49ers Make it to the Bye Week With A Win
The San Francisco 49ers traveled to Cleveland to take on the Browns for the early noon game on Sunday. 49ers usually have a track record of starting off slow when traveling on a short week and playing the early games, but that didn’t seem to be the case in this one.
Special teams showed up big time. Skyy Moore had a 66-yard punt return early in the first quarter that helped set up Christian McCaffery touchdown run. Early on in the fourth quarter, the 49ers offense went three and out and were forced to punt, but the punt returner fumbled the ball at their own 16-yard line and was recovered by Darrell Luter Jr. to set up another touchdown for the 49ers.
The 49ers defense played a huge factor in this game by allowing zero conversions on fourth down with the Browns’ four attempts. Defensive end Clelin Ferrell recorded two sacks while defensive end Keion White recorded a sack of his own. Ferrell has only been with the team for three weeks and is already tied for the most sacks on the team with four. Pass rush is still a problem for this team as quarterback Shedeur Sanders had plenty of time to throw the ball, but at least the sacks are starting to come together with the regular season coming closer to an end within a month.
Last week against the Carolina Panthers, quarterback Brock Purdy struggled heavily in the first half with three interceptions, but the team luckily held the Panthers off to secure the win. Purdy looked like he massively improved as this may be one of his best performances in a while. He was very decisive with the ball and threw it away when the play wasn’t there instead of trying to force the ball and risking a turnover. Purdy made some excellent throws as well where the receiver was the only one to make the catch.
The 49ers benefited from the Browns’ mistakes and capitalized on them against an elite defense despite the Browns being 3-8 on the season. This was the 49ers first win in Cleveland since 1984. The team will enter their much needed bye week 9-4 and will face the Tennessee Titans on December 14th to hopefully continue their winning streak. The team is now only a half game away from leading the NFC West and the entire conference. The number one seed is in their grasp which is pretty incredible for the most injured team in the NFL.