3 Takeaways from 49ers' Week 7 Loss vs. Chiefs

It was an exciting week for San Francisco 49ers fans before the team even kicked off on Sunday. That's because the 49ers went out and acquired superstar running back Christian McCaffrey in a trade with the Carolina Panthers on Thursday night.

While it was a successful week for San Francisco on the trade market, it was less so on the actual gridiron. The 49ers were outplayed by the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday afternoon, when they fell 44-23 at Levi's Stadium.

San Francisco is now on its first losing streak of the season, as it dropped a road matchup against the Atlanta Falcons a week prior. The 49ers are 3-4, one game back of the NFC West-leading Seattle Seahawks.

Here are three takeaways from San Francisco's Week 7 loss.

Considering McCaffrey didn't even join the 49ers until Friday, it was impressive that he learned enough of the offensive playbook in time to suit up for Sunday's game. But it was clear that he wasn't going to have a huge role in his San Francisco debut.

Still, McCaffrey got enough time on the field to make a strong first impression. He had eight carries for 38 yards and two catches for 24 yards while playing 18 snaps.

It was a solid showing, given the limited opportunities. But McCaffrey is capable of much more, as he's proven throughout his six-year NFL career. And he's poised for much bigger things once he's more familiar with the 49ers' offense.

"He's not going to be the savior, but he's definitely going to help us out," San Francisco tight end George Kittle said, per ESPN's Nick Wagoner. "I think these next two weeks are going to be huge for Christian to understand our offense and be comfortable out there not to think at all, just go out and run because that's what he's really good at."

Once that happens, the 49ers' offense should reach another level. They have too many talented playmakers on the unit to not have better results than they did prior to bringing McCaffrey into the fold.

One of the primary reasons why San Francisco lost this game was its inability to slow Kansas City's offense. The Chiefs have a lot of talented playmakers, and no defense is likely to completely shut them down. But in order to beat them, they can't put up the type of numbers they did on Sunday.

San Francisco allowed 529 total yards, 423 of which came via the arm of Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The 49ers also couldn't keep the game close late, as the Chiefs scored three touchdowns in the final 18 minutes and 31 seconds.

“We definitely had our chances,” San Francisco defensive end Nick Bosa said, per Josh Dubow of the Associated Press. “It’s a great team and we gave them too many easy ones.”

Even after this showing, the 49ers still rank third best in the NFL with 294.9 total yards allowed per game. So it seems likely that their defense will rebound in future weeks, especially because they won't be going up against the Chiefs again this season.

Although the 49ers haven't fared well the past two weeks, they're still in a good position when it comes to the NFC West race. So that's why it'll be important for them to get back on track in the near future, as they could potentially even ascend to the top of the division standings.

San Francisco (3-4) is only one game of Seattle (4-3), which is the surprise NFC West leader through seven weeks. The Los Angeles Rams (3-3) had a bye this week, so they're a half-game up on the 49ers. And the Arizona Cardinals are tied with them at 3-4.

However, San Francisco has a 2-0 record in division games, as it has already notched wins over both Seattle and Los Angeles. The 49ers will have a chance to sweep the season series against the Rams in Week 8, when the two teams are set to face off at Levi's Stadium.

That will be San Francisco's final game before its bye week. So if the 49ers can beat the Rams again and improve to 4-4 before getting time to rest and reload, they'll be in an even better spot heading into the second half of the season.