Golden Nuggets: Friends ... it’s Victory Monday

Kawakami: A workmanlike 49ers victory and glimmers of offensive fireworks to come (paywall)

“The Chargers are not the ultimate test, but they have a sneakily decent defense with a bend-but-don’t-break style that can frustrate offenses. The 49ers were a bit frustrated in this one, just like they were frustrated in losses to Chicago, Denver and Atlanta this season. They had to settle for three short Robbie Gould field goals. But two big differences between this game and those earlier losses: (1) the 49ers won one and (2) it felt like the Chargers defense was about ready to break almost at every moment of this game.”

That ugly win was exactly what the 49ers needed

“Outside of Philly, KC, Buffalo and Baltimore (maybe Miami, too), it’s hard to find Super Bowl contenders you’d theoretically bet on.

From the 49ers’ perspective, it’s the Eagles and everybody else. The NFC is weak.

They’ve beaten Kirk Cousins and Dak Prescott in the playoffs. The Giants’ quarterback is Daniel Jones. Tom Brady’s bad-good-bad Bucs might be the most mercurial team in the conference.

If San Francisco beat the Seattle Seahawks in December, they’ll probably win the division.”

Transcripts: Kyle Shanahan, Jimmy Garoppolo, other 49ers react to 22-16 win vs. Chargers

“San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, and others spoke with reporters after Sunday night’s 22-16 win against the Los Angeles Chargers. Here is everything they had to say.”

Barrows: 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan on Dre Greenlaw’s ejection: ‘That really shocked me’ (paywall)

“They’d gone into the game with a strategy to blitz, harass and confuse Herbert and it hadn’t worked. According to Fred Warner, they continued to blitz on third downs — most of them executed by Warner — but went with an otherwise vanilla defense against the injury-depleted Chargers....“We just really made it simple,” Warner said. “We just ran one call. On first and second down, we literally just ran the same thing over and over.”

How Jimmy Garoppolo’s third-and-long efficiency led 49ers over the Chargers (paywall)

“The 49ers converted nine of those 17 third downs, good for a 53 percent clip. They logged an even better success rate on the harder ones, finishing 5-of-8 (63 percent) on third-and-long. And it was those difficult conversions that formed the lifeblood of the 49ers’ victory.”

How Sunday affects NFC West playoff race

“The NFC playoff picture is somewhat bizarre. The 49ers are firmly in the final NFC playoff seed, but the team right below them, the 4-5 Washington Commanders, have just a 15% chance to make the playoffs. Essentially, there is a massive drop off from the top seven, meaning that if the odds are any indication, there may not be much change in the NFC Postseason picture for the remainder of the season.”

49ers lean on defense, grind out post-bye win over Chargers

“Aside from the opening, sharp drive from the Chargers, the defense was excellent. It took a while, but the pass rush started to make quarterback Justin Herbert uncomfortable, and Los Angeles — without much in the way of offensive weapons besides Austin Ekeler — defaulted to screens and other short-range targets.”

Maiocco: 49ers show off ground-game potential in Week 10 win

“Matt Maiocco joined 49ers Postgame Live where he shared his thoughts on how the 49ers perfectly executed their offensive game plan and why the Dre Greenlaw ejection might have actually helped the 49ers defense.”

Kyle Shanahan comments on Dre Greenlaw ejection, official explains ruling

“No I didn’t think so at all,” Shanahan said postgame when asked if he thought the linebacker deserved to get tossed. “Kind of actually blew my mind. I understand the penalty, I totally get that right at the third down marker, he was lowering his shoulder, but I’ve got to learn what that is.”