Golden Nuggets: It Was Worth It

Good morning folks, happy Monday. What a ride that was, right? A 49ers team that has spent the season getting beaten up after losing their starting QB & RB early, amidst a sea of other injuries throughout the season, pulled out a major upset against a playoff-hopeful division rival. Coming into the game, I don’t think many people saw this coming, but as they say, “Any given Sunday”, right? The Niners fought hard against a better team, and gutted out a tough victory, I can’t find it in me to damn this victory in the name of the tank. This one felt good. The cherry on top, of course, it that the Rams also lost. I don’t know how long it’s been, but the only NFC West team to win this week was our San Francisco 49ers. How about that.

The long losing streak against the Seattle Seahawks is finally over. Joe Staley and Garrett Celek are the only remainders of the last 49ers team to win against the Seahawks, and that was back in 2013. Richard Sherman finally got his revenge game, despite his post-game comments slightly downplaying the importance of that aspect. Kyle Shanahan got his first taste of beating the Seahawks. This kind of victory should do wonders for the confidence of a young team as they head into 2019 - knowing that they’ve got the coaching and the grit to win games they have no business winning, according to the talking heads.

So, regarding the elephant in the room. This victory, while unbelievably sweet, drops the 49ers several spots in the draft positioning race. The Oakland Raiders and Arizona Cardinals were both blown out on Sunday, retaining their 3-win records, leaving the 49ers in the 4-win tier with the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars. If the draft were to occur today, the 49ers would have the 4th pick, which means that our chances of landing Nick Bosa have dropped to “virtually impossible”, save a major trade-up.

However, it was worth it. The Seahawks missed their opportunity to clinch a playoff spot, and with their game next week against the red-hot Kansas City Chiefs, their last hope to secure a wild-card berth may be during their week 17 match with the Cardinals. I’m certainly not trying to get anyone’s hopes up, but the Football Gods work in mysterious ways - and a Cardinals victory to deny the Seahawks a wildcard spot (assuming the Philadelphia Eagles or Washington Redskins, and the Minnesota Vikings can win out) while also boosting our draft spot, well, that would be pretty righteous.

Enjoy this one folks, I know I am.

Richie James Jr. scores big on kickoff | Killion, SF Chronicle | Maiocco, NBC Sports Bay Area

Richard Sherman: Nick Mullens is starter quality | Branch, SF Chronicle

Richard Sherman downplays the importance of revenge | Chan, NBC Sports Bay Area | Madson, Ninerswire

Week 15 review | Branch, SF Chronicle | Biderman, Sac Bee | Associated Press via ESPN | Madson, Ninerswire

Week 15 analysis | Maiocco, NBC Sports Bay Area | Maiocco (2), NBC Sports Bay Area | Almquist, KNBR | Biderman, Sac Bee | Madson, Ninerswire

49ers losing streak against the Seahawks finally ends | Killion, SF Chronicle | Maiocco, NBC Sports Bay Area | Ratto, NBC Sports Bay Area | Biderman, Sac Bee | Wagoner, ESPN

Nick Mullens continues to improve | Chan, NBC Sports Bay Area

Robert Saleh put together highlight reel of week 13 drubbing as motivation | Montero, KNBR

Draft implications | Madson, Ninerswire