49ers play the game that was needed, winning in the chill

It was the type of football dictated by the conditions, cold and windy; the type of football often needed in northern Ohio, where the NFL came into existence more than 100 years ago. 

Grind-it out, shove-the-other-guys-around- football, and Sunday, perhaps surprisingly it was produced by the San Francisco 49ers, with a 26-8 win over the Browns in Cleveland, with weather around 35 degrees, and wind-chill 24 degrees.

That gave San Francisco a 9-4 record, not far behind the Rams, who were surprised by a mediocre Carolina team, and Seattle. The Niners now have one of the latest bye weeks imaginable—it’s almost next season—before the close of the regular schedule.

The Niners did things carefully and intelligently. They hung onto the ball (no turnovers) and except for 39 seconds late in the first half hung onto the lead. They didn’t have a lot of yardage, but they had control making first downs when needed, and touchdowns when possible. They also got a 66 yard punt return by Skyy Moore in the opening quarter that set up a Christian McCaffrey score. 

Robert Saleh’s well-scripted defense was as much responsible for the victory as anything, in a game where the 49ers, as needed, played error-free. 

“This was a huge one with Skyy on the return,” said Kyle Shanahan, the Niners coach. “I’m proud of the guys for not turning over the ball.”

Shanahan also praised receiver Ricky Pearsall for making a big third down catch with the wind in his face in the second quarter. 

The weather was never out of Shanahan’s thoughts. Normally he would defer when winning the coin toss, as the Niners did, but this time Shanahan chose to receive because that enabled San Francisco to choose the direction they would go in the fourth quarter, obviously with the wind.

Six days ago when the Niners won on Monday night, quarterback Brock Purdy threw three interceptions, and you wondered what was going on.

Nothing serious it turned out.  Purdy played quite well Sunday, passing for 168 yards and a touchdown.  He also scrambled smartly for another touchdown, not taking any chances of throwing an interception.

“Coming here and knowing the conditions that were here, you  had to have a mindset,’’ said Purdy. “We needed some momentum, had to be aggressive and to push the chains.” Purdy was no less enthusiastic about the pass to Pearsall, completed under pressure from the league’s sack leader, Myles Garrett.

Pearsall also had something to say. 

“It was super important that I had a complete game” said Pearsall. “The defense was great. Skyy was good. I like playing in cold weather. It doesn’t bother me. I feel I’m doing my job and have to see what I can do to make it better.”

He has two weeks to do that before the Niners next game against the Tennessee Titans. Conditions for that one should be better. 

The results, however, could not be any better than this one.