Golden Nuggets: 7-9 Teams Have Made the Playoffs Before

So the Football Giants were 1-7 coming into this game. So the rest of our schedule is brutal. The team put together the juice to score their first win of the Shanahan era. It was a concerted effort - offensively, defensively, and other than a botch field-call, a special teams effort. Any calls for tempering our expectations at this point are an exercise at futility, because we’ve steered the ship, at a crucial moment, away from being an 0-16 team.

Ronald Blair was awesome. Been excited about this guy since the 2016 offseason. He wasn’t supposed to fit our 3-4. He didn’t fit the mold. He wasn’t really supposed to fit an NFL 4-3. But he did. He put himself back on the map as a building piece. Congratulations, my man.

Shout out to Garrett Celek. His 3 catch/61 yard/1 TD performance in the two-minute drill of the first half eclipsed his annual performances of his first three years in the league. His long TD was a testament to individual performance, and I haven’t seen a 49ers deserve paydirt more than Smith’s highstep on the Saints or Bow’s Pick at the Stick.

Don’t temper expectations on CJ Beathard, despite half of his passing production occurring on two receptions. Sure, the Celek TD was an individual performance. The Goodwin TD was a thing of beauty, however. A 55 air-yard dart, originating at our 9 yard line, and completing at the opponents’ 36; one shake and it ended up 6.

Lost, but not forgotten: our old 49er friends Bruce Ellington and Vance McDonald each scored a TD today. Loved both of them, sorry they’re no longer with us, but glad to see our old boys are putting something together elsewhere.

Adrian Colbert had a pair of Goldsonian standout plays tonight, selling me on his patrolling of the second layer in #38. That hit on Tavarres King on 3rd & 16 in the 3rd quarter when the game was still up for grabs was big time. He was also a few steps ahead of hauling in a tipped INT.

Matt Breida has some serious game speed. Look no further than his almost-butt-fumble-turned-12-yard gain, as a part of a 3 play, 3 rush, 49 yard, 1 TD sequence to put the game out of reach.

Fun fact: not only was this our first victory of 2016, but it was also our first Sunday victory since 2015. Our two 2016 victories (against the Rams) were on a Monday and Saturday.

Last thing - Brock Coyle is bad. He shies away from contact, is always out of position (because he’s painfully slow), and looks all the part of being a stopgap. Fire Brock Coyle.

Week 10 analysis | Branch, SF Gate | Inman, Mercury | Biderman, Ninerswire | Biderman, Ninerswire

Week 10 notes | Branch, SF Gate | Maiocco, CSN Bay Area | Barrows, Sac Bee | Barrows, Sac Bee

Week 10 notes with rose-colored glasses | Lynch, KNBR

“49ers’ winning culture led them to first win of the year” (not my title) | Kurtenbach, Mercury

Marquise Goodwin’s emotional day | Steward, Mercury | Maiocco, CSN Bay Area | Lynch, KNBR | Barrows, Sac Bee | Biderman, Ninerswire

Don’t read too much into Beathard’s big day | Kurtenbach, Mercury

Is Grops going to start after the BYE? | Ratto, CSN Bay Area | Biderman, Ninerswire | Wagoner, ESPN

Goodwin’s 83yd TD 8th longest in 49ers history | KNBR Staff

On “Confidence” | Lynch, KNBR

[TRANSCRIPT] Shanahan on Week 10 | Biderman, Ninerswire

Also, Orleans Darkwa played well today. Roll Wave, duder.