Plenty went wrong for the 49ers in Week 17 as they were unexpectedly drawn into a shootout with a Raiders team playing a quarterback making his first start in Jarrett Stidham. However, San Francisco can take great solace — not only in winning a 37-34 overtime thriller — but in how the Niners found a way to finish on both sides of the ball when faced with adversity.
Neither rookie QB Brock Purdy nor San Francisco’s vaunted defense had received much of a test of late, but both were given stern examinations in an absorbing contest.
The defense will see plenty of room for improvement after giving up 500 yards of offense in a game that saw Davante Adams make a series of remarkable plays against the 49er secondary.
San Francisco’s pass rush also struggled to get home on pressures despite going against a Raider offensive line that has long since been seen as a weakness.
A defense that has become renowned for ruthlessly killing teams off could not do so after the 49ers took a 34-27 lead with 2:17 remaining in regulation on running back Jordan Mason’s touchdown run, giving up a 67-yard touchdown drive on three plays.
Yet after kicker Robbie Gould had missed a 40-yard field goal, sending the game to overtime, the defense delivered the save, defensive end Nick Bosa playing the role of closer as he varied up the speed of his rush and pushed Raiders left tackle Kolton Miller into Stidham, whose deep pass fluttered into grateful arms of strong safety Tashaun Gipson. Gipson’s return set up a chip-shot game-winner for Gould.
On the biggest series of the game, San Francisco’s most important defensive player stepped up. There has never been any doubt about Bosa’s proclivity for delivering when the spotlight is at its most intense, but the first close game of Purdy’s time as the starting quarterback represented a fact-finding mission into his ability to produce in such situations.
Purdy endured an up and down performance that saw him record a Completion Percentage Over Expectation of minus 4.7, according to rbsdm.com.
But, when asked to deliver a game-winning drive after the Raiders tied things up at 34-34, Purdy confidently put the 49ers in position to emerge victorious with a kick by authoring a seven-play, 52-yard drive during which he leant heavily on wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
Yes, Purdy was fortunate his last throw to Aiyuk, a deflected wobbler the 49ers’ top wideout leapt to claim on a contested catch, was not intercepted, but he otherwise demonstrated impressive poise with the game on his shoulders.
By helping the 49ers overcome a 10-point third-quarter deficit and then delivering a drive that should have clinched the game, Purdy went a long way to answering the questions about his capabilities when put in the kind of pressure cooker he will likely face in the postseason.
The Niners will require a substantially better effort from the defense to make any progress in the postseason. San Francisco, though, already has enough information about its defense to know their Week 17 performance was likely an anomaly and received a reminder as to the closing ability of Bosa and Co.
It is the critical new information on offense, with Purdy proving he can keep the team afloat when the defense struggles and excel in the clutch, that will be most pertinent to the 49ers. This was a win that brought reasons for both concern and optimism, but the Niners can have increasing confidence they have the quarterback and the defense to finish the job in the close games that will surely come in January.
