© Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
Long gone are the days of smacking down the Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football, or a Nick Bosa-led sack parade revealing the Carolina Panthers’ playoff hopes to be a mirage. Now, the 49ers win (and lose) either ugly, or with gritted teeth. That’s what happens at this point in the season, with the old luster of being the last undefeated NFL team rendered an almost hazy dream.
On Saturday, the 49ers won their ugliest game of the season (with the view that their Mud Bowl, 9-0 win over the Washington Redskins takes status as a cult classic), a 34-31 win over the Los Angeles Rams. They played not like they were trying to lose, but once again found out exactly how close they could cut it.
Know that your stress about these close games (each of the last five decided by one score) is not isolated. The 49ers would also prefer these games didn’t pan out this way.
“I mean, I’d rather not, honestly,” said Deebo Samuel.
But no one remembers those blowouts; at least not in the same light.
“You always prefer it to be settled early on, but these are the ones that you remember,” said Ben Garland.
“Definitely the toughest game of my career”
Saturday began with tragedy, and the 49ers’ work of facing the Rams was not much of a reprieve from the news that C.J. Beathard’s younger brother, Clayton, was murdered early on Saturday. George Kittle, who played his college football with Beathard at the University of Iowa, is close with the Beathard family and described Clayton as “a ball of positivity,” found himself choked up talking about the news after the game.
“Definitely, I’d say, the toughest game of my career,” Kittle said. “Today was absolutely terrible for me the entire day. It sucked all around. I got to talk to C.J. after the game, but overall it was just kind of a brutal day. We got that one for C.J. and I’m just so happy we could do it.”
“Definitely the toughest game of my career.”
-George Kittle got emotional talking about C.J. Beathard and the death of his brother Clayton pic.twitter.com/7eZBmlRO5Q
— KNBR (@KNBR) December 22, 2019
It had to be Kittle who was there to ensure that goal came to fruition. The second half opened with an interception, followed by four-straight punts. And after all that sputtering, Kittle came through, as he almost always does; first, with a 36-yard catch and run, and on third-and-goal, with a broken play and Jimmy Garoppolo searching for someone, anyone to come open, Kittle was there again, to put the 49ers up 31-28.
Aaron Donald’s onslaught, the Rams’ consistent offense, and it just didn’t matter
When Fred Warner provided the 49ers with their first lead of the game, courtesy of a pick-six to close out the first half, it was maybe the only moment the 49ers were really in the driver’s seat, set to receive the ball in the second half with a four-point lead.
As soon as they did, the momentum was gone, evaporated in the form of a Garoppolo interception, and then followed by four punts.
Aside from Warner’s brief moment, the momentum was hardly ever with the 49ers. And while it felt like they were losing, almost doomed from the outset, they won.
The Seattle Seahawks have proven, to the 49ers’ chagrin, that you might not actually need to be some powerhouse, unstoppable force to achieve sustained success throughout a season. You just need to find a way to eke out a victory, no matter its putrid stench.
Jimmy Garoppolo was sacked six times and threw two interceptions.
Jared Goff was never sacked, the first time all season that the 49ers haven’t registered a sack.
Goff threw for 323 yards and two touchdowns as Robert Woods (eight receptions, 117 yards) and Tyler Higbee (nine receptions, 104 yards) caught passes off bootlegs time and time and time again. If it wasn’t a boot, it was a play action followed by a dump pass, with the occasional pass over the middle. The 49ers knew it was coming, and they did improve at defending it, but the Rams’ predictable formula mostly worked.
Aaron Donald (1.5 sacks) and Cory Littleton (2.5 sacks) proved the team’s worst fears when Daniel Brunskill replaced Mike Person at right guard, having never started at guard in his NFL career. Person helps Garland, who’s replaced Weston Richburg at center, with his snap cues. There were multiple occasions, including a fumble, when Garland had poor snaps to Garoppolo, and the two were bullied by the Rams interior players all game.
Brunskill told KNBR Donald is the toughest player he’s had to face in his career, and the Rams entire front was a handful.
“I believe [Donald] is one of the best in the world, probably the best. He’s going to go down as one of the best players to ever play the game,” Brunskill said.
“They’re really good players. It was a grind it out. They got us a few times. We would love to be better and clean that up, but they’re a great defensive line… Happy to be able to go against them and improve to go watch film off this and try to improve off of that. Definitely, there’s a lot of room for improvement.”
Brunskill was replacing Person, who hadn’t missed a start in 30-straight games. He said Person was eagle-eyed in practice and during the game, providing fairly constant tips and adjustments. Person was listed as questionable with a neck injury, but his status sounds like it may have been more ominous earlier on in the week.
“You could tell he didn’t want to be sitting out with this game. He was definitely a lot quieter this week,” Brunskill said. “Usually he’s a pretty fun guy, he’s definitely that guy, but he’s definitely a quiet and humble guy this week, because you could tell it was just hurting inside that he wanted to be there. And you want to be here for the team, you know, so it’s tough for him.”
“You definitely learn from it. I mean, [Donald] is one of the best in the league and we’re going to look at this tape and learn from our mistakes and grow from it,” Garland said. “We have to play better. It’s a fact.”
Marcell Harris is with Brunskill and Garland in his status as a struggling replacements, having replaced Jaquiski Tartt at strong safety for the past three weeks. A player with some fantastic moments, like impressive, well-read hits on screen passes and run plays, he shows coverage deficiencies and sometimes makes mental mistakes.
When Harris dropped an interception late in the fourth quarter which would have likely sealed a win, he was picked up by Richard Sherman. Harris told KNBR Sherman’s message was to lock back in.
“Honestly just keep going, it’s gonna come back to me,” Harris said.
Even with backups who were playing like backups and starters who underperformed — Ahkello Witherspoon was poor, Laken Tomlinson also had a rough night on the offensive line, and while Goff did get pressured, the lack of a single sack is damning from the defensive line’s perspective — the 49ers won.
In order to secure the NFC West Division title and the top seed in the NFC, they’ll likely need a similar, teeth-grinding win over the Seahawks next week in Seattle. At this point, having moved past the bitter taste of their loss to the Atlanta Falcons, there’s all the evidence to believe they’re capable.
