Yes indeed, the 49ers are not going to let any of us walk away from this season quite yet. In what was both atrociously ugly, brutally painful, and thoroughly exhilarating, the San Francisco 49ers pulled out an overtime victory over the St. Louis Rams 23-20. There will be plenty of time and there will be plenty of posts to complain about the penalties, the piss-poor two minute defense, and a variety of other issues. For now, I'm just trying to calm down from the craziest 49ers game in quite some time.
The 49ers were on the very brink of defeat late in the fourth quarter facing 3rd and 32 and then 4th and 18 after a brutal holding penalty on Joe Staley. This came after two other touchdowns and a Nate Clements interception deep in Rams territory were all called back on the 49ers due to holding and offsides penalties. Somehow, in spite of all these penalties the 49ers stumbled across the finish line with a gaping gun shot wound in their foot.
The Seahawks defeated the Cardinals, which means the 49ers remain two games out of first place. However, heading into these final eight games the running mantra was win the five divisional games and figure things out from there. They've won one of them and while they have a ton of work in front of them and numerous holes to figure out, they're still alive.
Today's game ball has to go to Troy Smith. Frank Gore made some key plays and continues to be the team's MVP in 2010, but Troy showed so much over the course of the game. He struggled in the middle of the game, but his scrambling and throwing skills were incredibly evident on that final drive, as well as numerous other times during the game. I don't know if Troy Smith is the QB of the future, but I can't see how he hasn't earned the starting job in 2010. Maybe he's not the long term answer. At this point I really don't care. He made some stupid incredibly stupid plays but he more than made up for them. He's the QB of right now. I don't see how anybody can argue otherwise.
FOOCH'S UPDATE: Barrows reporting that Joe Staley has a fracture in his left leg. We'll post more on it when we hear.
FOOCH'S UPDATE #2: Tweets are reporting Staley out approximately 4-6 weeks.