If I were under severe duress and had to describe two scenarios in which sloppiness is absolutely different, I wouldn't be too worried. The answer is easy. When it comes to a kiss, sloppiness is the worst. It just doesn't get any worse than a sloppy kiss. On the other hand, though, I would never want to eat a "neat" sloppy joe. I want the meat, onions, and tomato sauce to drip all down my wrists as I devour that burger.
Sunday's game was a little bit sloppy. I mean, it wasn't too bad overall. In fact, there were times when the team looked darn near perfect. But, the offense in particular, just didn't always have it together. Really, this comes down to dropped passes. There was, by my count, a quadruple-gazillion.
But on a sloppy scale from kiss to joe, this game was much more a sloppy joe than anything.
Here's the difference between good teams and great teams. Good teams beat the teams they are supposed to. They come out crisp and sharp against lesser teams. That's a win. They, conversely, come out sloppy against better teams. That's a loss. Great teams, however, win against good teams even when they play all sloppy-like. For as occasionally sloppy as the 49ers played on Sunday, the game was never really in doubt. The Lions had approximately two yards of offense gained going into the fourth quarter. The offense had already demonstrated its ability to drive down the field in four plays. The game was closer than it should have been because, well, sloppiness. It was never out of hand, though.
I think, as fans, we should celebrate our sloppiness on Sunday precisely because it came with a win. The 49ers proved that they can play at a somewhat sloppy level and still beat a playoff team. Now, they should just stop altogether and play perfect ball.
Ya hear that, guys? Just, you know, be perfect.