Niners' magical season ends in hopelessness

What happens when there isn’t any more? When the season that was so magical becomes so prosaic and sad? When the dream so unexpectedly becomes, if not a nightmare, than a feeling of hopelessness?

What happens when everything that was going so right goes so very wrong? When you lose your quarterback, your cool and most significantly the game that was going to put you into the Super Bowl?

Everybody knew the Philadelphia Eagles were a great team. Didn’t they have the best record in the NFC? Weren’t they playing at home Sunday? Maybe if the 49ers aren’t forced to use a quarterback who in effect was fourth string, Philly still dominates as it did, crushing the 49ers, 31-7.

Or maybe not.

You’ve heard the phrase — part reality, part agony — that one plays the cards he or she is dealt. Your starting quarterback gets pummeled minutes into the game? Your usually disciplined defense starts making one penalty after another? The officials seem biased? (Which they are not).

Kismet, baby. Fate. You do the best you can.

Unfortunately for the Niners, down to a quarterback who virtually had been found in the wilderness, 36-year-old Josh Johnson, getting called for penalties after what might have been a game-deciding sequence, the best wasn’t good enough.

And so it is done, this 2022 season, when a kid who was known as Mr. Irrelevant, quarterback Brock Purdy, had helped win a dozen games in succession, and in the process won plaudits and fame.

It was being billed as a fairy tale, the guy taken at the bottom of the draft, along with a defense that was on top of the league stats, bringing a title to the City by the Bay. But as we learned as kids, not all fairy tales have a happy ending.

And yet, this topsy-turvy Niner season has just concluded — the 3-4 start, the injury to the QB who was the starter; the injury to the steadfast loyal kid who replaced him, Jimmy Garoppolo; then on Sunday the injury to the kid who replaced Jimmy G, the surprisingly skilled Purdy.

If you’re a Niners fan, even a fan of pro football, do you cling only to the results of the final game, the end, or are you able to find at least a small measure of satisfaction in that big picture, a long winning streak and, after yet another victory over the Dallas Cowboys, a place in the conference title game?

Donte Whitner, a onetime defensive back, said in so many words that the only way to judge success is whether a team wins the Super Bowl. Or doesn’t win the Super Bowl.

That’s a bit shortsighted. The Niners didn’t even advance to the Super Bowl, but look at what was accomplished. The man at the most important position, the quarterback, gets knocked out of the game so quickly. It is not Brock Purdy’s fault or coach Kyle Shanahan’s fault.

“I wish we had a little better opportunity,” said Shanahan, understandably emotional.

If wishes were horses … you know the saying. The only place this Niners team will be riding is off into the sunset.

Niners: After win over America’s Team comes Philly

You know the lyric, The road gets tougher, it’s lonelier and rougher. Not about the NFL playoffs, but it should have been.

Just about the time everything’s going splendidly, a divisional playoff win over the erstwhile America’s team, the Dallas Cowboys, the 49ers get the team currently acknowledged to be best in America.

Or least the best in the NFC, which may be one and the same, the Philadelphia Eagles.

They also get one game away from another Super Bowl.

But because that game is against the Eagles, Sunday in the chill at Philly, one mustn’t make future plans.

As Niners coach Kyle Shanahan stood on the field at Levi’s Stadium, where after the 19-12 victory over Dallas he agreed to appear for Bay Area television — people get magnanimous following big wins — the subject of the Eagles was brought up.

Philly may not quite have the magic and the history of Dallas, which always has had the attention of, and occasionally the edge over, the Niners.

They offer no Jerry Jones in egotistical splendor making promises, no memories of Montana to Clark — The Catch — fulfilling promises. They are just a franchise that started the schedule with a victory and a lead over everybody.

Also with a roster that so crushed the New York Giants Saturday night in the other divisional playoff, going in front 28-7 in the first half before winning 38-7, the New York writers were shocked — which seemingly is impossible.

“They’re very good,” or words to that effect, conceded Shanahan about the Eagles, whose quarterback, Jalen Hurts, missed a considerable part of the season with an injury, but were dominant because of, yes, defense.

The same thing that won for the 49ers and the Cowboys, teams that in the long-ago era were known for offense, Montana and Steve Young, Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman. Now their reputation is constructed on defense, as a halftime score of 9-6 would verify.

The Niners scored the game’s only touchdown, a two-yard run by Christian McCaffrey, in the fourth quarter.

Defense and turnovers are the difference in the postseason. San Francisco limited the Cowboys to 282 net yards while gaining 312. Niner quarterback Brock Purdy didn’t throw an interception; Dallas’ revered and reviled Dak Prescott threw two.

Purdy is 7-0 since replacing Jimmy Garoppolo (who of course replaced Trey Lance, who was forced by injuries to sit out). The question is what San Francisco will do with all three quarterbacks next season.

First comes the question of whether this season, Purdy, famous as Mr. Irrelevant, last pick in the draft, can be the first rookie to be a Super Bowl quarterback.

He’s already the third rookie to win two playoff games.

Tight end George Kittle, whose catch of a slapped ball was worthy of the many replays it got on Fox, said of Purdy, “Brock is a good quarterback. He keeps his eyes up when the play is falling apart and gives us a shot at the ball.” 

He certainly has given them a shot at the championship.

A wild win for Niners in wild card

This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. Or then, perusing history, maybe it was. After all, the words “wild card” can be interpreted any way you decide.

And the prevailing wisdom about the 49ers was that their game against Seattle wouldn’t be as wild as it turned out to be.

The Niners had defeated the Seahawks in both regular-season games this fall and winter, but as has been pointed out quite accurately, it’s difficult to beat another team three in a row in the NFL.

Unless they are mismatched. Which, in a second half that began with the heavily favored Niners trailing by a point, ultimately turned out to be the situation.

San Francisco, with its top-ranked defense taking control as it has so often, scored 25 points before the Seahawks got a touchdown, with three minutes remaining, that didn’t matter.

So the 49ers won 41-23 on Saturday and are into the next round of the playoffs, for a game that will be played, as was this wildest of cards, at Levi’s Stadium against a yet undetermined opponent.

And most likely, not in the rain that has been punishing the Bay Area and returned in the third quarter, as seemingly did the Niners.

Yes, for those of a certain age, it brings back memories of 1981, when the weather was inclement and the results were inspiring, San Francisco beating the New York Giants on a Candlestick Park field barely playable — remember the sod squad? — and then on the Montana-to-Clark pass taking down the Cowboys and going to the Super Bowl.

Where this journey concludes is unpredictable, but at least the Niners are still a presence, and head coach Kyle Shanahan is still a happy individual — after being less happy at two quarters into the Seattle game.

The Niners were doing virtually everything they needed to do in the first half, other than getting people into the end zone, a rather significant problem.

“You’ve got to score points,” said Shanahan, and then someone reminded him the Niners gained more yards in this game, 505, than in any this season.

“We only had 13 points until late in the first half,” said the coach.

Rookie quarterback Brock Purdy threw four touchdown passes. Not quite a rookie after playing six games — and winning every one — he was under pressure early. Sure, he was unbeaten and had performed remarkably for a man taken last in the draft (actually for anyone taken anywhere in the draft). But this was his first postseason game. Ever.

Under pressure from a pass rush carefully crafted by Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, Purdy, a righthander, kept running to his left before throwing an incompletion.

Asked if he thought Purdy was nervous, Shanahan said, “No, the deficit made me nervous. I appreciate what he’s doing. I was wishing he could have had a couple of touchdowns.”

They got one quickly after Niners defensive lineman Charles Omenihu knocked the football loose from Seattle QB Geno Smith. The 49ers recovered at their own 19 with some three minutes left in the third quarter. That did it for the Seahawks.

“The ball hit the ground,” said Shanahan. “I saw it bouncing and kept thinking, ‘Grab it.’ He scooped it up.”

And San Francisco was about to scoop up a win that shouldn’t have been as difficult as it became.

Will third time against Seattle be a problem for Niners?

The thinking in the NFL is that you don’t beat another team three times in a season. Which means the 49ers might have a problem. Or that whatever people say doesn’t mean as much as how people play.    

The first round of the playoffs, a wild card game on Saturday at Levi’s Stadium, will be the third between the Niners and Seahawks. San Francisco won the other two, one at home, one up north.

Sure, the Seahawks may have figured out by now what they must do to beat the Niners, but so what? The personnel hasn’t changed — although the Niners have used two different quarterbacks, so why should the results?

San Francisco has the longest current winning streak in the sport, 10 in a row, topped off Sunday by a 38-13 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

But a rather mortifying 3-4 start to a record that at 13-4 is their best in a long while, left the 49ers a game behind the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC standings.

Philly earned the bye, the week off, which can be a refresher for any athlete who’s been pounding and pounded on since training camp in July. But what matters is qualifying for the tournament, the postseason, and that’s what San Francisco has accomplished.

What any team needs is to be playing its best football in January. The current longest win streak in pro football is an indication that the Niners are doing just that.

Somehow, by planning or fate, the guys who run the league have the ability — or the fortune — to keep us fascinated until the final moments of the final regular season game. That happened Sunday night

Detroit at Green Bay, former Cal quarterback Jared Goff, a No. 1 overall pick, against former Cal quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who should have been a No. 1 overall pick. The game was in the chill at Lambeau Field. The Packers were ahead.

But Goff and the Lions won. The Packers, the probable Niners opponent in the wild card, were done. So perhaps is Rodgers, age 39.

The Niners are far from done. They’ve got the best defense in the NFL — as you’ve been instructed, defense wins. They’ve got a rookie quarterback, Brock Purdy, who barely was drafted and has never lost a game; they once again have their full roster, with Deebo Samuel and Elijah Mitchell back from injuries and running wild.

And they have old mo, momentum.

The knock on the Niners is they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs and beat a lot of lesser teams like the Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams. We’ll see if it matters.

“I don’t know if I’ve had this feeling that I have right now about our team and the opportunity we have to win this thing,” said Niners linebacker Fred Warner. “We have everything we need on this team to do what we need to do.”

He was on the 2019 team that was 13-3 (the sked has since been altered to 17 games) and lost to KC in Super Bowl LIV. Comparisons are difficult, especially after a gap of three years. 

Coaches believe in their system and their players but understand their plans can fail with a freak bounce or a bad throw. “It’s a relief,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said of getting to the postseason. “It was a stressful week knowing you needed a win, but you’re thinking about the (playoffs) also. So being able to pull off the win — and being able to rest some guys at the end — was great.”

Niners: Wrong audible, right quarterback

One play into the game and Brock Purdy was down, sacked. Not quite the way saviors are supposed to begin.

“Wrong audible,” was the brief, unemotional explanation from 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.

But in time, the right quarterback.

No, Purdy, the acclaimed Mr. Irrelevant, did not by himself beat the Bucs and Tom Brady, called the GOAT or greatest of all time. Football is a team sport.

But on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, the rookie Purdy, utilizing his talents and a game plan brilliantly created by Shanahan and his staff, was better.

Because, as has been the situation since the loss to Kansas City, the 49ers’ defense is better.

Sure, much of the pre-game material was about the two QBs — the Niners’ rookie, who took over from the injured Jimmy Garoppolo, and the Bucs’ star, who grew up in San Mateo, some 25 miles from Levi’s.

Yet as we have been instructed over the years, it’s the other people, the linesmen, the defenders, who make the difference. Brady only had thrown two interceptions all season. He threw two alone against San Francisco. Two more than Purdy.

“I was really happy for him,” said Shanahan. “He’s tough. It looked like he would be our No. 2. Then Jimmy signed. He works hard.”

After the game, Purdy was as humble as a man taken last in the draft figured to be.

“He’s very poised, but he plays with energy at the same time,” running back Christian McCaffrey said. “And I think those are two great traits to have as a quarterback.”

If Purdy had game-opening, first-NFL-start jitters, they were probably knocked out of him by safety Keanu Neal on that first play — a sack that was negated by an unnecessary roughness penalty.

Said Purdy, “Honestly it just felt good to get hit and just feel like I was in the game.”

He knows the system and his teammates after weeks of practice. What he didn’t know was that the two men ahead of him would get hurt.

What we don’t know is how he’ll respond in a road game where the crowd is hooting and jeering, but we will learn quickly enough. The Niners play at Seattle on Thursday night.

“We got turnovers in this game,” said Shanahan, about the offense. They also had 404 yards rushing and passing, And the Niners, once 1-2, are 9-4 after a sixth straight win.

Deebo Samuel is injured, a high ankle sprain, which could be a big loss in this run-oriented system. Then again, that’s why the 49ers signed McCaffrey. He is not Deebo, but he is very close.

The theory in the NFL is “next man up.” If the next man is Brock Purdy, the idea would seem to have some merit.

As Niners learned, nobody’s irrelevant in the NFL

The definition of irrelevant is “not connected with or relevant to something.” Unless, of course, it involves the NFL, where everything and everyone is connected. As we learned once more on a Sunday in San Francisco, where a foot was broken but a team’s hopes were not.

We refer to Jimmy Garoppolo, Mr. Hard Luck, and to Brock Purdy, perhaps Mr. Good Luck. And to the screaming unpredictability of sports. Do not try to outguess fate. Or rewrite fables.

Nobody would have believed the Niners’ quarterback progression this season, or the accidents incurred.

But here they are, using a quarterback who in generic terms was little more than third string, but because he was in the right place — or wrong place — at the right time is forever to be labeled Mr. Irrelevant, famous for being infamous. 

Paul Salata, who grew up in L.A., was a receiver for USC and played in the 1945 Rose Bowl. He also was on the Trojan baseball team. Drafted by the 49ers, he played a smattering of NFL games and became enamored by the players, who like himself, were pros but never stars.

“Everyone who is drafted works hard,” Salata once told the New York Times, but some don’t get any recognition. “I wanted to celebrate who gets picked last. The player at the end of the line rarely gets noticed. And their hard work should be noticed.”

Thanks to Salata, who died in October 2021, one day before his 95th birthday, the player at the bottom gets plenty of notice, and so does Salata. He and his friends from Orange County came up with the idea of Mr. Irrelevant and Irrelevant Week, where the man chosen last gets almost the same attention as the man taken first. Almost.

There’s a dinner and TV appearances, a tradition that started when Kelvin Kirk of Dayton was drafted by the Steelers in 1976. Kirk took umbrage, believing he was the punchline of a joke, but later on those designated Mr. Irrelevant have been appreciative. Some end up on rosters. Kicker Ryan Succop (South Carolina, 2009) made it to the Super Bowl with Tampa Bay, winning a ring.

Purdy and the Niners would be thrilled by that possibility, although admittedly there’s a big difference between a player who gets a team into the end zone and someone who gets the ball over the crossbar.

Purdy was projected as not even being drafted, but the Niners made him the 262nd player taken.

In movies, people like Purdy are tossed into a game and toss the winning touchdown pass. But this is real life, and the dreamers are warned not to believe in miracles.

Still, Purdy did throw for a touchdown last weekend. Whatever happens from here, is a tribute of sorts to Paul Salata — and a reminder that nobody who’s good enough to be an NFL draft pick is irrelevant.

Niners: Not much offense, but oh that defense

That’s true, the offense was held to a single touchdown and two field goals. Which usually isn’t enough to win an NFL game, unless the other team gets fewer points. Like zero.

And so we harken back to that old — very old — reminder from John McKay, who won games at USC and then, after becoming coach of an expansion team, lost them with the Tampa Bay Bucs: You win on defense; if the other team doesn’t score, you’ll never get worse than a 0-0 tie.

But since the 49ers managed to put a few piddling points on the scoreboard at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday, they got a win, not a tie, their fourth win in succession, a 13-0 victory over the New Orleans Saints.

The Niners now are in first place in the NFC West, ahead of the Seahawks, who somehow lost to the former Oakland Raiders, ahead of the former St. Louis Rams and ahead of the onetime St. Louis Cardinals.

Indeed a lot of movement in the NFL, even some on the gridiron. Those Carole King lyrics, “Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore,” seem appropriate here.

Also appropriate is the comment by head coach Kyle Shanahan from a few days ago, to the effect that this is 49ers football.

You’ve been advised that San Francisco, with good old Jimmy Garoppolo, doesn’t have the quarterback a team needs to win a Super Bowl, that he manages a game instead of taking control and ramming it down your gullet.

But Jimmy G, who completed 26 of 37 for 222 yards, including a five-yarder to Jauan Jennings for the game’s only touchdown, showed exactly what a QB needs, the ability to get up after being smacked around and then act like the leader he’s proven to be.

“He’s tough,” Shanahan said of Garoppolo.

The Niners know what they have, and no less importantly what they don’t. If Jimmy G doesn’t make you think of Tom Brady, whom Garoppolo was drafted by the Patriots to replace, well, he’s the major factor in the offensive system designed and administered by Shanahan.

Week after week, the TV commentators use at least part of a phrase to describe the Niners’ attack, “so many weapons.” The arsenal was interesting with Garoppolo, Jennings, Deebo Samuel, Elijah Mitchell, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle and others; it became fascinating with the acquisition of Christian McCaffrey.

Alternatives? If that running back doesn’t have the ball, this receiver does. There are 60 minutes to an NFL game. On Sunday, the Niners had the ball only 10 seconds short of 35 minutes.

Inherent in sporting success is the belief you have the capability and determination to succeed. Winners act like winners, talk like winners.

“We’re on our way, for sure,” said Nick Bosa. He’s the Pro Bowl pass rusher who late in the game had yet one more sack. “I think we have the guys to do it, definitely. And everybody who is still here (from when the Niners went to the Super Bowl three seasons ago) could be better.”

The 49ers haven’t allowed a point in 94 minutes, 19 seconds of game action, since the second quarter of the win last Monday night in Mexico City.

That will get the job done anytime, anywhere.

McCaffrey: ‘Just trying to master my craft’

And oh yeah, Jimmy Garoppolo had an excellent game too. Not that you noticed. Which was understandable, since he was playing on the same 49ers team as Christian McCaffrey.

McCaffrey is the guy who told us Sunday, after the Niners beat their patsies, the Los Angeles Lambs, 31-14, “I’m just trying to master my craft.”

What craft is that, carving sculptures like Michelangelo?

He seems already to have mastered the art of football. Or is that becoming only the third NFL player in the last 60 years or so to run for a touchdown, catch a pass for a touchdown and throw a pass for a touchdown in the same game merely pedestrian?

Jimmy G? He was 21 of 25 for 235 yards and two touchdowns. This was the same Niners team that a week earlier was embarrassed and overwhelmed.

Of course, they were playing the Kansas City Chiefs.

The constant advice in sports is never get too depressed after a defeat or too excited after a victory. For the moment. you are permitted to ignore the advice and instead consider the words of the Fox announcing crew, who said San Francisco once more is a Super Bowl possibility.

McCaffrey, the Stanford kid (well, he’s 26 now), spent five seasons with the Carolina Panthers. He was in great demand by other teams, including the Niners and Rams. And for the cost of a bag of beans — well, three high draft picks — the Niners got him.

On Sunday, the 49ers were without their main offensive threat, Deebo Samuel, who was injured. The 49ers have a bye next week, and when Samuel returns, he will make McCaffrey better — as McCaffrey will make Samuel better.

As McCaffrey in a way also made the already strong Niner defense (excluding the KC debacle) better because the other team won’t have the ball if the Niners have it.

“I think there’s still so much more left for me to learn,” McCaffrey said. “I’m excited to continue to grow and get better with this team and with the offense … I think there’s still a lot of meat on the bone that I left out there.”

After the win, the Niners only have a 4-4 record and are not even first in NFC West (Seattle is). But the Niners had numerous players who missed games (and practice) because of injuries. Most will be well in a month.

They’ll also have McCaffrey, as much for the way he has lifted the squad mentally as he has physically. Against the Rams, he rushed for 94 yards and had another 55 yards as a receiver. There are no statistics to rank degrees of optimism.

McCaffrey was measured in responding to questions about the remarkable achievement, accomplished previously only by LaDainian Tomlinson and Walter Payton.

However, Garoppolo said what others surely must have been thinking, that was some performance.

Especially for someone trying to master his craft.

Shanahan: ‘Players just need to play better’

You say the Niners might need something more than Christian McCaffrey? Not a bad guess.

You could start with a defense, except as we were reminded on the telecast the Niners have the No. 1 defense in the NFL. And defense wins, right?  

Unless it is defenseless.

What do you call it? A reality check? A surprise? It certainly was a downer to close a week that had seemed perfect for the Niners.

They had out-snookered the others, we were advised, by trading a few draft picks for Christian McCaffrey, who could run and receive, do everything except leap tall buildings in a single bound.

He did play Sunday, but the Niners did not, at least to what was supposed to be their capability, getting overwhelmed, 44-23, by the Chiefs.

You want a word to describe the way the 49ers looked? How about terrible? They gave up a first down when the Chiefs had a third-and-20.

“We have good players,” said head coach Kyle Shanahan, notably bewildered. “They just have to play better.”

So simple. And so mystifying. Maybe the Niners on Sunday played as well as they are able. After all, they have a 3-4 record, and much of the perception of their power comes from that huge victory over the Rams.

That’s when the defense embellished a reputation that soon may be far less than it was. The D that day contributed six quarterback sacks. In this game they had just one, although KC’s Patrick Mahomes is particularly elusive.

Indeed, so is the Super Bowl, in which only a few winters past, Super Bowl LIV, the Niners faced the Chiefs. The chance for a repeat of that game was good. No longer.

The Chiefs looked every bit as strong as promised, running and passing for 529 yards. They are confident and well programmed.  

They grabbed the game, which fell far short of being competitive as the 1½-point spread would indicate.

Strange things happen in pro football, where nobody (except the 1972 Dolphins) wins them all. Virtually nobody loses them all, and the popular slogan is: “On any given Sunday.” 

Still, you don’t get outclassed as the Niners were if there is to be more than a thimbleful of hope. It isn’t so much about what went wrong but what didn’t go wrong.

It wasn’t wrong for Shanahan to pull quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in the closing minutes, the game decided. It was an act of mercy. Something the Niners needed.

“Our defense prides itself on eliminating explosive plays,” said linebacker Fred Warner. “And that’s what the game felt like, explosive plays, one after another.”

But only for one team and against one team.  

“That was just general frustration,” said Warner. “Knowing that we are better than that. And I felt they were marching down the field.”

He felt that way because that’s what the Chiefs were doing. The numbers are depressing as well as shocking. The Chiefs scored on six of their first eight possessions and didn’t punt until it didn’t matter, with only minutes remaining.

The 44 points were the most allowed in a home game since a 45-10 loss to Atlanta on Oct. 11, 2009. That’s before Shanahan arrived, the days when the Niners were as inefficient as they were on Sunday.

McCaffrey in a limited role was responsible for 62 yards on 10 touches. Wonder if he would be willing to try defense?

McCaffrey trade means the future is now for the Niners

First question: Do the 49ers have any draft picks in the next century or so? Second question: Who cares? As a football coach named George Allen used to tell us so often, the words became the title of his autobiography: the future is now.

There’s little doubt that the San Francisco 49ers are a better team than they were two days ago when wisely they embraced the opportunity to grab running back Christian McCaffrey, who leads in all sorts of stats and whom they hope will lead them to a championship.

The NFL is a league of missed chances and second guesses, so when the time arises, if it ever does, you better take advantage. The Niners did exactly that.

This is the way you have to think when giving up draft picks for real live people: One guy has been out there doing what you’re only believing some other guy might do or never do.

So let’s go forth, real live people.

True, it’s going to be boring around the Niners for the next few drafts. The picks they didn’t swap for Trey Lance, they swapped for McCaffrey.

Indeed, McCaffrey’s pro career since he came out of Stanford has been beset by injuries. All the more reason in the big picture to make a deal for him now.

As the Niners have been reminded this season, NFL players get hurt virtually every play. If you have more than a few talented healthy ones, it makes sense to add another who is quite talented and not infrequently quite healthy.

This is sports, right? It’s a form of entertainment. It isn’t that the Niners haven’t been at least mildly entertaining (and more than mildly frustrating), winning three of their first six games.

It’s that’s the acquisition makes them must-see stuff, right up with those Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots. Plus there’s the backstory for a team wanting to be the front-runner. In 2017, drafting third overall, the Niners could have chosen McCaffrey. And didn’t.

General manager John Lynch, a Stanford guy himself, made the ultimate decision on trading three high draft picks for a 26-year-old running back. But Kyle Shanahan, the Niners’ head coach, and surely a few others in the organization had opinions.

On Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, the 49ers play the Kansas City Chiefs, the team that beat the Niners two and a half years ago in Super Bowl LIV.

Whether McCaffrey, so quickly after joining the Niners, gets into this game is problematic, but he’ll be getting into other games and perhaps getting San Francisco into another Super Bowl.

Lynch called the trade a gamble, if a well thought-out one. Isn’t every play a gamble, the offense trying to outsmart the defense, which in turn is trying to outsmart the offense?

For certain, with McCaffrey running and receiving, the Niners’ offense will be more productive, giving a balance to a team whose strength has been on defense.

Perfection is rare in pro football, where are there are too many moving parts and bizarre bounces. The game essentially is one of persistence and survival.

Often it’s a case of hanging in until somebody makes the big play. That somebody might be Christian McCaffrey.

We’ll find out soon enough.

Of the Niners’ win and Draymond’s punch

So the 49ers played the way we’ve been waiting for them to play — meaning both efficiently and effectively — and people even were talking about them being the best team in the NFL.

When they weren’t talking about Draymond Green, whose defense is almost as famous as the Niners’ and whose rash behavior is just as infamous.

The debate this summer was whether the Warriors, with Green, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, had by winning a fourth championship surpassed the 49ers as the most popular sporting franchise in the Bay Area.

It’s accepted that popularity is based on success. Over the last few years, no team other than the New England Patriots was as successful as the Warriors. You surmise that will outweigh Draymond’s moment of outrage. But apology or no apology, Green’s punch could have an effect.

For certain, the Niners, founded in San Francisco in 1946, always will have their followers to cheer in good times and grumble (and boo) in bad. And ironically and appropriately, these 49ers are developing into a very good team.

With their 37-15 romp Sunday over the Carolina Panthers, a team susceptible to being romped, they made a statement. Or perhaps updated a previous one.

The problem for the Niners was that they seemed to be losing players on injuries on virtually every down. Safety Jimmy Ward was gone early, pass rusher Nick Bosa later.

Niners coach Kyle Shanahan appeared as philosophical about the injuries (“They’re part of the game”) as he was ecstatic about the win, arguably tops in the league, but at last the offense in general and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo played well.

“We made plays,” said Shanahan. “Jimmy G looked like Jimmy Garoppolo. He kept drives alive.” Along with his running backs and receivers.

Shanahan kept using the word awesome. He’s allowed, if anybody is.

After the game, with Washington as the next opponent, the Niners flew not home but to the Greenbrier, a historic resort in West Virginia, where they stayed on a previous trip to the East Coast. ”We’ll be together,” said Shanahan. ”We like that.”

On Sunday, they very much liked Garoppolo (18 of 30, 253 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions) and liked his progress.

As is well known around Ninerville, Jimmy G, without a team of his own, was unable to take part in a preseason summer camp. Then, having joined the Niners as a backup, Garoppolo was forced to become a starter when Trey Lance broke his ankle.

“I thought he looked real good,” said Shanahan in what was an unneeded affirmation.

When you’re on a two-game win streak and moving into a 3-2 record, that’s not exactly an overstatement.

Every NFL team, particularly the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers, has fans on the road; the Niners had more than a few in Charlotte. “We knew they were there. It was great.”

The Cowboys also were winners, defeating the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, who the Niners defeated a week ago. Also in last year’s playoffs, the Niners kept Dallas from a shot at the championship.   

A few days ago, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, never one to remain silent, said he would love for a rematch. Most people would, including Draymond Green.

Niners battling Cowboys for time on ESPN

Those 49ers must be doing something right. They received almost as much time on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Tuesday morning as the Dallas Cowboys. who were doing something or other. What the Niners had done was defeat the Rams, merely the defending Super Bowl champions.

Not that the Rams seem to be any good, if one studies the Los Angeles Times, as it were the Rams hometown paper. “Four games into the season,” wrote Dylan Hernandez, the Times columnist, “and (Rams coach) Sean McVay looks as if he still hasn’t recovered from his boozy Super Bowl parade. The offensive revolutionary suddenly is a .500 coach, his once feared attack painfully predictable.”

Also predictable is the Niners’ implacable defense, but you knew that. Holding any NFL team to nothing except three field goals, as the 49ers did in their win over the Rams, is verification.

You also knew that fans and critics can change opinions about as quickly as Deebo Samuel can change direction.

A week ago, there were questions about the Niners in general and the returnee, Jimmy Garoppolo specifically. He stepped out of the end zone for a safety and the team looked as if it had fallen into a rut. Oh, woe is us.

Now? Now Jimmy G — the way he’ll be described when results are satisfying — says post-game, “I feel much better than last week.”

As he should, having been in tight control of an offense built around Mr. Samuel (remember when he wanted to be traded?), in truth an offense built around the defense. Once more a reference to the observation by the late John McKay, who won a national championship at USC and would insist, “You win on defense. If the other team doesn’t score, you never get worse than a 0-0 tie.”

The Niners got much better. And even though they have only a 2-2 record, the Niners are once more, as they were at the season’s start, being touted as the favorite in the NFC, despite the presence of the 4-0 Philadelphia Eagles.

“We’ve got to play better,” was McVay’s farewell analysis of his Rams. That’s hardly an original thought among losing coaches. In fact, it was expressed only last week by the Niners’ Kyle Shanahan after the rare miserable  showing against the Broncos. But Monday night, Shanahan seemed absolutely delighted in the way the Niners played.

“I was real happy,” said Shanahan. “It was a cool way to win. We knew it would be a battle to keep them out of the end zone.”

Cool was a repetitive word. Shanahan used it to describe the way his team won and the way his linebacker Bobby Wagner flattened a protester who jumped onto the field with a smoke bomb in the first half. Garoppolo didn’t say much, but his smile said a great deal, and Jimmy G, contemplating the pressure and success, was testament enough.

“You know how the (stuff) is,” Garoppolo reminded, only he didn’t say stuff. “It’s a roller coaster. You’ve got to love it.”

No less, you’ve got to love Samuel, who dashed 44 yards on a pass play for the Niners’ first touchdown and at kickoff earned high praise from TV analysts including Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman, who called Samuel his favorite player.

“I don't even look in their eyes anymore,“ Samuel told NBC Bay Area about the guys chasing him. "I just go out there and line up and can just see them like, 'Oh here comes Deebo.'"

And there go the Niners.

Niners: Too many mistakes, too little rhythm

That result, the Niners losing to Denver 11-10 on Sunday night.

It was an NFL game, right? Or numbers left off the odds sheet from Bally’s? Wonder what the odds were that Jimmy Garoppolo would take a step out of the end zone for a safety?

Comments from the post-game locker room seemed divided between mistakes (too many) and rhythm (too little).

It’s an accepted thought that the most important phase of the game is defense; the old line if the opponent doesn’t score, you’ll never get less than a 0-0 tie. And San Francisco has an excellent defense. 

Which is fortunate because it doesn’t have much of an offense. At least it didn’t on Sunday night.

Then again, their best offensive lineman, Trent Williams, was injured (and will be gone a month).

And they forced to use a new quarterback who is an old quarterback, Mr. Garoppolo.

Jimmy G. very much was back, having healed from his injuries (and maybe the blow to his ego) to replace the injured Trey Lance.

You understand the reason the 49ers took Trey Lance third overall in the 2021 draft (after trading draft picks to get the opportunity). The team wanted a different (and different type) of QB from Garoppolo — if not at the moment, then in coming seasons. But fate is strange.

The Niners signed Garoppolo, thumbing a nose at those who said that two starting quarterbacks is the same as having none. Not if one is required to step in, or in Jimmy G’s situation, step back in.

Of course, on Sunday night it appeared he had stepped into trouble.

“We never got into rhythm,” said Niners coach Kyle Shanahan.

What? With the veterans such as Deebo Samuel? How can the team that a year ago was so close to the Super Bowl — with Garoppolo as quarterback — have those penalties and two turnovers?

One of those knowledgeable sorts on NBC Sports Bay Area, Donte Whitner or Rod Brooks,  said because Garoppolo didn’t take part in summer camp, he and the team still are unfamiliar with each other. The implication was everything will be there in time.

“It was a tough situation,” was the explanation that didn’t really explain anything.

Garoppolo was as bewildered as anyone why the Niners got yards (virtually the same as Denver) but could barely get points, except for one, virtually the same as Denver.

“We were sloppy,” said Garoppolo. “We were not in rhythm. Our defense kept us in the game.”

When someone on air reminded us that Garoppolo had only been back as a starter for a game and a half. Garoppolo said, “No excuses.”

Not a lot of protection either. Garoppolo was sacked four times.

The quarterback said he was “trying to buy time,” when under pressure he stepped out of the end zone for the safety.

And so the Trey Lance era has arrived for the Niners

The heralded Trey Lance era apparently has arrived. Anybody want to search for it among the frustration and disappointment of his first game as the 49ers’ designated savior?

What happened on Sunday was not entirely his fault, San Francisco squandering a 10-0 lead and getting stunned by the Chicago Bears, 19-10.

The defense became defenseless, and the Niners were called for 12 penalties, a number unacceptable for any team not named the Raiders. But the judgment of a QB is made from the final score.

Did he bring his team home a winner, in this game played in an occasional downpour and on a constantly sloppy surface at Soldier Field in Chicago? Lance did not.

The Niners had become the fashionable choice to make the Super Bowl, from all those folks at ESPN to hyper-critical Boomer Esiason. But when the curtain went up, they looked, well, terrible wouldn’t be an inappropriate description.

Kyle Shanahan, the Niners coach, tossed out phrases such as “stupid penalties” and “silly mistakes,” not needing to wait until the videos to tell us what he really thought.

The Niners and Lance, the quarterback who was the third overall pick in the 2021 draft, are hot stuff and the game was shown in many locations.

And while it’s only one game among the 17 on every NFL team’s season schedule, and while even the Super Bowl champ Los Angeles Rams were defeated in their opener, this wasn’t exactly the way to make an impression — for Lance or for the franchise.

“We all know what happened,” said Lance, in his postgame comments, “and we need to fix it.”

What happened was the 49ers had 331 net yards rushing and passing to 204 for the Bears, but botched up everything by holding or doing whatever else that an official would deem against the rules.

The league this season went from four preseason games to three. Perhaps the Niners needed that fourth practice game to learn what was proper and what wasn’t. Or how to fool the refs.

Compared to their dozen penalties for 99 yards, just one short of a football field, the Bears had only three for 24 yards.

“It’s hard enough to play against the opposing team,” left tackle Trent Williams said. “It’s even harder when you play against yourself.”

The Bears were seven-point underdogs in what would be labeled Chicago weather. Early on, they punted five times and quarterback Justin Fields threw an interception. but they won because the 49ers kept screwing up.

“We killed ourselves,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “Every single one of those drives, you can look back and see we did something to help them get in the end zone.”

“We were stopping the run,” said defensive end Nick Bosa, “but we fell apart on penalties.” Asked about Lance, Bosa said, “I was encouraged by the way he played. With that rain, it was hard to throw the ball.”

Shanahan said the field conditions factored into how he used Lance.

“I’ll go back and watch the tape and I’ll ask him how he felt,” Shanahan said. “But it was that type of game.”

Not the type the Niners could have wanted.

Deebo knows how to get yards — and attention

Very clever of Deebo Samuel. Obviously, he’s as adept at getting attention as he is at running or catching a football. Who knew?

So much going on, the Warriors about to take their first-round series in the playoffs — that’s a given; we need no fat lady singing — the Giants getting noticed by the New York Times, and the A’s in their endless (and seemingly hopeless) attempt to build a ballpark, making headlines if not progress.

So what can a self-declared unappreciated halfback sulking away down in Florida do but declare he wants to be traded?

You say he can meet with the people in charge of his current (and probably future) team, the 49ers, and with his advisors hold a businesslike discussion?

Thanks, but this is sports, and you’ve got to make as much noise as possible to try to make as much money as possible.

Samuel implied the issue isn’t money (although we know it’s always money) but that he doesn’t like being used as both a running back and receiver. The season for the 49ers ended in early January, when they lost to the Rams one game short of the Super Bowl. Samuel then virtually disappeared until in mid-April ESPN’s Jeff Darlington said Deebo was disenchanted.

On Monday, the Niners had their traditional pre-draft media session. However, it was anything but traditional. The first question hurled at general manager John Lynch was about Samuel.

So was the next. And the next. And the next. Not that Lynch was caught off guard. After all, he is a Stanford man, as well as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“I know you guys have jobs to do,” conceded Lynch, “and everyone’s very curious about Deebo and what’s going on there.”

Indeed. A man who caught the most passes, who gained much of the yards, who in effect was a one-man offense.

What is going on there?

”You guys have seen the stories and all that,” said Lynch, which naturally we had. “And like I said, I’m not going to get into those particulars because I don’t think it’s productive.”

Productive in providing material for reporters and columnists and TV commentators? Productive in affecting a possible transaction?

The more we know, well, the more we know. But what general managers know — how and why a pro football team is put together, or torn apart — just remain secret.

“You talk about the sanctity of keeping these things private,” Lynch was asked. ”Clearly this is no longer private. Does that bother you?”

As pointed out, Lynch comes well prepared. Hey, last year didn’t he trade all those draft picks for the quarterback (Trey Lance) who will throw or handoff to Deebo? (Well, maybe not.)

The next season, it’s whether Samuel will be around to get the ball.

Whether he or the Niners have leverage in the situation is debatable. Samuel remains under contract to San Francisco. If he doesn’t play for the Niners, he doesn’t get paid.  

Then again, if he doesn’t play for them, and no deal is made, the offense will be in trouble.

“I can’t ever imagine wanting to move on from Deebo,” was the cryptic comment from Lynch. He might not imagine it, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be forced into doing it.

“You put yourself through exercises of — even though we don’t have a first, you go through the process. He’s just too good a player; 2019, the 36th pick; to come up with someone like Deebo, who to me has been a game-changing player for our franchise.

“As (Arizona State coach) Herman Edwards says, it’s about when will meets skill. Do you let guys like that walk? I can’t imagine a scenario where we would.”

But what’s the scenario seen by Samuel, the man who runs, not walks?

49ers-Rams: Pure Hollywood — uh, Inglewood

Perfect stuff for Hollywood, well, Inglewood, 11.8 miles away, where the game will be played Sunday: Two teams from California coached by two guys who as assistants were on the same staff and now will face each other again, for a chance to get to the Super Bowl.

Niners vs. Rams: Once more into the breach.

So much history. And now, with the NFC Championship to the winner, so much of a possibility.

They each won an NFC divisional title over the weekend on a field goal, the Rams beating Tampa Bay 30-27 on Matt Gay’s 30-yarder as time expired Sunday.

That came less than 24 hours after the 49ers beat the Packers 13-10, in the snow of Green Bay, on Robbie Gould’s 45-yarder as time expired Saturday night.

The Niners post-game celebration was notably raucous. Maybe because they weren’t supposed to win, underdogs on the road.

Maybe because Jimmy Garoppolo would remain as quarterback for at least one last game.

Maybe because they trailed from the start, unable even to record a single first down or pass completion until the middle of the second quarter.

The Niners won their two regular season games against the Rams, and the rule of thumb in the NFL is that it’s rare to beat a team three times in one season. Then again, the 49ers have defeated the Rams six in a row.

“We’ve got an opportunity,” said Niners coach Kyle Shanahan.

They also would seem to have an advantage over the Rams, coached by Sean McVay, who not that long ago worked alongside Shanahan when they were assistants with Washington.

Shanahan was visibly excited about the victory over the Packers in what some would label Packers weather, 14 degrees at kickoff and dropping to a wind chill of zero. Brrr? Big deal.

San Francisco was 2-4 back in October, and there were people wondering if Kyle could handle the job — even if the Niners were in the Super Bowl a couple years earlier.

He could handle it. Check recent scores.

“Since week eight, our backs have been against the wall,” Shanahan said, ignoring any suggestion or not his neck could be on the chopping block.

As opposed to the blocks the Niner defense produced, becoming only the third team in the Super Bowl era, meaning from 1967, to block both a punt and a field goal in a playoff game.

“We stayed together,” he said. ”We worked hard.”

Garoppolo was efficient, playing with the sore right thumb that wasn’t disclosed until after the win in the previous game over the Cowboys. He did throw an interception, but a beautifully thrown pass to George Kittle that might have become a touchdown was dropped.

“Jimmy made some really good plays,” confirmed Shanahan.  

There’s a football saying that a quarterback’s performance should be judged by the final score. Does he bring the team home, especially in difficult conditions? Jimmy G. met that requirement.

The Niner defense was particularly responsible for this victory, not only with the two blocks, one by defensive end Jordan Willis blocking Corey Bojorquez’s punt with the 49ers trailing 10-3. That was turned into the tying touchdown with some five minutes left.

The Niners were out of it, or so we believed, and then they were all over it.

Defense is the side that makes the Niners go by keeping the other team stopped. End Nick Bosa was permitted to return from concussion protocol just before game time. He had two sacks. Fred Warner and Dontae Johnson each were involved in six tackles.

Niner fans can be as relentless in support of the team as the athletes are in their attempt to win, as Rams management effectively told everyone Sunday.  

For the conference championship at SoFi Stadium, it will not sell tickets to people who attempt to use credit cards registered outside the greater Los Angeles area.

Would you call that sound defense? Or defense against sounds?

Niners again face Rodgers, the man they should have drafted

For the 49ers, it wasn’t so much what might have been or could have been but what should have been. Yes, before yet another playoff game between the 49ers and Green Bay Packers, it’s time to recall the unfortunate tale of Aaron Rodgers.

Unfortunate if one is emotionally involved with the 49ers.      

It was a given that in the 2005 NFL draft San Francisco, with the No. 1 pick, would select Rodgers. He played at Cal across the bay; grew up a Niners fan; and in 2004 against USC completed the first 23 passes he threw, tying a record.

Such a certainty. Such a surprise. The Niners had a new coach, Mike Nolan, whose father had preceded him in that position years before.

Mike was going to show us what he knew — and so the Niners picked Alex Smith because, said Nolan, he was more athletic, virtually able to do everything except leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Nolan was relieved of his job before the new man in charge, Jim Harbaugh, replaced Alex with Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback famous — or infamous — for actions other than his play (although he did get the Niners to the Super Bowl).  

Because teams predetermine who they’ll draft, often becoming trapped by the choices, nobody else moved in on Rodgers, who dropped from a presumptive No. 1 down to an actual No. 24, by the Packers.

More than a decade later, in 2016, Mike Nolan, between jobs as an assistant coach, confessed to “NFL HQ” he was less than enthralled with Rodgers’ arrogance and his throwing motion.

With Rodgers having won three MVP awards, favored to win another and at least partially responsible for a Super Bowl triumph, one guesses those failings now appear less important — although Rodgers‘ current lack of honesty about Covid-19 vaccination remains inexcusable.

“Basically, we thought in the long term that Alex Smith would be the better choice than Aaron," Nolan said. "It was one of those, maybe, paralysis by analysis. We had so much time to think about it.

“We put a lot of stock in changing Aaron's throwing style. We also got caught up a little bit in that Alex was so mobile. That was a good thing. But in the end, we felt Alex would be the better long-time guy. Obviously, we were wrong in that thought process."

So again Rodgers, stubborn, cocky, successful, is the quarterback the Niners must confront instead of embrace, while perhaps for the last time they rely on Jimmy Garoppolo.

The draft is a process built on hope as much as it is on preparation. Tom Brady, labeled the GOAT, or “Greatest of All Time,” was not chosen until the sixth round of the 2000 draft, 199th overall.    

Garoppolo, the man the Patriots intended to take over for Brady, was picked in the second round of the 2014 draft, after Blake Bortles and Johnny Manziel. But ahead of Derek Carr. The 49ers traded for Jimmy G in 2017. Now they’re waiting for the ascension of Trey Lance.  

The inevitability of Lance becoming the Niners’ starter was presumed the moment they grabbed him with the third pick in last year’s draft. Yet who knows?

In Green Bay, according to Eric Edom of Yahoo! Sports, some suggest that Saturday night’s game at Lambeau Field, similar to the Niners and Garoppolo, will be Rodgers’ last for the Pack.

Over the last couple of off-seasons, Rodgers has avoided giving a direct answer to whether he wanted to remain with the team, figuratively dancing around when asked — like a quarterback evading the rush. And Green Bay did select a quarterback, Jordan Love, in the first round of the 2020 draft, which made Rodgers quite unhappy.

“There are a lot of guys’ futures that are uncertain, myself included,” Rodgers said a season ago after the Packers lost to Tampa Bay in the NFC championship game.

Wouldn’t it be ironic, then, if what turns out to be Aaron Rodgers’ last game for the Packers is against the team that should have drafted him when it had the chance, the 49ers?

Niners win in a perfectly imperfect game

It was a perfectly imperfect game, full of too many penalties (by the Dallas Cowboys, mostly), more than enough tension (thanks to some 49er misplays) and an ending that belonged in a comedy show as much as it did an NFL highlight film.

Yet, when it came to the bizarre conclusion — Dak Prescott trying to run off a play without the officials having touched the ball — there were the 49ers in the next round of the playoffs and Dallas owner Jerry Jones sitting stunned in his box at the multi-billion-dollar stadium in Texas he helped finance.

On Wild Card Sunday the Niners, with a (phew) very wild 23-17 victory, advanced another step in the postseason, to the divisional round, where they’ll face the Green Bay Packers.

The Pack defeated the Niners in the regular season. And with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, football’s anti-vax answer to the disgraced and deported tennis star Novak Djokovic, Green Bay will be picked to win this one.

But who cares? In effect the Niners, who two weekends ago seemed to be done for the season (they’re now 11-7), are playing with house money — mainly because they play with a great defense.

The talk coming into this one was all about Dallas (of course, the former “America’s Team.”) No matter, the Niners clearly were better. The Boys helped SF by getting called for 14 penalties; who do they think are, the Raiders?

But the Niners, who were off to a first-quarter 10-0 lead, made mistakes of their own, including a Jimmy Garoppolo interception to keep us from turning off the CBS telecast, which featured the duo of Jim Nantz, fighting any urge to favor the Cowboys, and ex-Cowboy QB Tony Romo, who was less neutral.

Which made him about the same as others in the CBS crew. When sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson said Dallas was looking to pick off Jimmy G, and did the next play, there were congratulations and joy throughout.

“It was an emotional, up-and-down game,” said Garoppolo, who would rue the interception. “We were in a dogfight. The fans were nuts.”

AT&T Stadium in Arlington, also known as Jerry’s World, holds more than 94,000 of those fans, and with Jones, GM as well as owner, and highly paid quarterback Dak Prescott running things in their own ways, the Cowboys were talking the Super Bowl.

Oops. That’s also a word applicable for the ultimate play on Sunday. Moments before, with the 49ers trying to run out the clock, Deebo Samuel was stopped on third down literally inches short of the first down.

Then came a Niner false start and a punt to the Cowboys’ 20. As the clock kept ticking, the Cowboys, with Prescott running and throwing, moved the ball to the Niners’ eight. Tick tock.

Prescott bumped into ref Ramon George trying to place the ball without an official touching it — or did George, in the line of duty, bump into Prescott? Whatever, the ticking had stopped. Game over.

Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy — anybody here remember he was the Niners’ offensive coordinator for Mike Nolan in 2005? — said Prescott was slowed by the collision.

McCarthy wanted a review. “They were going to put time on the clock,” said McCarthy, “and the next thing I know they’re running off the field.” They had to catch a flight to SFO.

Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said later when asked about his team, “There are lots of ways to win a game, but we shouldn’t have given the ball back to them.”

They did, but most importantly they held on to the victory.

Just a game for 49ers — but what a game

It wasn’t for a championship, wasn’t for the record book. It was just a game. But what a game.

A game that offered what sports is supposed to offer, unpredictability, surprise and best of all for the 49ers — and their faithful — a victory.

A game that once and for all disproved any thought that Jimmy Garoppolo isn’t a worthy heir to Joe Montana and Steve Young, no matter what the future holds.

A game that with the Niners, once down 17-0, then in the closing minute of regulation down by a touchdown, managed to win, beating the Rams, 27-24, in overtime on a Robbie Gould field goal.

And oh yes, a game that got the Niners into the coming weekend’s wild card playoffs against the Cowboys, deep in the heartlessness of Texas.

You want drama? You want joy? You want irony? It was 40 years ago the Niners came back against Dallas in the playoffs and won historically when Montana and the late Dwight Clark connected on “The Catch.”

Which would elevate the Niners to their first Super Bowl.

That one was held at aging Candlestick Park, now gone. This one was held at the newest of stadia, $5 billion SoFi in Inglewood. That’s home to the Rams, though you might not have believed it from the crowd reaction.

It’s always been that way, hasn’t it, Niner fans coming south to make their presence felt?

On a Monday night at Anaheim Stadium in the late 1980s, John Taylor caught touchdown pass after touchdown pass, and from the cheering you’d have sworn you were in the Bay Area.

When the listless 49ers couldn’t move the ball and couldn’t keep the Rams from moving it in the first half Sunday — they were outgained, 149 to 83 — you’d have sworn the Niners’ season was done.

Yeah, wait ’til next year and that Trey Lance kid.

Someday, maybe next season, Lance presumably will be the Niners’ quarterback. Management — and Niner fans — can only hope he will show the courage and poise of Garoppolo.

Jimmy G had torn a ligament in the thumb of his throwing hand eight days earlier. The question was whether he even could throw, much less start. The question was answered positively and effectively.

“You learn how to adapt,” said Garoppolo. There was pain. There  was resilience. There was success.

Garoppolo was 23 for 32 for 316 yards and a touchdown. Most of all, for an offense dedicated to running the ball, there was leadership.

Niners coach Kyle Shanahan appeared to be gloatingly delighted, implying that all those who doubted Jimmy G and doubted Kyle himself had underestimated both.

Especially with Elijah Mitchell (21 carries for 85 yards) and Deebo Samuel (8 for 45 and one TD) running and pounding, and Samuel (4 catches for 95 yards), Brandon Aiyuk (6 for 107) and Jauan Jennings (6 for 94 and 2 TDs) receiving.

Remember that Rams game a few weeks back when the Niners ground out a victory? In the second half Sunday, they ran the ball on 10 straight plays. Maybe the only stat that counts is the final score, but in winning a sixth straight over L.A. the Niners had 449 yards, the Rams 265.

The saying in football is you win on defense. The Niners were a perfect example.

When needed, such as on a third down and short yardage in the first half, San Francisco, trailing 17-0, stopped the Rams and then was able to kick a field goal.

Asked how he felt after game, Garoppolo said, “It was an emotional game, up and down.”

Down and then up might be a more accurate description. And guaranteed at least one more game.

Maybe the best Rose Bowl game ever

PASADENA, Calif. — It wasn’t for the national championship, but that’s the only thing this football game on the first day of January 2022 wasn’t.

They’ve said the one in 2006, when Texas came back to beat USC, was the greatest Rose Bowl ever, and the most exciting. We’ll amend that contention.

The way a redshirt first-year quarterback from Ohio State amended the school’s and the game’s passing records.

C.J. Stroud grew up in Rancho Cucamonga, about 30 miles east of the Rose Bowl stadium itself, so maybe it was appropriate he would help lead the Buckeyes to a last-second win over Utah, 48-45.

The winning field goal from 19 yards with nine seconds remaining was by Noah Ruggles, but those were merely — merely? — the ultimate points in what had to be one of college football’s ultimate games.

It was a game that dragged before it erupted. Five touchdowns were scored in a three-minute stretch in the second quarter, Stroud responsible for six overall as he threw for 573 yards.

Never mind why Stroud left California, but a year ago as a freshman at Ohio State he never threw a pass, waiting behind Justin Fields, who of course was the No. 1 pick by the Chicago Bears in last year’s draft.

To recycle the line used about winning college football programs, the Buckeyes don’t rebuild, they reload.

But for the first time in eight years, they lost to Michigan in the annual matchup, which is why Ohio State was in the Rose Bowl while Michigan was in the playoffs getting pounded by Georgia.

Be assured, with Stroud back another couple of years, that won’t happen in the immediate future.

On the receiving end of Stroud’s passes were Jaxon Smith-Nigba, with 15 catches for 347 yards and three touchdowns, and Marvin Harrison Jr., the son of a onetime NFL star, with 8 catches for 32 yards and three touchdowns.

How times have changed. Ohio State, where the offense 60 years ago was often described as “three yards and a cloud of dust,” on this New Year’s afternoon ran for 110 yards but passed for almost 600.

Stroud said of his link with Smith-Nigba, “We came in together as freshmen. But me and him doesn’t have a good game without our offensive line. Our backs ran well. Our tight ends blocked well. When you get that combination, you get going.”

Stroud, who also was a fine basketball player in high school, has made it a habit of looking for Harrison. “I call him ‘route man,’” said Stroud. “His routes are amazing, especially against a good corner.”

This Rose Bowl was amazing. Utah was all over the field, but after leading through three quarters, the Utes couldn’t close.

“I’m sure the fans and the networks got their money’s worth out of this one,” said Kyle Whittingham, the Utah coach. “Our guys got nothing to hang their heads about.”

Ohio State has played in numerous Rose Bowls. This was the first for Utah.

“It was a heck of a football game,” said Whittingham.

That it was.