The 49ers snapped their seven-game losing skid Sunday night in Seattle with a 26-21 victory that came with no shortage of drama. While getting the Seattle monkey off the organization’s back was enormous, we saw the 49ers come up with a huge performance in prime time with an NFC West title and the No. 1 seed in the NFC on the line. Late December is a good time for teams to start playing their best football.
Here are our five big takeaways from Sunday night at CenturyLink Field.
NFC West champions, No. 1 seed
The 49ers for the first time since 2012 took home the NFC West crown. They rode their defense most of the season, and got one last huge regular season stop from that unit. Seattle had eight cracks at the end zone from inside the red zone and came up mere inches short when 49ers rookie LB Dre Greenlaw leveled Seahawks tight end Jacob Hollister shy of the goal line. The stop ended Seattle’s drive, and put the NFC West crown back in San Francisco.
The 49ers also secured the No. 1 seed in the NFC with their victory Sunday night. They’ll have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and they’ll get a first-round bye.
Winning the division and getting a first-round bye is imperative in boosting a team’s Super Bowl chances. San Francisco already proved they can play with any team, now their path to Super Bowl LIV is set in their favor.
Jimmy Garoppolo shines in Seattle
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It’s been a long time since a 49ers signal caller looked as good as Garoppolo did in Seattle. While he didn’t throw a touchdown pass, he completed 18 of his 22 throws for 285 yards. He also converted on third downs, and made a couple big throws that put the 49ers in positions to score. Garoppolo also went turnover-free after giving away two fumbles and an interception in the 49ers’ first showdown with Seattle back in Week 10. San Francisco needed their quarterback’s best Sunday night, and they got it. His outings in Seattle and New Orleans are a very positive sign that the moment won’t ever be too big for the 49ers’ franchise quarterback.
Raheem Mostert needs to be the guy
The 49ers in Sunday continued to go without Mostert at running back in some key possessions. Despite the fact Mostert ripped off 57 yards and two touchdowns, he only got 10 of the team’s 19 running back carries. While there’s value in spelling a running back to keep him fresh, Mostert is the team’s best player at that position and needs more than 50 percent of the workload there. Matt Breida was fine with 16 yards on four totes, including a couple tough runs in a fourth-quarter drive, but Tevin Coleman was ineffective again with 11 yards on five carries. Breida and Coleman can certainly get touches since they’re explosive enough to gash a defense for a chunk play, but Mostert is playing too well to miss as many carries as he’s missing.
Rookies do work
The 49ers’ 2019 rookie class was massive in the biggest moment of the year. Second-round pick Deebo Samuel was the team’s leading receiver with 102 yards on five catches. He also rushed twice for 33 yards and a touchdown. First-round pick Nick Bosa didn’t have a sack, but he did generate 11 pressures, which tied for the highest single-game total this season according to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner. And fifth-round pick Dre Greenlaw came up with the play of the night. His stop on Jacob Hollister at the goal line sealed the victory for the 49ers, but Greenlaw had a sensational overall game and led the club with 13 tackles. He patrolled the middle of the field very effectively against Russell Wilson and limited the quarterback’s scrambles in the middle of the field.
One more new way to win
The 49ers were running out of new ways to win games, but they found one in the final game of the year. San Francisco had a pair of last-second wins thanks to the offense, but they had a trio of last-second losses to go with them. Their defense hadn’t been able to close out a close game yet, and did so emphatically in Seattle. Greenlaw’s hit on Hollister was the Seahawks’ eighth play from inside the red zone, and it looked like an all but sure thing the Seahawks were going to find the end zone and go ahead late. They didn’t though thanks to the defense’s first late-game stand of the year, and it capped a magnificent regular season by one of the best defenses in the NFL
