San Francisco 49ers: A Mistake-Free Performance Beats the Kansas City Chiefs: The San Francisco 49ers’ 22-17 win over the Kansas City Chiefs was a refreshing one, considering some of the struggles the 49ers have had over the course of this season. Issues with turnovers? The 49ers didn’t turn the ball over once against the Chiefs and forced Alex Smith to throw his first road interception in 267 attempts to clinch the game. Penalty problems? The 49ers only had two accepted penalties for 10 yards, neither in particularly high-leverage situations. The costliest penalty came from Kansas City, which had 12 men on the field on a key fourth-down field-goal attempt. This allowed the 49ers to drain the rest of Kansas City’s timeouts and burn two key minutes off the clock. Fourth-quarter failings? The 49ers out-gained Kansas City 117 yards to nine in the fourth quarter, as their defense and running game rose to the challenge. Overly conservative play-calling? The fake punt in the fourth quarter, extending the drive that ultimately gave San Francisco the lead, was a great play call at precisely the right time. It’s a situation where most NFL teams would punt, but the stats actually support going for it. Brian Burke’s fourth-down calculator on Advanced Football Analytics indicates that going for it in that situation results in the 49ers winning 43 percent of the time, while a punt leaves the 49ers as winners only 40 percent of the time: After a week full of rumors about the state of mind in San Francisco’s locker room, as noted by ESPN, there’s nothing quite like a win to put minds at ease. The team wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it acquitted itself quite well against a Kansas City team that embarrassed the New England Patriots the week before. It didn’t need any amazing plays from its $18 million quarterback, Colin Kaepernick. He was a solid, if pedestrian, 14-for-26 for 201 yards, with a couple of missed opportunities on inaccurate throws. More importantly, however, he protected the ball and made smart decisions throughout the game—up to and including taking a sack toward the end of the game to keep the clock moving rather than throwing the ball away. Instead, the 49ers went back to their bread and butter in the Harbaugh-era: the punishing ground game. The team earned 171 yards on the ground, led by a 107-yard day from the ageless Frank Gore. It was Gore’s second straight 100-yard game, conveniently corresponding with San Francisco’s two-game winning streak. The 49ers rode Gore and Carlos Hyde to seal the game up. The 49ers’ last non-kneel-down drives ate nearly 12 minutes off the clock and featured 18 rushes to only nine passes. That’s not going to work every week or in every situation, but when a long drive is needed, the 49ers know how to get back to their bread and butter and milk the clock down to double zeroes. All told, the 49ers had four drives of 10 or more plays, resulting in a touchdown and three field goals. They do need to end more of these drives in the end zone, but shortening the game is their game plan, and they executed it to perfection against Kansas City. It felt like a game where the first mistake would lose it, and the Chiefs complied—first with the 12-man penalty that kept the 49ers’ drive alive and then with Alex Smith’s game-ending interception. The 49ers mostly played smart, safe football. It may not have been their most impressive victory ever, but it was certainly much less frustrating to watch than some of their play in the recent past. There are certainly areas for improvement, of course. According to Team Rankings, the 49ers had only scored touchdowns on 50 percent of their red-zone possessions coming into the game, and they were 1-for-3 in this matchup. Kaepernick had his least accurate game of the season through the air, and a couple of balls had a chance to be intercepted. The defense allowed two long Kansas City drives in the first quarter before tightening up. Still, the positives far outweighed the negatives. The offense had long, physical, momentum-controlling drives. The defense stiffened up and held the Chiefs to only 111 yards on their last seven drives. The special teams provided a clutch first down and five field goals, two of them coming from beyond 50 yards. The entire team was working in harmony and simply ground the Chiefs down over time. The team had a great performance, helping blunt the effects of the reports of locker room strife. “I love coach Harbaugh,” Kaepernick told reporters after the game. “I’d go to war with him any day of the week.” The day of the week in question next week will be Monday, when the 49ers take on the St. Louis Rams in the Edward Jones Dome. Win that one, and the 49ers will be guaranteed a winning record at their bye week with the returns of Aldon Smith and NaVorro Bowman on the horizon. With a little help from Washington against Arizona, the 49ers could regain control of their divisional fate as well. A 1-2 start is never an ideal way to begin a season, but the 49ers have recovered and can now look to reestablish themselves as a dominant team. If they can play this kind of football every week, they’ll be tough to deal with down the stretch. They do have four road games in their next five matchups, so their mettle will continue to be tested. Their future looks brighter now than it did two weeks ago, however. Bryan Knowles is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, covering the San Francisco 49ers. Follow him @BryKno on twitter. Read more NFL news on BleacherReport #Football #NFL #NFCWest #SanFrancisco49ers
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 05:30:18 +0000
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