CLEVELAND – At long last, the 49ers are on their bye week, after nine wins, four defeats, and numerous injuries that were supposed to derail their playoff hopes long ago.
Week 14 is here, and the 49ers’ three-game win streak is on hold. The latter fuels bravado and belief.
So not everyone was taking the cliché, company line of reasonably saying the 49ers need a mental and physical break.
“It doesn’t matter when our bye is,” safety Malik Mustapha said in an exclusive interview after Sunday’s 26-8 win over the Browns. “We could have a bye in Week 17. We have the guys that just love ball.”
Coach Kyle Shanahan said he “loves where we’re at right now” in terms of playoff position. They may be in the seventh and final NFC spot with four games to go, but they’re only a half-game out of the NFC West lead behind both the 9-3 Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks, and they’re 1 ½ games up on the Detroit Lions (7-5).
Here are 10 things that caught my eye in the 49ers’ first win in Cleveland since 1984 (and we all know how that season ended with 49ers Faithful sitting on Apple seat cushions in the Super Bowl at Stanford Stadium):
1. PURDY VS. GARRETT
Nothing was more entertaining than watching Brock Purdy dodge, duck, dip and dive past NFL sack leader Myles Garrett, who did notch his league-leading 19th sack but otherwise missed out on more because of Purdy’s pocket sense and improved mobility.
The 49ers led 10-8 when Purdy aborted a bootleg when he saw Garrett coming free of George Kittle’s chip block, so Purdy threw the ball away all Garrett could do was smile and dab up the quick-thinking QB. “He was like, ‘Come on, bro,’ and smiled at me,” Purdy said. “And I was like, ‘Sorry, bro.’ But it’s nothing but love and respect. He’s really cool. He’s a monster.”
Said Garrett: “He likes getting (the ball) out on time or, you know, he sees me, and, you know, credit to him, he also avoided the rush pretty well, too,” Garrett said. “… They were doing what they do best.”
Purdy’s multiple throw-away passes obviously were better than risky throws like his previous game’s interception hat trick.
2. PURDY SWAGGER
Much is being made of Purdy’s hidden talent: celebrating his 2-yard touchdown run with the “Dougie” dance. He promised teammates he’d do it if he scored, and they laughed while he worked on those moves in practice and in the locker room (and in Purdy’s kitchen, as he attested).
The celebration was symbolic, though. Purdy, whose maligned toe kept him out of eight games this season, looked especially assertive and aggressive once the 49ers needed it most, when they trailed 8-7 just before halftime.
“He does a good job of bringing swag to the game,” wide receiver Ricky Pearsall said. “I actually told him, ‘We need that Brock Purdy swag back.’ He brought it back.”
As great as it was for Purdy and Kittle to connect on a 33-yard catch at the 7-yard line to set up Matt Gay’s go-ahead field goal entering halftime, the more clutch throw came two snaps earlier, when Purdy found Pearsall on a third-and-10 boundary throw for a 13-yard completion near midfield.
3. SHORT-FIELD SUCCESS
All three of the 49ers’ touchdown drives started deep in Browns’ territory, at the 16-, 32 and 18- yard lines. That generous field position came courtesy of, in order, Skyy Moore’s 66-yard punt return, Luke Gifford’s fourth-and-1 fumble recovery, and Darrell Luter Jr.’s recovery of a muffed punt.
“That’s not the way to play a good team, where you’re giving them short fields,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. “We’ve got to make them earn it. And I don’t think we did that today.”
The 49ers’ average starting field position was at their own 46-yard line. Cleveland’s was at its 24.
4. MALIK MANIA
As Ji’Ayir Brown headed for his locker, he asked aloud, “Did you see No. 6 out there today? Did you see him out there? He was doing it all.”
No. 6 is Mustapha, a second-year safety who joined Jordan Elliott in tackling Quinsohn Judkins for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1 at the 49ers’ 21-yard line, on the Browns’ second possession.
“I knew the gap would be open, and once it opened up, I shot it the only way I know how: as fast as possible and then try to get the ball carrier down,” Mustapha said. “Everybody was swarming as well. Getting that stop early and showing them what kind of game this would be, that was pivotal in getting this ‘W’ today.” Mustapha had seven tackles and broke up a third-down pass.
5. JENNINGS’ MAKING ENEMIES
Third-and-Jauan Jennings was in perfect position for Purdy’s perfect touchdown pass, on third-and-goal from the 7 in the fourth quarter. Postgame, Jennings’ reputation for physical warfare intensified to a mental dimension, if you listen to the Browns.
A week ago, Jennings’ blocking (and talking) resulted in him getting punched in the groin by Carolina’s Tre’Von Moehrig, who drew a one-game suspension “Like I see why he got punched in the nuts, because he said some things that you should not say to another man, ever,” Browns defensive tackle Shelby Harris told reporters. “But, like, I don’t respect it because you say that then run behind your O-line. That’s some real soft (expletive), and I want that known. I see exactly why they punched him in the (groin). I’m surprised nobody punched him in the jaw yet.”
Jennings verbally clashed with several Browns players while defensive tackle Maliek Collins, a 2024 49ers starter, was getting medical attention for a third-quarter knee injury.
“I can’t speak for how he was raised, but if you have nothing good to say, don’t say something to somebody,” said Garrett, who went on to say … Jennings had “demeaning and disparaging” comments. “I mean, some guys just roll like that.”
Jennings joined Kittle and McCaffrey for the team lead with five touchdown receptions, and this was his fourth in the past five games.
6. MULTIPLE SACKS?!
The 49ers’ three sacks matched their season high from Week 2 in New Orleans. Two came via Clelin Ferrell and the other by Keion White, all against Shedeur Sanders in his first home start with the Browns.
“We had to make a rookie quarterback play quarterback for real and see what he could do. He’s going to figure it out,” White said. “I have a lot of respect for him and the stuff he overcomes. He’s poised. They wouldn’t let him spin. They were trying to run the ball a lot. If you let him play quarterback, who knows what’s going to happen.”
Sanders finished 16-of25 for 149 yards with no turnovers and a 34-yard touchdown pass to Harold Fannin 39 seconds before halftime.
Ferrell didn’t gloat about owning four sacks in four games since his signing; his career high was 4 ½ sacks as a 2019 Raiders rookie.”I’m just focused on the process, and the process really panned out today,” Ferrell said. “I’m gonna try and get two more next (game).”
7. DEFENSIVE SHUTOUT
The 49ers posted a second-half shutout for the first time since 2023 New Year’s Eve in Washington, when they clinched the No. 1 playoff seed – and that spot may be in play again this season.
The Browns went 0-for-4 on fourth down and they failed to penetrate the red zone inside the 20-yard line. So much for controlling the clock with a first-half run game.
“We knew coming in they’d try to run the ball and their screen game would be a big part of it,” linebacker Luke Gifford said. “We knew if we could keep things in front of us and play well against the run, we’d be fine.”
“They were running the heck out of the ball in the beginning then we just settled down and played physical up front,” White said. “We had to swarm to the ball. We were getting run fits but missing tackles, so we just had to calm down.”
8. SKYY SETS HIS SIGHTS
Not since Ted Ginn Jr. in the 2011 season opener has a punt return resulted in a touchdown, and no one since then seems more determined to end that drought than Skky Moore, who had a career-long 66-yard return to set up the 49ers’ first touchdown drive. That was 11 yards longer than Ginn’s which capped the 33-17 win over the Seahawks.
“That’s what I’m chasing. Whatever comes between that, I’ll take it,” said Moore, two weeks removed from a 98-yard kickoff return to open a win in Arizona. “I’m in that zone. We’re getting better as a unit.”
Said Christian McCaffrey: “Anytime he gets the ball, I love the way he hits it. He’s built for this team.”
9. McCAFFREY’S NUMBERS
With 53 rushing yards and 21 receiving yards, McCaffrey’s 74 combined yards were his second-fewest this season (48 in Houston), but he also put the 49ers ahead with a 1-yard run, his eighth rushing touchdown in his past eight games.
His 849 rushing yards have come on an NFL-high 237 carries, and his 806 receiving yards are via the fourth-most catches, 85. The only other players in NFL history with over 800 yards in both categories are 49ers’ legend Roger Craig (1985) and Rams’ Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk (1999). Memo to voters: Put Craig in as a Senior finalist this year.
“A guy like Roger is a pioneer in this league and a staple of the 49ers franchise. Super well deserving,” McCaffrey said last week of Craig’s overdue Hall of Fame bid.
10. BIZARRO WORLD
We have more evidence this is a bizarro-world season for the 49ers, where previous wrong turns into rights. This time, Matt Gay was hitting a go-ahead field goal off the left uprights as the first half expired, two years after Jake Moody missed a potential winner in the final seconds here.
Even bigger, Darrell Luter Jr. recovered a muffed punt to set up the 49ers’ final touchdown, the same player who had a punt careen off his shoe in the 2023 team’s Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs.
“We were hoping for some big plays from special teams, which we got the huge one with Skyy (Moore) on the return; got a huge one on the (Luter-recovered) turnover,” Shanahan said.
As Shanahan said those words, a familiar song echoed through the locker room walls, the same song as their last road game two weeks earlier in Arizona: Eddy Grant’s “Electric Avenue.” “Don’t mess with it. That’s good stuff,” punter Thomas Morstead, 39, said of Grant’s 1982 anthem.