Brock Purdy

Skip suggests 49ers treating Cowboys as Super Bowl led to first loss

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No longer undefeated and licking their wounds from a physical clash against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, the 49ers certainly aren't thinking about their Week 5 win over the Dallas Cowboys anymore.

But for some reason, Skip Bayless still is.

The "Undisputed" host and noted Cowboys fan reveled in San Francisco's first loss of the season during Monday's episode, positing the notion that perhaps the 49ers placed too much emphasis on their 42-10 thumping of Dallas. He recalled making himself feel better about Dallas' loss in the aftermath last week by acknowledging the 49ers have a Super Bowl-caliber roster.

"And then [the 49ers' loss to the Browns] happened and I got jolted back to present reality," Bayless told co-hosts Richard Sherman and Keyshawn Johnson. "Because now you look back at last Sunday night [against the Cowboys] and you say, 'Wait a second, did the 49ers just play their Super Bowl last Sunday night? Did they peak way too early? Did they just max out last Sunday night against the hated Dallas Cowboys, and they put them in their place?' ...

"All of a sudden I'm saying, 'Wait a second, you couldn't take care of business against P.J. Walker with Brock Purdy?' "

It's true -- the 49ers didn't take care of business, but it had nothing to do with the week before. A game filled with uncharacteristic penalties and a last-second missed field-goal attempt dropped them to 5-1, and injuries to Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel leave the status of their offense in jeopardy.

If those two end up needing to miss significant time, Bayless said, San Francisco's season might look a lot different. And after handing the Cowboys a humbling defeat last week, the 49ers now are on the receiving end of a reality check.

"Is it possible that the 49ers went from euphoria to 'wait a second' and second-guessing who they are now, after what happened yesterday in Cleveland?" Bayless said, adding a loss like this could impact the 49ers' confidence. "... You say, 'Oh, back to the drawing board after we thought we had won the Super Bowl.' "

With Week 6 now in the rearview mirror, the 49ers have plenty of games ahead of them to reach their ultimate goal: The real Super Bowl. And while Bayless believes a loss like this could haunt San Francisco, the team plans on learning from its first defeat moving forward.

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