Your 2007 49ers are officially the walking, breathing embodiment of that cliche. The 49ers will come home with yet another ugly, craptastic victory and although I'm only 28, I lost 10 years of my life with that one. But as I said last week, a win is a win is a win is a win. Just repeat that to yourself when you look back at a game that the 49ers won by literally the few inches from which Jeff Wilkins missed that field goal.
We'll deal with the crappy play-calling and annoying lack of bump and run coverage tomorrow. For now, let's enjoy the victory and look at the positives:
- The 49ers are 2-0 for the first time 1998. Divisional road wins are absolutely huge, and even more so for a young team trying to make a name for itself. We've only played 2 weeks, but the 49ers are winning games that they would most definitely have lose in the last few years.
- By winning these ugly games now, the team has bought some time for the offense to catch up to the defense. I'd love everything to be clicking on all cylinders from the get-go, but obviously that is not happening. Instead, the team has been quite awful on offense and yet they're still 2-0. I'll take that every day of the week. I'm still convinced this offense will come around, so as long as we're winning in the meantime, I'll be fine.
Frank Gore - Gore struggled for much of the game, but getting those 2 TDs for Liz makes this an easy choice. That 43 yard touchdown may have been the best run of his young career as he bulldozed through the line and broke several tackles to break away for the touchdown. We wish him all the best while he handles his business down in Miami.
Special Teams - Aside from the penalty on the kickoff at the end of the game, special teams won this game in the end. Andy Lee's 70 yard punt was just filthy. Joe Nedney drilled the game winner. The coverage on kickoffs and punts was a difference maker, especially considering Dante Hall was back there. Speaking of which...
Dante Hall - Just a miserable performance by Hall gets him a game ball. The fumble was huge, but he did absolutely nothing all day as the 49ers return coverage could not possibly be any better after two games. Obviously they'll give up some big plays on special teams at some point, but for now I'm absolutely loving it.
Pass Rush - Statistically, Marc Bulger lit up the 49ers with 368 yards. However, much of those came on money passes as he was getting absolutely leveled. Even though he got his yards, the 49ers defense made sure he paid for it as he will probably spend the rest of the day in a bath of ice. BY and Sopoagao made big plays and the linebackers teed off on Bulger for 6 sacks and double digit hits.
YOU GUYS - How's about 480 comments as of right now in the game thread? Next time, I'll probably open up a new thread after like 350 comments. We shattered all of our previous comments records and I'm sure it's only going to get better as the season continues.
As always, I'll be back with more analysis tomorrow but suffice it to say, I'm not a smoker and yet I feel like I need a cigarette after that game...or maybe a stiff drink to calm the nerves. It's been rather ugly to watch so far, but the San Francisco 49ers are 2-0 as they head into Heinz Field next week. An offensive performance like these last two weeks will not cut it against the Steelers defense. But for now I'll just hold out hope that the offense figures out whatever is wrong. So go out and enjoy the rest of the day with your 2-0 49ers.