How on earth did the 49ers win that recreation?
How on earth does a staff that may’t constantly run the ball or stress the passer, that includes guys off the road within the beginning lineup as a result of their roster is held collectively by athletic tape and sheer stubbornness, beat the Rams, arguably the perfect (and the least injured) staff within the NFL, 26-23 in extra time on Thursday?
How on earth is that this Niners staff 4-1 on the season with a pristine 3-0 within the NFC West?
The reply isn’t difficult. It’s a phrase that makes the spreadsheet jockeys of the NFL wince, but it surely issues greater than cap area and draft capital:
Tradition.
Kyle Shanahan’s Niners have it in buckets.
It’s going to take them to the playoffs — they’ll play sub-.500 soccer the remainder of the way in which and make it due to this unbelievable, inconceivable begin — and if this staff ever will get wholesome (OK, more healthy), maybe much more.
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There’s one thing particular about this Niners staff — there’s little doubt about it. And to suppose that this was alleged to be a bridge yr for San Francisco, whose entrance workplace has been centered on constructing for 2026 since earlier than 2025 began.
They’re constructing one thing, all proper: a profitable machine.
What else do you name a staff that, even with their roster torn all the way down to the studs — backup quarterback, third-string pass-catchers, a protection that misplaced its celebrity move rusher — remains to be capable of win, on a brief week, on the highway (you may’t name it a “home” recreation), scrapping and clawing all the way in which to the end line?
That’s not regular.
All of us heard the speak this week. Respectable minds steered the far-too-injured Niners ought to “punt” this recreation and take the lengthy weekend to get wholesome for Week 6.
It seems the sport they punted was the loss this previous Sunday to the Jags.
The toughness on show Thursday evening — the sheer, gritty sticktoitiveness — was a testomony to the staff’s leaders: Shanahan and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh.
For all of the head-scratching seasons we’ve seen in Shanahan’s tenure — there have been some actual duds — for him to have his staff wanting down at their divisional rivals whereas there’s a medical tent filled with key gamers wanting up from the coaching desk makes him the frontrunner for NFL Coach of the Yr.
As a result of this isn’t a fly-by-night operation defying frequent sense. That is the beginning of one thing huge.
After we confer with “programs” in soccer, we sometimes imply these on the school stage.
We predict the professionals are too wealthy, too savvy, too mercenary to purchase into some hokey perception system, proper?
Unsuitable.
These 49ers embody the values their coaches preach: toughness, smarts, and resilience.
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Backup quarterback Mac Jones confirmed all of them on Thursday. He was cramping, dragging a large knee brace, and taking photographs that may fell a lesser participant. Twice on this recreation, I used to be sure he was carried out. I feel he was throwing up on the sideline within the second half. At one level, he wanted two trainers between possessions — one for the gimpy leg, one for the throwing arm.
He deserved a 3rd to fan him with a palm frond whereas he choked down his bananas. (He had three, should you’re scoring at dwelling.)
However he discovered a method. He completed the struggle, throwing for 342 yards. He may barely flip, which is an actual downside for an under-center quarterback, however he willed his staff to a victory. Toughness? That doesn’t do Jones’ efficiency justice.
He additionally caught with the lately signed Kendrick Bourne, who had a nightmare Sunday, didn’t know the performs (unlawful movement adopted by a burned timeout due to an incorrect alignment), and had a nasty early drop. However Jones stored feeding him, and down the stretch, Bourne grew to become the staff’s offensive engine down the stretch, ending with 10 catches for 142 yards. That’s resilience.
And the smarts. My goodness, had been these on show.
It’s straightforward to see now why Shanahan liked Jones within the 2020 draft. They’ve a mind-meld. Jones runs this scheme with the timing and precision the play-caller craves. With this many gamers sidelined, the scheme needed to win Thursday, and Jones was the right triggerman for it.
However this similar ethos extends to the protection. Riddled with youngsters and feeble up entrance with out Bosa, they bent. The Rams picked up yards in chunks, significantly when Matt Stafford zeroed in on rookie security Marquise Sigle. However the Niners didn’t break.
It got here all the way down to the ultimate minutes, twice: Rams had been on the 3-yard line with 4 downs to take the lead within the ultimate 67 seconds, however there was rookie defensive sort out Alfred Collins forcing a game-changing fumble. Then, in extra time, the Rams went for it on fourth-and-1, effectively inside discipline objective vary, down 3. They ran to the correct, and it’s Sigle, the child they picked on all evening, who comes as much as ship the game-winning cease.
To the blokes who dwell on a spreadsheet, these items doesn’t matter. They’ll say the Niners are fortunate — mere paper tigers — and regression will chew them the remainder of the season.
However to anybody who understands that this sport is about grown males hitting one another as exhausting as they’ll, and to those that know that spirit beats expertise on any given Sunday or Thursday, the Niners’ efficiency in Los Angeles was a declarative assertion.
Nothing might be straightforward for this staff, and the accidents have solely made issues oh-so-much tougher. However they’ve confirmed to be more durable than their circumstances.
You’ll be able to’t assist however imagine they’ll discover a technique to win, even when the deck is so clearly stacked towards them.
The 49ers had been pressured to construct one thing new after their first Tremendous Bowl window slammed shut.
They’re doing it.
The profitable machine is again in service. It may be clanky and spitting smoke proper now, but it surely’s working on bile. At some point, it’ll have even higher gas.
However bile will do for now, as a result of it has allowed a staff dwelling via what ought to be a worst-case situation to search out itself within the best-case situation via 5 video games.
