Inside simply the primary few snaps taken by quarterback Caleb Williams in a 38-13 drubbing of the Bears on Sunday afternoon, although, one thing else had caught fireplace.
“It was smoking hot,” mentioned defensive finish Leonard Floyd of the 49ers’ go rush, which rose from the embers of Nick Bosa’s three-game absence to place the Bears’ rookie quarterback underneath fixed duress and helped the group get again within the win column for the primary time since Nov. 10.
Floyd recorded two of the 49ers’ six group sacks — matching a season-high from their Week 4 win towards New England — they usually received to Williams for a seventh time, forcing a fumble in San Francisco territory that didn’t depend towards their sack complete.
With out Bosa, the 49ers had gotten to opposing quarterbacks twice of their previous two video games — not as soon as final week in Buffalo.
“I wouldn’t say it was difficult without him, but it’s obviously easier with him,” Floyd mentioned of Bosa, who has been sidelined with left hip and indirect accidents since a Week 11 loss to Seattle. “I’d rather it be easier than harder. But the difference today was every man in the room went out and played their best. Went out and had great games. From me, from Maliek (Collins), from Jordan (Elliott), just the whole room came out and played hard.”
The 49ers obtained the opening kick, drove the sphere and scored in a matter of 5 performs.
By the point the Bears moved the chains for the second time — on their first possession of the third quarter — they trailed 24-0, had been outgained by almost 300 yards and had taken 4 sacks. In complete, their 162 yards amounted to the 49ers’ fewest allowed all season.
Williams, the primary general choose on this 12 months’s draft, used his athleticism to create some performs and didn’t throw an interception. However the 49ers’ secondary, which returned security Talanoa Hufanga from injured reserve, was glad to supply assist for his or her entrance seven.
“We’ve just got to do our job on the back end, play sticky coverage and give our guys enough time to get into the pass rush,” security Malik Mustapha mentioned. “Caleb is a guy that doesn’t want to turn the ball over a lot, so we knew he was going to take some sacks. We had guys up front that were hounding and getting to the ball.”
It has been a next-man-up kind of season for the 49ers, and Sunday’s win was no exception.
Their go rush was led by a newcomer who spent many of the season on IR, and their one turnover was recovered by a rookie who went undrafted.
In his fourth sport again since struggling a knee harm in Week 4, Yeter Gross-Matos received to Williams a team-high 3 times, together with on back-to-back performs within the fourth quarter. It earned him Hufanga’s ceremonial Kukui Nut necklace, which the Tongan security presents to a teammate after every sport.
“You could see it, the way he out-physicaled some guys, it was awesome,” mentioned Hufanga, who had been out since Week 5 with a torn ligament in his wrist. “I told the D-line to get a good picture.”
In San Francisco territory for less than the second time all sport, the Bears weren’t in a position to make good on their menace when the San Francisco strain collapsed the pocket once more on Williams and he fumbled behind the road of scrimmage, just for Evan Anderson to fall on it.
It was one in every of solely two sacks that didn’t come on third down, however the timing proved to be much more opportune.
“We practiced running to the ball and extra effort,” Anderson mentioned. “So I think it was just the DNA of the 49ers team. It looked like he threw the ball, but when I saw it on the ground, I hadn’t heard the whistle, so I just dove on it just in case.”
Anderson, an undrafted rookie out of Florida Atlantic, listened to teach Kyle Shanahan, cornerback Deommodore Lenoir and quarterback Brock Purdy converse up greater than ordinary at observe, emphasizing the significance of their remaining schedule. After three straight losses, their season wasn’t over but. However with yet another, it is perhaps.
Line of defense coach Kris Kocurek additionally implored Floyd, a veteran in his first 12 months in San Francisco, to be extra vocal at observe.
“I’ve got a lot of experience and I’ve been in tough situations where we have to win the rest of our games. It can be done, it just takes a certain mindset to get it done. So that’s what I’ve been preaching, to get the job done,” Floyd mentioned. “… I usually lead with my actions, how I practice and how I play. But Coach (Kocurek) challenged me to talk a little more and be a little more vocal, and I did it.”
The message resonated, apparently.
Along with his pair of sacks, Floyd (8.5) took over the group lead from Bosa (7) and is one away from reaching 9 for the fifth straight season.
“I mean, Bosa kinda gave me two games off. The job ain’t finished. The job ain’t finished until we make it to the playoffs. So it don’t matter unless we win the rest of these games,” Floyd mentioned. “We were preaching before practice if we come out and have a playoff-type practice, run to the ball, everybody moving, and we just carry that for the full week, we should have a great game. We should have a great game when we have a playoff mentality. And we came out and did it.”
