Long-suffering (well, relatively so) 49er fans were the butt of countless internet jokes, gibes, and insults a year ago after many made a slew of hyperbolic Super Bowl predictions in the wake of Jimmy Garoppolo's arrival. His subsequent season-ending injury splattered egg all over many a Faithful face, and coming off a 4-12 season few were ready to make reservations for Miami. Yet here we are. The naysayers who've loudly blared that "the 49ers haven't beaten anybody yet" are getting a bit muted now. Holding the Rams to one first-quarter touchdown in LA is pretty impressive, completely demolishing a decent Carolina team is several times more so, and hanging tough to decisively finish out a division opponent on their turf is exactly what good teams do in a "trap" game.
That the 49ers have done this over the past month without two starting offensive tackles and their go-to fullback is even more impressive. It was the offense, after all, that closed out the Arizona game, driving for emphatic first downs that took the ball and the clock away from the Cardinals. The defense, with a fearsome pass rush, active linebackers, and a turnover-focused secondary, has been solid all year. But there's a reason Jimmy G is 14-2 as a starter here; he "just wins." He doesn't let things bother him; he's cool, calm, and collected regardless of situation or circumstance. There's no way to accurately measure just how infectious this type of confidence is, but we can see it in action.
The last time the 49ers started a season 8-0 was in 1990. They were the two-time defending Super Bowl champions then, going for the unprecedented "three-peat." All told, the Niners won ten straight to open that season, as did their bitter rivals, Bill Parcells' New York Giants. A week ahead of their Monday Night Showdown in week 12, both teams were upset at home by division rivals-- the Rams, in San Francisco's case. Nonetheless, that Monday night battle against the G-Men, which ended 7-3 in the 49ers' favor, was a classic, and it foreshadowed the NFC Championship battle a month later, in which New York still couldn't score a touchdown, but did win the game.
Is this team better than that one? Well, consider: the 1990 49ers, after two years of a powerful running game led by Roger Craig and Tom Rathman, couldn't run the ball at all. Joe Montana attempted more passes, was sacked more times, and threw more incompletions in 1990 than in any other season of his career. The team scored 353 points, down from 442 in the epochal 1989 season, and scored over 30 only twice. For reasons we still can't figure out, the coaching staff shuffled the offensive line that year, moving Steve Wallace from left to right tackle and Harris Barton from right tackle to guard. The line simply didn't dominate in 1990 as it had in 1989. The Niners' success that season-- a 14-2 mark and top seed in the NFC again-- was primarily due to the defense, which had a terrific year.
This team runs better than that one did. Jimmy G hasn't had to throw as many times as Joe did. This defense may not be at the level of that one, yet, but it's sure getting there. And, just as in 1990, there is a NFC team standing in the way, confident it can block the 49ers' path to Miami.
That's the Seattle Seahawks, of course, who come in to Levi Stadium next Monday, Veterans' Day, on a roll, with a 7-2 record and a MVP-worthy season from Russell Wilson. This isn't the "old" Seahawks we learned to hate earlier in the decade. That team relied on constant defensive holding and relentless pressure, waiting and waiting for the opposition to make a mistake and then pouncing on it. The offense generally stumbled and bumbled through much of a given game, relying on Marshawn Lynch to break a big run or a Wilson prayer to somehow come down in the right hands. Those things happened often enough to earn Seattle back-to-back Super Bowls.
This Seahawks team is different. Wilson is now the best quarterback in the NFC. As with Jimmy G, though in a completely different way, Wilson inspires his teammates to a great level of confidence. The Seahawks have a legitimately explosive offense now with a lot of talent. On the other hand, their defense has been vulnerable all season, as Tampa Bay and Jameis Winston showed last week, running up 34 points on Seattle's home field.
Time was when the Seahawks' game plan was to keep it close and low-scoring, and wait for something to break. (Green Bay, in the 2014 NFC Championship, and Minnesota, in the 2015 playoff, are textbook examples.) No more. With Wilson playing lights-out, the Seahawks can win a shootout against anyone, especially if they can get the ball last. Monday night, we believe, will be the game that shows us just how good the 49er defense really is, and whether their running game can effectively keep the league's most dangerous man on the bench. Bring it on!
