Niners safety Jaquiski Tartt owns up to dropped INT

It goes without saying that Jaquiski Tartt would like to have that one back, but at least he owned up to it.

The San Francisco 49ers safety dropped what may have been the easiest interception of his NFL career on Sunday during the NFC Championship Game. Plenty went wrong for the Niners in a fourth quarter that started with them up 17-7 and ended with them down 20-17, but Tartt’s drop stood out as the worst missed opportunity.

The play came with the Niners still up 17-14 and a little under 10 minutes left, when Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford uncorked a huge pass into San Francisco territory and watched it sail right into Tartt’s hands. It was such an easy play that Fox Sports announcer Joe Buck initially thought Tartt had made the play, but then Tartt bobbled the ball, bobbled it again and fell to the ground.

Rather than go back on defense, the Rams continued to drive and eventually settled for a field goal, a three-point swing in a game decided by three points.

Athletes have reacted to less mortifying mistakes by declining to talk to anyone after the game. Tartt could have easily done that and had no one hold it against him, but he instead owned the mistake, both on social media and in person with the media.

Mere minutes after the game, he posted a tweet saying he deserved all criticism and vowed to get better.

Then he appeared before reporters and answered questions about the worst play of his career.

Part of Tartt’s reaction: