A week after their 38-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers, the San Francisco 49ers suffered another ugly defeat: They lost 35-10 on the road to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night and are 5-7 on the season.

In a game dominated by snow conditions, the 49ers appeared as they have all season: undisciplined, error-prone and physically overwhelmed.

As a result, San Francisco lost again in ugly fashion and the season is looking bleaker by the day.

Offensively, the 49ers managed less than 100 yards through the air, but missed numerous chances in the first half.

Defensively, San Francisco was beaten in the running game as Buffalo ran around the ground all game, while Bills quarterback Josh Allen made the most of his opportunities in the air with some great throws.

Here are three quick takeaways from the 49ers’ 35-10 loss to the Bills on Sunday.

Missed opportunities

The 49ers have been the epitome of missed opportunities this season, whether through red zone issues, penalties or turnovers.

Well, they had plenty of chances to open the game on Sunday, but only managed three points in the first half.

San Francisco went 48 yards on its first drive of the game, but only managed a field goal in the red zone to take an early 3-0 lead. After Buffalo responded with a touchdown, the 49ers advanced down the field again, but missed a 45-yard field goal from Jake Moody in the difficult conditions.

Then there was a punt on a drive that saw San Francisco run six of seven plays in Buffalo territory before finally ending up at the Bills’ 41-yard line. And finally, with 48 seconds left, the 49ers trailed 21-3 and moved the ball during a two-minute drill, but Jake Moody’s 55-yard field goal fell just short.

So the 49ers were in Bills territory on every single drive in the first half, but only scored three points. Yikes.

Things didn’t slow down in the second half, as fullback Kyle Juszczyk fumbled on a run at the one-yard line, snuffing out any momentum for the 49ers and essentially becoming the killer for San Francisco in the loss.

The 49ers have struggled to make the most of their opportunities this season. There were opportunities on Sunday. It’s just that the team once again didn’t capitalize on it.

Run the defense

It seems like run defense has become a common topic of conversation for the 49ers this season.

Well, the run defense was terrible on Sunday, as San Francisco allowed 223 yards and three touchdowns on the ground while Buffalo ran the ball 38 times compared to Josh Allen’s 17 passes.

James Cook was the star, rushing for 107 yards and a touchdown, which included a long breakaway of 65 yards. But replacement player Ray Davis was also part of the game and managed 65 yards and a touchdown on 11 runs.

Overall, the 49ers once again failed at tackling and simply couldn’t be more physical than their opponent, which led to Buffalo dominating on the ground.

The team’s run defense has been a problem all year, but on Sunday there was a clear problem that called into question the team’s heart.

Injuries

Going into the season, it was clear that San Francisco would rely on the stars of a big, top-heavy team.

That meant younger players had to step up into impact roles while the stars had to shoulder a greater burden in order for the 49ers to build on last season’s success.

Well, things initially got out of hand when star running back Christian McCaffrey was placed on the injured list with bilateral Achilles tendonitis. Additionally, safety Talanoa Hufanga was sidelined for the first few weeks as he returned from a torn ACL, while stars Brandon Aiyuk and Trent Williams were rusty early after not practicing with the team following extended contract negotiations in the fall.

But the problems have spread to a variety of stars throughout the year.

Brock Purdy is dealing with a shoulder problem that caused him to miss a week. McCaffrey didn’t really start to look like himself until Sunday, but he suffered a PCL injury and could be out for a year. Aiyuk is out for the season due to a torn cruciate ligament. Samuel hasn’t looked like himself all year. Williams is struggling with ankle injuries. And that’s just on the offensive side.

Defensively, Nick Bosa has recently had to struggle with hip and oblique problems. Javon Hargrave is out this year. Fred Warner is struggling with a broken ankle. Charvarius Ward was inconsistent at the start of the year and recently dealt with a terrible tragedy that kept him out for almost a month. And Talanoa Hufanga was ruled out for virtually the entire year after suffering a series of injuries following his recovery from a torn cruciate ligament.

With all of these issues in a top-heavy squad, the burden is placed on the replacements and younger players who simply haven’t been able to compete at a high enough level.

And that’s a microcosm of the 2022 and 2023 draft classes where San Francisco got virtually no production, aside from Brock Purdy getting lucky with the last pick in the previous draft.

The 2022 class has produced zero quality starters other than Purdy, while the 2023 class only has safety Ji’Ayir Brown, who struggled for most of the year, and kicker Jake Moody, who was extremely inconsistent in his first two seasons.

With no good younger players coming out of the draft, there simply isn’t enough talent on this team, and that’s a big reason why they’re 5-7 at this point.