The San Francisco 49ers coughed up another double-digit lead in the fourth quarter to lose to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 5, 24-23. This loss follows the pattern set in their last game against the Los Angeles Rams, where they looked on the way to a comfortable victory only to give it all away in the final minutes. On Sunday, the 49ers choked a 13-point lead to the Cardinals, which understandably caused frustration among the fans and the coaching staff.

“I think we had a 13-point [lead] and a [14-point lead] in the other. By no means should we be able to give that away,” coach Kyle Shanahan said, per a report on Yahoo Sports. “Always will come back to turnovers, in my opinion. There are other things you can do to overcome them.”

The coach also commented on what flipped the game in the opponents' favor.

“Talked about last night how we thought a key to this game would be turnovers and that's exactly what the first half was,” Shanahan added. “Gave us a huge advantage and then it flipped in the second half and we need to do that stuff to win.”

Fans react to 49ers choke job vs. Cardinals in Week 5

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (right) and Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (left) greet each other after the game at Levi's Stadium.
© Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Besides Shanahan, 49ers fans also felt frustration at their team choking a win away. They turned to social media to express their sentiments about their team in various ways.

First, user @CBAS5S posted a picture of a smashed TV and blamed the 49ers for what happened.

“49ers are finding new and supremely annoying ways of throwing games away this season,” @DannyJamieson said on his post on X, formerly Twitter.

Meanwhile, user @akashanav turned to mathematics to try explaining how two of the 49ers' recent choke jobs happened.

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As the reality of the loss began to set in for @HimReaperZ, he posted a meme of Walter White from the popular series “Breaking Bad” to express his despair.

Another user, @xJahstin, uploaded another meme to highlight Brock Purdy‘s shortcomings during the game.

Finally, user @bridgetbaseball was blunt in her assessment of what these types of losses will do to the 49ers' playoff chances.

“If the 49ers can't beat the teams in their division it's a big f**king problem. This is f**king embarrassing,” she posted.

With this loss, Shanahan might have built a reputation as a choking hazard, having already lost five games as a coach while holding a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter, which included the 49ers' Super Bowl loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

The 49ers are now 2-3 heading into Week 6 against the Seattle Seahawks, who also lost on Sunday against the New York Giants without Malik Nabers, recovering from a concussion.