No Reason To Cry

"What we see is, we see the offensive player come in and initiate contact on the defensive player -- nothing that rises to the level of a foul which significantly hinders the defender, nothing that is clear and obvious through visual evidence, which hinders the defender," Riveron said. "The defender then braces himself. And there is contact then by the defender on the receiver. Again, nothing which rises to the level of a foul based on visual evidence."

And so much for all that. The better team won on Sunday night by the barest of margins, completing a goal-line stand for the ages in the face of what looked like an inevitable comeback led by the most relentless quarterback in the NFL, a player of such caliber he looks absolutely capable of doing anything with nothing-- which at times indeed appears to be his job description.   

Yes, Russell Wilson seems eminently capable of leading his, well, unusual team to victory this coming Sunday in Philadelphia, and if he does, the Seattle Seahawks will be right there, once again, in Santa Clara on January 11, for a third and final match against the 49ers.  And all those crybabies plaguing the twitterverse this morning will get their second chance. 

And that's more than enough bandwidth to waste on the hurt feelings of complainers and toadies who would prefer the referees, rather than the players, decide the outcome of games (as long as their passions and prejudices are served, that is).  

Has there ever been a more astonishing photo-finish in an important NFL game?  Jacob Hollister, the tough tight end who had interfered as much as he was interfered with on third down, landed with the ball in his arms and his left shoulder on the goal line on fourth down. But because of Dre Greenlaw's perfect tackle positioning, Hollister did not score, and it was abundantly clear he had not scored, an easy call to confirm from the replay booth as well as the TV screens of America. We've always held Dan Bunz's emphatic body-slam of Charles Alexander in Super Bowl XVI as the textbook example of a goal-line tackle, but young Greenlaw has just provided everyone another example. He couldn't have done it better, and it literally saved the game. 

That stand! A series of remarkable plays by Wilson, a series of desperate moves by a tired 49er defense, and a colossal coaching blunder by Pete Carroll-- who was classy and gracious in his postgame comments-- all served to offer up a 56-second drama that ranks with anything we've ever seen on a football field. As the Seahawks, trailing 26-21 with two minutes to play, began a slow but relentless march toward the goal line, 49er fans as well as game announcers Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth wondered whether coach Kyle Shanahan would begin calling timeouts on defense, hoping to conserve precious seconds for his offense in the event of what looked like an inevitable-- inevitable?-- go-ahead touchdown. That's the watery, helpless feeling Wilson generates in the final moments of close games, which seem to be the only kind of games Seattle can win. And they win a lot of them. And they sure looked like they were going to win this one.

But Shanahan trusted his defense. The Seahawks had first-and-ten from the 49er 12 with 56 seconds left. They had first-and-goal from the 49er 1 with 30 seconds left. They ran eight plays-- one was a spike-- and they did not score. 

From first-and ten at the 12, the defense forced three end-zone incompletions. Wilson, on fourth-and ten with 42 seconds left, smartly went for the first down instead of the TD, and he got it on a perfect pass to rookie tight end John Ursua at the one-yard line. A sure tackle by K'Waun Williams pulled him back from the goal, just as Seattle had denied Kendrick Bourne's attempt to score a two-point 49er conversion in the third quarter. 

The Seahawks thought they had won the game, and so did a few 49ers on the sideline, as they later admitted. With no timeouts left, Seattle got to the line of scrimmage just in time and Wilson spiked the ball to stop the clock with 22 seconds left-- and onto the field came Marshawn Lynch, "Beast Mode" himself. His arrival this past week in Seattle to help out his injury-riddled former teammates had driven the "12th Man" crowd into a frenzy, and it erupted again as he put on his helmet and ran out. 

In the game, Lynch hadn't done much statistically-- Wilson's go-to guy out of the backfield all day was rookie Travis Homer-- but he'd broken off two big third-quarter runs that set up the Seahawks' first TD, and he'd made a sensational one-yard goal-line leap to score their second. 

It's that leap that was on everyone's mind. Was there any doubt Wilson, with 22 seconds, no timeouts, and a yard to gain, would hand it to Lynch to gain that yard and win the game? Was there any doubt coach Carroll would make that call-- remembering  the finale of Super Bowl XLIX and "Unfinished Business?" But Carroll may have outsmarted himself again. To make sure, he called in several players to the sideline, and sent out a "jumbo" offensive formation-- and that took time. Too much time!  The play clock ran out and Seattle was penalized for delay of game-- and the ball moved back to the six-yard-line.

Another Pete Carroll- Marshawn Lynch play-calling mishap! The mind reels. The ball back at the six, Lynch, no longer an option, trotted off the field. Once again it would be up to Russell Wilson to win it. And Kyle Shanahan's defense, the defense he trusted to save the game, did just that. Among the forgotten plays of this game will be Marcell Harris' amazing leap to nearly intercept Wilson's fade pass in the corner of the end zone on second-and goal, the ball and Harris tumbling out of bounds. On third down Hollister ran right into Fred Warner at the goal line. They grappled briefly and Wilson's quick pass zipped through the end zone. No flag was thrown, as Al Riveron has sensibly explained above. And on fourth down "The Longest Yard" became "The Longest Inch." Seconds later, Jimmy Garoppolo plowed ahead for a most meaningful one-yard gain to run out the clock and end the game, and the 49er sideline went wild, players celebrating a most meaningful win that had looked for all the world like a lost cause.  

Now the 49ers, who have been playing for 13 straight weeks, get a most-needed bye. They'll take the field Saturday afternoon, January 11, and we expect to see Wilson and his teammates on the opposition sideline again, though we'd really, really, rather not.

Bright moments:  

Deebo Samuel, his star ascendant, using his tremendous speed to run away from defenders on a beautiful caught-in-stride pass from Garoppolo in the first quarter, a play that temporarily quieted the crowd and set up his own touchdown run on the next play, a reverse, Kyle Juszczyk leveling Shaquill Griffin with the sweetest downfield block you'll ever see;

Jimmy G doing his Tom Brady impersonation throughout the game, absolutely unflappable, seemingly disregarding the shrieking crowd, the pressure of an increasingly close game, and a defense that supplied plenty of its own pressure with two sacks, finishing with 18-of-22 for 285 yards and, perhaps most importantly, leading two quick, emphatic touchdown drives to counter Seattle touchdowns; 

Raheem Mostert following a swath of blockers on a 13-yard fourth-quarter touchdown run, a thing of beauty and his second score of the game, putting the 49ers up 26-14; 

Juszczyk breaking wide open on a big downfield pass play that set up the 49ers' most crucial answer-back score of the game, Mostert's third-quarter run to make the score 19-7; 

Half the 49er defense stuffing Lynch on fourth-and-one from the San Francisco 30 late in the second quarter and ensuring Seattle would be held scoreless at halftime;

The overall team speed of this ballclub, the fastest group of 46 men on any football field today.


We've had the Baltimore game, the New Orleans game, the Atlanta game, and the second Rams game. Now this.  Our team has become its own NFL "Fantastic Finishes" highlight reel. Is there a any chance of a rout, or even a decisive win, in our near future? For now, perhaps it's enough that there's a weekend of stress-free NFL football ahead that will enable us to simply relax before the next one. 

Point to Point

As the two best teams in the NFC head toward an Inevitable Showdown a week from this coming Sunday, the spectre of a third team, like the Ghost of Seasons Past, shadows the fortunes of both.

Either our 49ers or their nemeses, the Seattle Seahawks, will win the NFC West this season. Both have a chance to end up the NFC's top-seeded playoff team. They are tied atop the division with identical 11-3 records. Right now Seattle holds the tie-breaker advantage, thanks to their overtime win at Levi Stadium a month ago. But that advantage is only temporary; it will be lost for good if the 49ers defeat  the Seahawks on Sunday night, December 29-- no matter what else happens. 

The reason for that can be laid at the doorstep of last year's NFC champions, the Los Angeles Rams, who Sunday lost in humiliating fashion and  essentially eliminated themselves from contention, just a week after their best and most important win since January. Whether or not their dominating 28-12 win over Seattle two weeks ago was illusory, it made this division battle between the two top teams as close as it could be. And the Rams get a chance to do the same thing to the 49ers this Saturday night, to play a spoiler role. Following the horrific and inexcusable loss to Atlanta last Sunday, the 49ers really can't afford to lose to the Rams now, can they?

Actually, they can. It would probably cost them the top seed, and it might even cost them the first-round bye, but the Niners absolutely can lose to the Rams this week and still win the division if they beat Seattle in the finale-- even if the Seahawks defeat Arizona this week and take a one-game lead. For that, we can thank the NFL's complex tiebreaking procedures-- and we can thank the Los Angeles Rams.

The division tie-breaking procedures start with head-to-head record, then division record, then conference record, then common opponents, at which point almost all ties have been broken in the past.  Right now the 49ers and Seahawks are dead even in division record (3-1) and conference record (8-2).  Each is 3-1 against the AFC North, with victories over Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh, and a loss to Baltimore. Each is 3-1 against the NFC South; the 49ers lost only to Atlanta (at home) and the Seahawks only to New Orleans (at home). Each beat a different team in the NFC East and NFC North, so those don't count as common opponents. Nor does the 49er-Seattle game last month. So, against common opponents, the 49ers are 9-2 and the Seahawks 8-3. That's meaningless, today, because Seattle won that game over the Niners and holds the head-to-head advantage.

Now follow the bouncing ball. If the Seahawks beat the Cardinals and the 49ers lose to the Rams this weekend, Seattle would then take a one-game lead, 12-3 to 11-4. The Seahawks would have a 4-1 division record and 9-2 conference record to the 49ers' 3-2 and 8-3, and both would then be 9-3 against common opponents.

But one-game lead and head-to-head win notwithstanding, Seattle still would have  to win or tie on Sunday night the 29th to win the division.

If the 49ers, trailing by a game as outlined above, should summon up their best effort and beat their rivals on their home field that night, the teams would be tied even tighter than they are today: both 12-4, even in the head-to-head series, both 4-2 in the division, both 9-3 in the NFC-- and both still 9-3 against common opponents, which would then become extremely meaningful.

That's tied, all right. Tied at five levels.  Tied up tight. Maybe tighter than any division race, ever.

What happens then? The NFL rules say it goes to "strength of victory," and all of a sudden it's no contest. The 49ers have outscored their opposition by 161 points this year, an 11.5-point margin of victory. The Seahawks have barely broken even, outscoring the opposition by a total of 26 points over 14 games, same as the 8-6 Rams.  That's less than two points per game. If we look only at victories, it's almost as lopsided; the 49ers have a 173-point margin in their wins, Seattle is at 62.

Has a NFL division, or any playoff berth, ever been decided by points? We don't know. But if this year's NFC West race ultimately is so decided, it's nice to know our guys will come out on top.