Niners Nation
During his postgame interview, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Mac Jones said Kyle Shanahan told him he was pissed off that the Niners were underdogs against the Los Angeles Rams. The 49ers were missing most of their receiving production and starting quarterback. Oddsmakers thought the road team would be lucky to score 17 points with how shorthanded they’d be in SoFi Stadium.
Shanahan told Jones to let it fly, and Jones obliged en route to a thrilling victory. Let’s talk about the winners and losers from Thursday night.
Shanahan cultivated an immaculate game plan to play keep-away from an offense that was inevitable.
The 49ers ran 19 more plays than the Rams and possessed the ball for 13 more minutes. San Francisco ran the ball 33 times. Mac Jones had 32 attempts under ten yards. All in an effort to bleed the clock.
Shanahan defended his decision to run the ball at the end of regulation. He can be forgiven for a decision to kick a field goal on 4th & 2 from the two-yard line. Adrian Martinez would have been tasked with getting the offense in the end zone for his first career pass attempt on the road against the reigning division champs.
Shanahan deserves some grace for those calls after deciding to go for it on fourth down earlier in the game in his own territory with the lead. Even better, there was no hesitation.
The 49ers were aggressive on their first two offensive drives, which led to points. Shanahan is no stranger to winning at SoFi Stadium, but you could argue this was his least talented team offensively to go into Los Angeles and come away victorious. It was undoubtedly the most impressive win, considering the roster.
Against a defensive line that had the fourth-highest pressure rate and a defense that was seventh in schedule-adjusted passing efficiency coming into Week 5, Shanahan called touchdown drives of 72 and 91 yards to open the game that combined for over 12 minutes and had three other 12-play drives with Christian McCaffrey and a bunch of other players nobody else wanted at the skill positions.
Shanahan is now 3-0 with a backup quarterback and 2-0 in the division. Last night was a peak Shanahan game that should make him the frontrunner for Coach of the Year. Shanahan showed why this team will always have a chance as long as he’s in control.
Dee Winters is playing about as well as any linebacker can, and he’s not close to the level Warner is playing at.
Warner had 12 tackles, four of them stops, was targeted four times and only allowed one reception, and was seemingly in the right place when the Niners needed him to be every time. On a third down, Kirk Herbstreit blamed Warner for a coverage bust. But you could tell by the All-Pro’s reaction after the play that it wasn’t on him.
The 49ers have been blessed with stud linebacker...
