49ers vs. Buccaneers: 5 X-factors for San Francisco in Week 12
By Peter Panacy
The San Francisco 49ers return from the bye in Week 12 to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road. Niner Noise looks at five specific X-factors for this contest.
Taking a look at their remaining schedule, the San Francisco 49ers‘ final winnable game of 2018 may just come this Sunday on the road against the 3-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Niners didn’t go into their Week 11 bye on a good note, dropping a heartbreaking fourth-quarter loss to the New York Giants back in Week 10 on Monday Night Football. That’s been a theme for head coach Kyle Shanahan’s squad all season, marking the fourth time his 49ers have suffered a late-game breakdown.
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you view it, the Bucs’ own woes present another opportunity for the Niners to finally win a complete game in all four quarters.
Defensively, Tampa Bay has been terrible all season long. Yet its offense has been surprisingly good despite back-and-forth changes under center between quarterbacks Ryan Fitzpatrick and Jameis Winston.
The Buccaneers quarterbacks have tossed a fourth-quarter passer rating of 114.5, marking the highest out of all four regulation quarters and not boding well for San Francisco.
Winston will start for Tampa Bay this Sunday. And while he has endured his own share of tribulations this season, the Niners still have to understand his capabilities under center and look to get past them in Week 12 en route to a hopeful win.
Winston’s efforts are just one of the many X-factors for this upcoming contest. As a whole Niner Noise explores the five key X-factors that will ultimately determine if San Francisco picks up win No. 3 on the year.