{"id":112507,"date":"2025-12-29T17:20:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T17:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/112507\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T17:20:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T17:20:20","slug":"well-whos-going-to-stop-the-implausible-dream-49ers-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/112507\/","title":{"rendered":"Well, who\u2019s going to stop the implausible dream 49ers now?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section 415 email newsletter here<\/a> and subscribe to the Section 415 podcast wherever you listen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Did this feel like a playoff game? Really, Sunday night felt like all of the playoff games. <\/p>\n

Was the end of the 49ers\u2019 harrowing, hallucinogenic 42-38 victory over the Chicago Bears at Levi\u2019s Stadium meaningful? Yes, definitely, yes \u2014 if you\u2019re measuring by the emotion in the 49ers\u2019 voices and the pride and relief that radiated from all parts of the organization after it was over.<\/p>\n

And, of course, it was about the potential reward if the 49ers complete this most implausible dream regular season by beating the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday back at Levi\u2019s in a game that will decide the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs.<\/p>\n

You bet this felt like a playoff game. It sounded like a playoff game. The stadium shook like a playoff game. And the 49ers\u2019 victory set up the possibility that they can get to and win Super Bowl 60 in February \u2014 at Levi\u2019s, if you haven\u2019t heard \u2014 without ever leaving home.<\/p>\n

Or maybe this is simply the high point of this season; maybe the 49ers will lose to the Seahawks, fall into the wild-card round, travel to Philadelphia, or draw a rematch with the Bears in Chicago, and maybe this journey will end there.<\/p>\n

But the fact that the 49ers have gotten to this point \u2014 after losing Nick Bosa and Fred Warner early in the season and winning this game without George Kittle and mostly without Trent Williams \u2014 is proof enough that we don\u2019t know if there are limits to this season.<\/p>\n

The implausibility is an elemental part of the story now. It\u2019s the fuel for it.<\/p>\n

And when Kyle Shanahan told his players after the game that they\u2019d earned every bit of this by fighting through everything \u2026 yeah, they felt that in their bones.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely, bro \u2014 I feel like everybody counted us out,\u201d safety Ji\u2019Ayir Brown said. \u201cI feel like there was doubt in everybody\u2019s minds. <\/p>\n

\"ABrock Purdy threw three touchdowns against the Bears, marking his third straight game with at least three passing touchdowns. | Source: Amber Pietz\/The Standard<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hear all the media talk about who we don\u2019t got. But a lot of guys forget who we do have. I believe we have the guys to go out and win it.\u201d<\/p>\n

They almost blew it, by the way. Of course, the 49ers\u2019 wobbly defense almost blew it. The 49ers are 12-4, on a six-game winning streak, and yet everybody in the stadium knew there was a chance they wouldn\u2019t be able to stop Caleb Williams at the end.<\/p>\n

Friday, Dec. 19<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Tuesday, Dec. 16<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Friday, Dec. 12<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a><\/p>\n

The 49ers are not a perfect team. They have vulnerabilities. They are young. They make mistakes. <\/p>\n

Even when Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey were leading them through another powerhouse offensive performance \u2014 racking up a season-high 496 yards (while Williams and the Bears put up 440) \u2014 you knew the 49ers could lose this game.<\/p>\n

But after Shanahan chose to punt the ball away inside Bears territory with the score tied 35-35 early in the fourth quarter, the 49ers\u2019 defense held the Bears to a field goal. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I lost the game when I punted there on fourth-and-7,\u201d Shanahan said. <\/p>\n

\"APurdy evaded Bears defenders throughout the team\u2019s 42-38 win. | Source: Amber Pietz\/The Standard<\/p>\n

The idea was to pin the Bears back and get good field position \u2014 but the Bears immediately picked up 25 yards on their first play and moved right down the field. So yes, Shanahan immediately regretted the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was right on the fringe,\u201d Shanahan said. \u201cIt was actually in our field-goal range earlier in the day, [but] the wind kind of changed. So that was a tough one for me. Don\u2019t want to panic and have to go for it, but it was one that if I would\u2019ve had more time to think about probably would\u2019ve done it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, after the 49ers raced down field for the go-ahead score with 2:15 left, the 49ers\u2019 defense let Williams get to the 2-yard line with four seconds left. But they got some pressure from Bryce Huff and Yetur Gross-Matos and forced the last incompletion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were going to go out on our swords, man,\u201d Brown said. \u201cPlay man coverage and that\u2019s how we\u2019re going to go out. Play your best ball. It\u2019s time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will this work against the Seahawks? We shall see. The 49ers beat the Seahawks in Seattle in Week 1 \u2014 so long ago that Jake Moody was the 49ers\u2019 kicker \u2014 and the 49ers\u2019 offense right now can match up against anybody.<\/p>\n

If the 49ers have a lead, it will almost certainly come down to a last defensive stand against the Seahawks on Saturday. And the week after that. And if the 49ers keep going, the weeks after that too. <\/p>\n

Maybe all the way to February.<\/p>\n

The NFL truism is that shaky defenses eventually can\u2019t keep making last stands. Something will crumble, eventually, in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\"AChristian McCaffrey rushed for a season-high 140 yards against the Bears. | Source: Amber Pietz\/The Standard<\/p>\n

But on Sunday, the 49ers had every right to bask in the moment and dare everyone to keep doubting them. They don\u2019t have all of their stars, they can get wobbly, yet they\u2019re still here, hosting a game for the NFC\u2019s No. 1 seed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the game that we want,\u201d Shanahan said. \u201cWe love that it\u2019s here. We love an opportunity to never leave here again this year. And we have that opportunity Saturday night.\u201d<\/p>\n

It probably will be a dramatic game. And win or lose, the 49ers will play at least one more game in the playoffs, which surely will be dramatic too.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Sunday\u2019s finish felt so defining for this team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started with offense and then defense is the finisher,\u201d cornerback Deommodore Lenoir said. \u201cDefense wins championships. So if we keep playing this kind of football, we should be there for the Super Bowl and able to win that too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe they can. Because that didn\u2019t feel like just a single 49ers victory this season. It felt like all of them all at once. And once something like this gets real momentum, well, who\u2019s going to stop it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[299,296,88,90,89,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-112507","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-kyle-shanahan","9":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","10":"tag-san-jose","11":"tag-san-jose-headlines","12":"tag-san-jose-news","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}