The 49ers weren’t in a make-or-break situation Sunday in Chicago.
No, the contest against the Bears was more of a survive-and-advance affair.
And San Francisco will live to see another week, beating the Bears 33-22.
They just won, baby. And after four-straight losses, it didn’t matter how the job was done.
“We didn’t care whether [the score] was 2-0 or ending like that,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “I’m just real proud of those guys.”
Let’s be clear: Nothing has been restored. Shanahan and Garoppolo are still operating without the benefit of the doubt. You can’t earn that back in one game.
But Sunday’s win was a move in the right direction for the Niners’ top duo and the team as a whole.
That’s because one game — Sunday’s game in Chicago — could have effectively ended the Niners’ season. Sorry optimists, but there was no coming back from a 2-5 record and five straight losses.
San Francisco avoided that fate, though, leaving the outcome of this campaign very much still in doubt.
And that’s a good thing.
This 2021 season can still be salvaged. There’s a world of possibilities for this team at 3-4. The NFC West division crown might be out of reach, but at the season’s halfway point, San Francisco sits on the doorstep of the playoffs, with possible statement games against Arizona and the Rams looming in the next two weeks.
Sunday’s win could be a jump-start to a team that found a groove on offense for the first time since Week 1.
It might also be fool’s gold.
Now, I’ve been sending a lot of blame towards Shanahan and Garoppolo the last few weeks. I don’t regret an ounce of it — the head coach and quarterback are the two more important people on the field in the NFL and both deserved criticism for how poorly the team was playing.
But after that solid win, both deserve praise. The 49ers’ head coach and offensive play-caller found a rhythm for the first time this season, establishing a nice balance between the run game (rookie back Elijah Mitchell was marvelous, carrying the ball 18 times for 137 yards and Garoppolo had two short rushing touchdowns) and the pass.
Shanahan spread the field more in the passing game, giving Garoppolo easier reads over the middle (the only place he looks on the vast majority of plays), and creating winnable matchups for the Niners’ receivers on the inside of the formation, who had a step or two on the Bears’ linebacker-heavy defense all game.
And credit to Garoppolo, he executed, hitting those receivers with ease.
(Now, Garoppolo only completed one pass of more than five yards in the air that was outside the hashes, but we’ll forget that until next Sunday.)
Add in a majestic 50-yard throw to receiver Deebo Samuel in the final seconds of the first half and Samuel’s 83-yard scamper on a screen pass in the third, and you end up with 322 yards passing for Garoppolo and a game that justified his starting position.
“Our whole offense in a rhythm, which makes me in a rhythm,” Shanahan said. “I thought [Garoppolo] had a hell of a day and some guys made some plays for him, as well.”
Carry this forward, and the Niners might have something. An offensive identity, perhaps. My, wouldn’t that be a nice thing to have for the remainder of the season?
The flip side does need to be examined, though: Sunday’s performance might prove to be false hope for the Niners and their fans.
Remember, both Shanahan and Garoppolo had to ease into the game, finally finding exploits in a Bears defense that was down its best player, pass rusher Khalil Mack, going into the game, and their second-best player, safety Eddie Jackson, within moments of it starting. The Niners carved up a Bears defense that inexplicably did not cover the middle of the field against a quarterback who only throws to the middle of the field.
Will the Cardinals or Rams make those same mistakes? Will they let Shanahan and Garoppolo work their way into the game? I doubt it.
We also cannot forget that Garoppolo’s early throws were poor, his execution spotty (at best). His job should have been on the line going into halftime.
But then he made a truly excellent throw to Samuel at the end of the second quarter, bought himself more snaps, and the Niners’ offense hummed in the second half.
“His back was against the wall,” Shanahan said of Garoppolo.
And that makes Garoppolo the ultimate procrastinator, waiting until the last reasonable moment to play his best football and save his job.
From one procrastinator to another: good on, ya, Jimmy.
We’ll see if Garoppolo can find the same kind of desperation and channel it into execution next week. It might be tough against one of the NFL’s best defenses and without a week of external scrutiny over why he still holds the starting job.
I have to bring up the Niners’ defense, though. It was anything but impressive Sunday. They made Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields look like the second coming of Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. My goodness, they were bad.
But let’s swing it back. While all-around competence would be great, San Francisco should be happy to settle for good right now.
The NFL is an offensive league and the Niners put up points against the Bears.
They might have even found their template for success on that side of the ball in the process, too.
Unfortunately for us, there’s no true definition to be gleaned from the Niners’ third win of the season — only salvation, amid a bit of procrastination.
We’ll find out in the weeks to come what Sunday means — what was real and what was fake.
But at least this team is going into November with a chance.
