The San Francisco 49ers improved to 11-4 with a 37-24 win over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, maintaining their place as the No. 6 seed in the NFC with three games left in the season.
It was a dominant day offensively for the 49ers, who scored on seven of the team’s eight possessions, although the defense saw some gaps defending the run.
With the win, San Francisco’s win streak improved to four games, and it remained a half-game back of both the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams for the division
lead. With three games left, the 49ers are in a great position to make the playoffs, sitting two games ahead of the eighth-place Lions.
Here are three quick takeaways from the 49ers 37-24 win over the Titans on Sunday.
Purdy stacking games
I felt that Brock Purdy arguably had his best game of the season against the Cleveland Browns two weeks ago when it came to decision-making. Sure, the stats weren’t overwhelming (168 passing yards, 1 touchdown), but he consistently made good decisions, getting out of sacks and throwing the ball away when necessary while avoiding turnovers.
On Sunday, he topped that performance with a 295-yard, three-touchdown game, while adding 44 yards on the ground. He was instrumental in San Francisco scoring on seven of their eight drives on Sunday (the lone miss being a strip-fumble).
Purdy played well in structure and also made a number of big plays working out of structure, both in the air and with his legs. He started the game hot, going 5/6 for 50 yards on the opening drive, which ended with a four-yard touchdown pass to Jauan Jennings.
From there, he just took off, having seven plays of 20+ yards, while also being a killer on third downs (more on that later). It was a great performance from the quarterback, and it’s good to see him stacking performances late in the season.
Third downs
I felt like third downs were going to be a big deal, given how well the 49ers have executed on them this season.
Well, on Sunday, the 49ers were 9-of-15 on third downs and converted their lone fourth down. That included a 3rd & 13 where Purdy extended the play and hit Ricky Pearsall for the conversion.
San Francisco started really hot on third downs, which is how they started the game with back-to-back touchdown drives and a field goal. The 49ers did a good job sustaining long drives and controlling the pace of the game. Four of their drives went for 10+ plays, while they also had scoring drives of seven and eight plays.
The Titans, on the other hand, were only 3-of-9 on third downs. One problem in the first half, though, was that Tennessee wasn’t getting to third down, due to its success on early downs in the run game.
Still, it’s good to see the defense come up with plays on key downs, regardless of the opponent. Now to the big issue…
Run defense
The 49ers run defense was a serious problem on Sunday.
They allowed Tennessee to run for 136 yards on 6.8 yards per attempt, with lead backs Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears combining for 138 yards on 8.1 yards a carry. That’s awful and a big reason why Tennessee kept the game competitive throughout the first half.
Now, the 49ers offense being as good as it was on Sunday eventually forced the Titans to be more one-dimensional as they were chasing the score down 21 entering the fourth quarter. But, against quality teams, like the three San Francisco faces to end the year, the run defense will be a serious problem if the 49ers don’t improve following Sunday’s game.
The problem was even bigger when considering that Tennessee entered Sunday averaging just 4.1 yards per carry and ranked 31st in the NFL with under 85 rushing yards a game.
Robert Saleh’s got to figure out a solution fast.
