ATLANTA -- The San Francisco 49ers just lost 29-20 to the Atlanta Falcons. Here are the 49ers' grades for this performance.

QUARTERBACK: D

Brock Purdy lost this game. To be fair, he didn't have his top-six wide receivers (Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel, Demarcus Robinson, De'Zhaun Stribling, Ricky Pearsall and Brandon Aiyuk). Still, he had George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey and Kyle Shanahan. Plus, Purdy had Jordan Watkins, who had a terrific game (more on him in a minute). If Purdy had put more air underneath his deep pass to Watkins, he would have scored a touchdown instead of getting tackled after a gain of 35 yards. In addition, Purdy threw two picks -- the first to a safety while trying to throw the ball out of bounds, and the second to a linebacker right in front of him whom he never saw. Finally, Purdy also turned the ball over on downs when he took a sack on fourth down. Purdy is still a good quarterback, but he can probably forget about the MVP Award after this performance. We thought he had improved, but it turns out he simply plays much better when Mike Evans is on the field (who doesn't?).

RUNNING BACKS: B

Christian McCaffrey was outstanding despite missing most of the first half with a quad injury. Kaelon Black also played well, minus his fumble. That was a crucial play in the game. Jordan James also fumbled, but the 49ers recovered. And Kyle Juszczyk caught a touchdown pass near the goal line. Overall, this position is not the reason the 49ers lost.

TIGHT ENDS: B-MINUS

George Kittle caught eight passes for 88 yards despite the Falcons bracketing him most of the game, but also fumbled on the final drive. To be fair, the 49ers already had essentially lost at that point. Still, it's unusual to see Kittle put the ball on the ground.

WIDE RECEIVERS: B

Sure, they're a bunch of backups, but none of these guys turned the ball over. Of course, Christian Kirk did nothing -- I still don't know why the 49ers signed him. But Jacob Cowing was decent, and Jordan Watkins was good. He finished with three catches for 56 yards. One of those catches should have been a long touchdown, but Purdy underthrew him. He also had another play in which he was wide open deep, but Purdy never saw him. Finally, Watkins nearly made an incredible touchdown catch, but he didn't control the ball after hitting the ground. The emergence of Watkins as a legitimate threat is one of the main silver linings from this loss. The 49ers have to get him more involved in the offense after the bye week.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN: B-PLUS

They gave up two sacks, but also helped pave the way for the offense to gain a whopping 5.3 yards per carry. This position group is the least of the 49ers' issues as they approach the trade deadline.

DEFENSIVE LINEMEN: C

They limited Bijan Robinson to just 3.2 yards per carry, which is extremely impressive, but they also recorded zero sacks against a subpar quarterback who doesn't move particularly well. The 49ers just let him stand still unbothered all game like he was watching waves at the beach. They really need to trade for DeForest Buckner as soon as possible. They need more pass rushers.

LINEBACKERS: A

Fred Warner had 13 tackles and Dre Greenlaw had 12. Impressive. And they didn't hit anyone helmet-to-helmet or out of bounds, which is even more impressive for them.

DEFENSIVE BACKS: D

They gave up three touchdown passes and a 118.9 passer rating to Michael Freaking Penix Jr., which never should happen. Granted, the 49ers had no pass rush. Still, the coverage was so soft, it was hard for the defensive linemen to get home. That's because Upton Stout missed the game with a shoulder injury, and his replacement was Jack Jones, who's awful. When the Falcons picked on him, the 49ers replaced him with Ahstyn Davis, who's worse. Finally, the 49ers put Ephesians Prysock in the game, which was smart -- he's better than Jones and Davis. Strange it took the 49ers so long to figure that out.

SPECIAL TEAMS: F

They gave up multiple long kickoff returns, and Eddy Pineiro missed his fourth extra point of the season and his seventh kick in seven games. He is one of the worst extra-point kickers the league has seen since it moved back the extra point roughly 10 years ago. Too bad the 49ers gave him a four-year extension this offseason, because he's gotta go. The 49ers need to replace him before he costs them any more games. Because as poorly as the 49ers played, they would have been down just one score on the final possession if Pineiro hadn't missed an extra point earlier in the game. Cut him.

COACHES: C

Raheem Morris' defense wasn't great, but it succeeded in its main objective, which was keeping Bijan Robinson in check. He never scored. The biggest reason the 49ers lost, other than their kicker missing yet another extra point, was the offense. It stunk. It turned the ball over five times -- two interceptions, two fumbles and one turnover on downs. The running game was working, and the 49ers had the lead in the second half, and yet Kyle Shanahan fell in love with the passing game, just like last week. He called 42 passes and just 21 runs, which is inexplicable considering the 49ers were missing so many wide receivers. Fortunately, the 49ers still are 6-1, and they have a bye week coming up, so Shanahan can look himself in the mirror, acknowledge that he coached poorly the past two weeks, and fix his mistakes. The Super Bowl run depends on it.