It was a cold and miserable night for the San Francisco 49ers in Buffalo, and that’s even before I mentioned the weather.

On a snowy night, the Bills secured the AFC East with a commanding 35:10 victory over the 49ers.

San Francisco was never in the game. A touchdown scoring drive by Buffalo immediately wiped out the game’s first score, and there was no turning back from there.

It was a game that perfectly summed up the San Francisco 49ers’ 2024 season.

A series of miserable events

The start was promising enough. The 49ers defense forced a Buffalo three-and-out on the first drive. The San Francisco offense took the ball, made nine plays and made a field goal to take an early 3-0 lead.

That would be the last highlight for the 49ers that evening.

Buffalo responded with a 13-play, 70-yard touchdown drive that ended with a five-yard run by Ray Davis to take a lead they would never relinquish.

San Francisco’s ensuing drive started promisingly, with Christian McCaffrey nearly making a big run, but falling at the slightest touch from Taylor Rapp, limiting the run to just 18 yards. Perhaps even more pertinently, the trip caused McCaffrey to bang his knee quite badly on the frozen turf.

That came back into play a few seconds later when McCaffrey gave up a run with a loss of five and immediately retired from the game. The injury was reported as a knee injury and Shanahan ruled out running back in his halftime interview with NBC. To add insult to injury, the drive ended with Jake Moody missing a 45-yard field goal.

Buffalo wasted no time in making things worse for the 49ers, with James Cook taking the ball untouched 65 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the ensuing drive, giving the Bills an instant 14-3 lead.

There were some bright spots in the darkness of the cold, but they often led to more misery. Pat O’Donnell would pin the Bills deep into Buffalo territory with a near-perfect punt that stopped at the Buffalo three-yard line.

All the punt would do is set the stage for Buffalo to go on a nine-play, 97-yard touchdown trip, extending the Bills’ lead to 18 in the process.

The 49ers got the ball back with less than a minute left in the first half and had a chance to score before getting the ball back after halftime. A few completions from Brock Purdy would put the offense within Hail Mary range, but instead Shanahan would opt for a 55-yard field goal attempt from Moody to cut the lead to 15 before halftime.

The weather didn’t allow it and so the attempt had to be stopped.

There would be something positive for the Niners here, too, as Deebo Samuel took the kickoff and opened the second half in Buffalo territory. And again it led to more misery when Kyle Juszczyk had the ball knocked out by Taylor Rapp at the goal line, preventing a touchdown.

With a heads-up play from Amari Cooper, the game would go from miserable to embarrassing for the 49ers.

With Buffalo threatening again, Allen Cooper hit a pass near the line of scrimmage. The 49ers defenders would surround the receiver and prevent him from moving forward (if only there were a rule for that). However, Allen followed his pass to Cooper and put him in the perfect position for a lateral from his receiver. Allen took the field and got the edge, catching the pylon on a diving pass for a Josh Allen-to-Josh Allen touchdown pass, extending the Bills’ lead to 25.

San Francisco provoked a comeback, cutting the lead to 28-10 and getting the ball with a chance to penetrate deeper, but all hope was dashed by a Purdy fumble that was lost right at the start of the fourth quarter.