Getty San Francisco 49ers LB Fred Warner

The San Francisco 49ers were on the brutal end of a missed officiating decision that could have been the difference between a loss and a win.

San Francisco dropped a key game against the Seattle Seahawks, losing 20-17 and falling to 4th place in the NFC West. A key moment in the game was when the 49ers faced a 4th-and-6 at their own 42-yard line with 2:45 left in the contest. Somehow, the Seahawks called two consecutive timeouts between plays and were not handed a 5-yard penalty.

FOX rules analyst Mike Pereira went on KNBR to discuss the moment and explained that it was a major error from the officiating crew.

“It is clear that Seattle asked for a second timeout,” Pereira explained. “What you are to do when a team asks for a timeout when they’re not entitled to it — so either they’re out of timeouts or they’ve already called one in that same dead-ball period — what you do is ignore it. Now, it didn’t get ignored. It got granted… Is it simply a do-over at that point because the officials erroneously granted that? No, it is a 5-yard penalty. Even though the official shouldn’t have stopped it, when he does, then it’s a 5-yard penalty. That’s a rule. To me, it’s kinda one of those unforgivables, and they recognized it.”

At 5-5, the Niners are struggling to get over the hump. But on Sunday, there may have been some blame to put on NFL officials.

Shanahan Speaks on Seattle Timeouts

On November 18, San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked about the moment. While clearly focused on the bigger picture, Shanahan did admit he would’ve gone for a 4th-and-1.

“I haven’t thought about that since it didn’t happen,” Shanahan said. “But I’m sure if it was fourth-and-one we would’ve gone for it. We also would’ve been in much easier field goal range too, so I know it wouldn’t have been a punt.”

When asked if he had followed up with the NFL about the moment, the 49ers HC gave more context to what he was told by officials.

“We’ll send something in, but I mean, I talked to the refs on the field. I said, ‘how’d they just get two timeouts in a row?’ And they said that they didn’t, they had to fix, they alerted them with something that was wrong with something the refs were doing and then they fixed it. But I thought they had timeouts because I thought I saw a guy run up there and call one,” Shanahan said.

49ers Face Tough Follow-Up to Seahawks Loss

One of the hardest part about dropping the home game to Seattle is that it does not get any easier for San Francisco over the next two weeks. They face back-to-back road games, first traveling to Green Bay to face the Packers on November 24.

The following week, they will battle the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo. The Bills just handed the Kansas City Chiefs their first loss of the season as QB Josh Allen looks like an MVP candidate.

Things do get easier after that with home games against the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams, but the 49ers are in a critical stretch and are coming off a home loss that they will likely regret.

Evan Reier is a sports journalist covering the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers. He previously covered sports for the Montana Standard and was a managing editor for Outsider. More about Evan Reier