SANTA CLARA – Levi’s Stadium’s roar was finally quieting, and slipping out its back door all alone was injured linebacker Fred Warner, somewhat disguised by his hoodie but unmistakably overjoyed.
“Huge,” Warner said of the 49ers’ 42-38 win Sunday night against the Chicago Bears. “Hey, one more.”
Yep, one more regular-season finale against the Seattle Seahawks to determine the NFC’s No. 1 seed and NFC West champion, six years after Warner and the 49ers pulled that off in Seattle.
No team in NFL history has done what the 49ers can do: win out at home en route to the Lombardi Trophy, though their 1984 team somewhat did that by winning two playoff games before Super Bowl XIX at Stanford.
No one is sure this patchwork team can win one more game, and no one should doubt whether an ultimate 10-game win streak is possible if they streak through their final four, including Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium on Feb. 8.
The 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers won three road playoff games en route to a home Super Bowl win, and the 2021 Los Angeles Rams won a divisional-round game at Tampa before winning it all at SoFi Stadium.
Here are 10 things that caught my eye from the type of chaotic, nail-biting win that can springboard a team into believing the unbelievable:
1. DEFENSE WINS … GAMES?
Mock the 49ers defense’s generosity and lack of playmaking (no sacks, no interceptions), but here came another victorious finish. So it goes under defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and his clutch crew.
“Do what you need to do when you need to do it,” Hall of Fame linebacker Patrick Willis mused as he exited the 49ers locker room.
The 49ers did it at the end … in Seattle on a Nick Bosa sack … in New Orleans on a Bryce Huff sack … in Los Angeles on Alfred Collins’ goal-line fumble recovery and finally on a fourth-down overtime stop … in Arizona on Upton Stout’s forced fumble at the 1 … at home a month ago on Ji’Ayir Brown’s end zone interception against Carolian … and again in this game, barely.
“I’m so proud of our defense and the way they stepped up,” Christian McCaffrey said. “It took every single play for them. I know they want to get better this week, but to show up and make a play at the end is a huge deal.”
2. FINAL PLAY DRAMA
They won it once defensive lineman Yetur Gross-Matos, on a hamstring that’s bothered him for months, dropped into coverage (along with eight others) and then sprinted from the goal line toward Caleb Williams, pressuring him into the game-ending incompletion.
“I’d seen him break the pocket, I triggered, tried to keep outside leverage. Thank god everybody behind me made a play,” Gross-Matos said. “I was like, ‘I need to take my shot.’ It ended up helping us close it out.
“I just tried to get him down. Then I just turned around and prayed. It was awesome.”
3. FINAL TOUCHDOWN
Don’t forget about this game’s 11th and deciding touchdown. It was Jauan Jennings’ career-high ninth this season and his most crucial.
He was No. 1 in Brock Purdy’s progression for what became a 38-yard catch-and-run to the end zone in untouched fashion with 2:15 to go. “I knew we were out of there. It was easy,” Jennings said.
So it goes when you score your sixth touchdown in just 19 catches over the past five games. This was the best, right? “I don’t have any favorites,” he said of those scores.
Purdy’s view: “I was just happy we got a completion and was ready for the next play. Then he cross courted it and he kept going, and I was, ‘Is he going to get in?’ He did. J.J. is a baller, a warrior. Give him a chance and he’ll give the team everything he’s got.”
4. SHANAHAN FAN CLUB
A second straight game over 40 points – last done by the 49ers in 1995 – reflects kindly on Shanahan’s play calling, as best supported by McCaffrey’s testimony afterward.
“It’s something that he was born to do. He’s been doing it for a long time at the highest level,” McCaffrey said. “When we’re in those meetings, it’s like football heaven. As a football nerd, you just learn so much every week. It keeps you on your toes every week. It’s definitely fun to be a part of.”
That’s because Shanahan draws on his experience 20 years ago as a Tampa Bay Buccaneers entry-level coach, when he absorbed as much as he could about defense before converting to his happy place on offense in Houston.
“He sees it better than anybody and plays not just to the structure of the defense but the emotions of the defense as well,” McCaffrey added. “If some guy is an aggressive guy, he knows that.”
The 49ers amassed a season-high 496 yards, including 330 in their biggest first-half output since 1998 (vs. Atlanta).
Added Purdy: “He’s a Hall of Fame coach. To have him draw up and scheme stuff, put guys in certain positions for us to go out and execute, be on top of our stuff every single play, we’re grateful to be playing for him.”
5. PURDY’S PROWESS
After throwing a career-high five touchdown passes on “Monday Night Football” in Indianapolis, Purdy produced another five touchdowns in prime time this game, three via pass and two by wily runs before halftime.
“It’s never going into a game, ‘Hey man I’m going to scramble my butt off here.’ It’s just one of things that happens. It’s football,” Purdy said. “How can I be smart outside of the designed play but also have my eyes downfield because guys are moving and working. There are explosive plays out there. It’s something I continue to learn as I go. It’s part of my game.”
Two months ago, it sure wasn’t as he was sidelined with turf toe, an injury that kept him out eight of the first 10 games. On a scramble Sunday, Purdy kept that right foot upright and out of harms way as he was being tackled.
6. LEFT TACKLE DEPTH
Worse than giving up a pick-six on the opening play was left tackle Trent Williams injuring a hamstring for the first time in his illustrious career (12 Pro Bowls). As Williams watched from the bench, Austen Pleasants emerged as a surprisingly capable replacement, as was the case late last season.
“He’s a guy we all love,” Purdy said of Pleasants. “He’s been great in our locker room and one of the boys on the bus. He’s done a great job being ready all year. To let our offense keep rolling and not lose a step was huge.”
While Purdy got sacked just once on the night (moving to his right), McCaffrey ran for a season-high 140 yards.
Williams’ potential absence will be huge, however, against the Seahawks, who have a much tougher pass rush and defensive front.
7. KITTLE’S SUPER SUB
George Kittle’s ankle sprain Monday didn’t allow him to face his childhood team, so Jake Tonges went out and produced a career-high 60 yards on seven catches, which shouldn’t be all too surprising. Tonges made the winning catch in the opener at Seattle once Kittle left with a hamstring injury, and he now has five touchdowns among 34 catches for 293 yards. Tonges has no catches on one target in four games for the 2022 Bears.
Said Purdy: ”He made some big-time routes, big-time catches, couple low balls that I thought he went down and made a hell of a play for. Kept the chains moving for us a number of times. He was huge today, just like he’s been all year.”
8. DEFENSIVE VOID
Safety Ji’Ayir Brown rightfully praised how resilient the 49ers’ defense has been all year, getting the job done even if it wasn’t pretty.
The postseason could have a great beautification project: Warner’s return, albeit still just a concept for later rounds but one he’s targeting three months into his right-ankle repair.
“It would be big if Fred comes back. That would be dope,” Brown said. “But that’s all his decision, that’s all part of his process. We’re going to play if he is here or he is not.”
Without Warner, the 49ers defense was on the field for 64 plays, including 16 on an exhaustive final series.
9. HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE
Rookie defensive tackle Alfred Collins was amazed at Sunday night’s raucous atmosphere at Levi’s Stadium (attendance: 71,836).
“Don’t get me started. That was crazy,” Collins said. “That was one of the loudest stadiums I’ve been in; top-five for sure. They’re special, for real. Love our fans.”
The 49ers are 5-2 at home this season, including a 3-0 mark in prime-time games there. Their losses were to the playoff-bound Jacksonville Jaguars (26-21, Week 4) and Los Angeles Rams (42-26, Week 10).
10. SEATTLE SERIES
The Seahawks are 8-4 all-time at Levi’s Stadium, including a 20-17 win last season when then-quarterback Geno Smith raced for a 13-yard touchdown run with 12 seconds remaining.
Last-minute heroics went the 49ers’ way in this season’s rematch, with Bosa’s last-minute strip sack and fumble recovery against Sam Darnold, the 49ers’ 2023 backup.
That introduction to the 49ers-Seahawks rivalry made an instant impression on Collins, who said: “The first week I remember how intense everything was. It felt like it was Texas-OU (Oklahoma). Like, we hate them. It’s going to be one of those games.”