The 49ers overcame a small amount of adversity set up by their end-of-season schedule with a 27-10 win over the Commanders in Washington. More on that adversity later.
It was a game San Francisco was heavily favored to win, and one they controlled for most of the contest save for a couple series in the first half and early in the second half.
Here are our takeaways from a huge day for the 49ers:
Top seed clinched
The 49ers got the help they needed in Week 17. To clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC they needed a win over Washington, along with a win by the Cowboys over the Lions, and a Cardinals upset of the Eagles. They got all three.
Dallas beat Detroit on Saturday, then shortly after the 49ers left the field against the Commanders the Cardinals knocked off Philadelphia, securing the No. 1 seed in the NFC for San Francisco.
Overcoming adversity
Okay, here’s the adversity part. The 49ers played at home Monday night in Week 16. Then they had to fly cross country for a 10:00am Pacific Time start in Washington. That’s a rough turnaround and perhaps the culprit for a performance that was at times sluggish for San Francisco. It’s not a coincidence they took over in the second half, particularly defensively.
In the second half Washington had five possessions that featured 22 plays for 94 yards. That number is buoyed by a 10-play, 74-yard drive that ended in an interception by 49ers cornerback Charvarius Ward.
New 49ers record
Brock Purdy’s 230 passing yards in Sunday’s win gave him 4,280 for the season, two more than Jeff Garcia’s previous franchise record of 4,278. The record-breaking throw was a five-yard completion to George Kittle in the fourth quarter. It’s a good thing for Purdy he broke the record Sunday since he may be among the players resting for San Francisco in Week 18.
Injury watch
The first-round playoff bye got even bigger for the 49ers on Sunday when Christian McCaffrey left the game with a calf injury. That will be something to keep a close eye on in the weeks leading up to the 49ers’ playoff game. However, McCaffrey (and the other banged up 49ers) will ostensibly get two weeks off now that their seeding is sewn up, and that should help the team get toward the healthier side come the divisional playoffs.
Welcome back, Mitchell
McCaffrey’s injury opened the door for RB Elijah Mitchell, who hasn’t seen a ton of action this year. He was hurt the last couple weeks, but he looked fresh and ready to roll Sunday. Mitchell carried a team-high 17 times for 80 yards and punched in his first TD of the year. A second effective RB would be massive for the 49ers in the postseason, particularly with McCaffrey now nursing an injury.
49ers offensive game plan
The 49ers didn’t ask Purdy to do a ton coming off his four-interception game, but it was clear he learned from the experience. San Francisco didn’t have him put the ball in the air a ton, but he got some easy throws to start the game, pushed it downfield at appropriate spots, and created a couple of explosive plays thanks to a nice deep throw and an out-of-structure TD pass to wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk. Purdy also did a nice job hanging around in the pocket and taking checkdowns when they were available. It wasn’t his best game as a pro, but he was effective and didn’t appear there were any lingering issues arising from his four-turnover outing against Baltimore.
Red zone problem
There should be a caveat here that the 49ers might have operated differently in the red area if the game script had been different. However, they were just three-for-six in the red zone and two-for-four in goal-to-go situations. San Francisco had first-and-goal inside the 1 twice and only scored three points. This isn’t the end of the world, especially because they’ve been so good in the red zone this year (they were No. 2 in the NFL entering Sunday). They can’t have those types of droughts in playoff games though. Six trips to the red zone is more positive than the three conversions is negative, but the lack of TDs can’t become a trend.
