When the San Francisco 49ers return home from their game this afternoon the record books will show that they lost to Minnesota. Sportscenter will highlight the last second Brett Favre-to-Greg Lewis heroics that kept the Vikings undefeated.
But make no mistake about it – the 49ers represented well in Minneapolis this afternoon and they’ve got me convinced they are the best team in the NFC West.
With 59:58 of time elapsed, the 49ers had gone into a hostile environment and held the Vikings, capitalizing on a blocked field goal return right before halftime and dominating the second half of play. Furthermore, they did so minus their superstar, Frank Gore.
Yes, the week after Gore went for 207 yards rushing and two long touchdowns against Seattle, the Niners got four yards on a single carry out of him. Yet Glen Coffee filled in and did an unspectacular, yet solid job, and the Niners were ahead until Favre hit Lewis on an incredible, fluky play.
Now, let’s be clear. The Niners aren’t a Super Bowl contender yet. The offensive line is inconsistent. The receiving corps is unspectacular and in need of a gamebreaking superstar (Michael Crabtree, you are an idiot to not want to be a part of this team right now). And while Shaun Hill is doing a credible job, my feeling is that he’s probably not the starter on a truly great team.
But this is definitely a fun team to watch. And it’s a team heading in the right direction. Mike Singletary has the defense playing well. They looked superb in beating the two division rivals expected to compete for the NFC West crown, Arizona and Seattle. But the West is also seen as one of the weakest divisions in the NFL right now. So just how telling those early performances were was up to debate.
The 49ers went a long way toward answering those questions today. They hung in there on the road against one of the NFC’s hottest teams, holding Adrian Peterson to 85 yards and no touchdowns and leading the game until the final couple plays.
Yes, the standings show they’re returning to San Francisco 2-1 with a loss in the Metrodome today. But that was a solid, gutty effort today. The 49ers can hold their heads high. And I believe they’ll continue to represent and that they’ll be representing the NFC West in the playoffs in January.
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No argument about the quality of the 49ers, but it seems rather unfair to call that final touchdown pass a “fluky” play.
Fluky is when the football bounces off somebody’s helmet right into your hands. Hitting a receiver dead-on in the last centimeters of the end zone as he drags his toes is by design. Which isn’t to say they could it again on cue, but it is something a quarterback and receiver deliberately attempt to do.
Fluky might be a little bit strong. But that last play still had elements of schoolyard football where you might start out with an assigned route but then break it off and follow the scrambling quarterback around until he has enough open space to wing it to the end zone.
Yes, there may have been an element of design to that play, but I would guess there was a lot of improvisation as well. It’s not exactly a high-percentage way to win a ballgame.
And I also don’t want this to read like I’m taking anything away from the Vikings. It’s hard to win in the NFL and the Vikings are 3-0. But they were expected to be good this year. The 49ers for the last several years have been a down franchise and, for the most part, not a very tough beat. That’s no longer the case.