The San Francisco 49ers won a football game on Saturday. They defeated the Arizona Cardinals 20-12. Here are 5 observations about the victory.
1. No one cares about draft position
As a long-time 49ers fan, I have openly said that if the team is out of the playoffs, the thing to do is lose games to help with draft positioning.
While I still think that is the most beneficial thing to do for long-term success of the franchise, I appreciate that the franchise themselves values winning football games.
Kyle Shanahan could have not played George Kittle, who was coming off a pretty significant injury. But Kittle is 100 percent healthy so Shanahan played him. The team is still trying to win games and that's refreshing.
No, I don't think it's the best plan for us fans. It's going to be better for them in future years to have a top 10 draft pick, but Shanahan said earlier in the week that when he and John Lynch took over the franchise, they wanted to change the culture and tanking is not in the cards.
I respect that mindset. I appreciate his honesty. And I enjoyed the watching my team win a football game and play a bit of a spoiler for playoff positioning.
2. Give me Beathard over Mullens
Both C.J. Beathard and Nick Mullens have started plenty of games under center for the 49ers in recent years. Before this season, and it's still the case after this year, is that the only QB to have winning success under Shanahan is Jimmy Garoppolo.
Beathard started Saturday and won his second game with the franchise. He's now 2-9 as a starter in San Francisco. That's not good. But I firmly believe that you can and should get better as a player the more you play.
Mullens simply has not gotten better. He's basically plateaued as a QB. We know what we are going to get.
Beathard looked better Saturday than he ever did before as a starter. He wasn't spectacular as he threw for less than 200 yards. But he had three TD passes and turned the ball over just once.
When the Niners don't turn the ball over and run the ball like they did against the Cardinals, they are tough to beat. And Beathard was simply solid. He made throws when he had to and didn't make huge mistakes.
He made a few big throws to former college teammate George Kittle and all three TD passes were on target. And he checked down when it was the right time to do so. The 49ers have plenty of guys who can get yards after the catch and Beathard simply worked the ball to those players.
Beathard had a few throws that stunk. But he was a lot more effective and a lot less turnover prone than Mullens. And he actually presents a threat to run, too.
3. Days are numbered for Coleman, James and others.
The Niners have been hampered by injuries all season. They have had at least 28 guys on the IR at some point this season. That's the most in franchise history.
Because guys like Raheem Mostert, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle have been hurt, others have had a chance to show what they can do.
Tevin Coleman was signed two years ago. I think this should be his last season as a 49ers RB as he can't stay healthy and he's not that effective when he is.
Jeff Wilson was an undrafted free agent but looks clearly better than Coleman right now. I would keep Wilson over Coleman as a backup RB to Mostert moving forward.
Richie James has had way too many drops and fumbles. He's a big play waiting to happen but there's too many bad in between the good for me. If it were my team, I would move forward with Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and Kendrick Bourne as my WRs and move on from James and Trent Taylor. Hopefully Jalen Hurd can actually play next year but drafting another WR would be ideal.
The 49ers have plenty of FAs looming. We will probably see the last of Richard Sherman, too. And what will they do with Trent Williams?
4. Kyler Murray kills the 49ers with his feet.
This is a no brainer as Murray hurts a lot of teams with his feet. But Murray got yardage in the run game any time he wanted them. And it mostly came on third or fourth down. Not having Nick Bosa hurts but Murray has been great against the 49ers the past two seasons.
Robert Saleh deserves a head coaching job and it's mostly not his fault as Murray is just an explosive player, but the Niners defense needs to figure out a better way to slow down mobile QBs.
5. Warner-Greenlaw duo has bright future
Fred Warner showed again why he is a Pro Bowler and one of the best LBs in the NFL. He was great in coverage again as he nearly had a pick six and knocked the ball away from a Cardinal receiver on another play.
Dre Greenlaw was a late-round draft pick a few years ago but he's been way better than that in his short time in the league. He was all over the field again against the Cardinals and was one of the reasons the Cardinals only had 120 rushing yards.
Arizona ran 80 plays and scored just 12 points. Warner finished with 14 tackles and three passes defensed and Greenlaw added eight tackles and a tackle for loss. They just might be the best set of young LBs in the NFL.
Give Fred Warner whatever he wants in FA. He's worth every penny.
