chris Harris Jr.
The Saints would hold San Francisco to a field goal, which extended the 49ers lead to 13-0, and found themselves in Niners territory on the following drive.
But a false start on a 4th-and-5 on the 49ers' 25-yard line forced them to go for a 48-yard field goal, which kicker Will Lutz would miss.
The Saints would get another chance in the 4th quarter and thanks to the efforts of wide receiver Chris Olave and a few 49ers penalties, the Saints found themselves inside the 49ers' 10-yard line.
Quarterback Andy Dalton threw a short pass to Kamara, who took the ball to the one-yard line before the ball was punched out by 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga.
The ball bounced off 49ers safety Jimmie Ward and fell into the hands of Saints TE Juwan Johnson before another 49ers player punched the ball out for a fumble that was recovered by San Francisco.
"We weren’t able to finish, and we left a lot of plays out there," Dalton said. "That’s the frustrating thing. This game could have been a lot different if we capitalized on those opportunities, but we didn’t do that today."
The Saints would force another punt, and got to the red zone again thanks to Olave. The Saints ran seven plays in the red zone (the 49ers committed a penalty that gave the Saints a fresh set of downs at one point), but could not reach the end zone on 4th and goal as Dalton was sacked by 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa.
"We had a lot of chances. We had the ball in our hands a couple of times in the end zone and couldn't come up with the play," Allen said. "...We gave ourselves plenty of opportunities to win this game."
Dalton completed 18 passes on 29 attempts for 204 yards and also rushed for 21 yards on four carries. Olave, the Saints' best player on Sunday, caught five passes for 62 yards.
But the tipping point for the loss were the Saints' two turnovers that killed potential scoring drive. The Saints also were penalized six times and possessed the ball for nearly ten minutes less than San Francisco.
The Saints play the Buccaneers on the road on Monday Night Football next on December 5 at 7:15 p.m. on ESPN.