5 takeaways from 49ers Week 2 demolition of Bengals
By James Jones
The San Francisco 49ers did what many thought impossible in Week 2. Kyle Shanahan’s team went into their second consecutive East Coast game and returned to Santa Clara with a record of 2-0. Niner Noise looks at the top five takeaways.
The San Francisco 49ers might want to think about moving the team’s headquarters to Youngstown, Ohio and travel to games every week.
For the first time since 2012, they decided to stay in Eddie and Denise Debartolo’s home town, as opposed to flying back to Santa Clara.
The result, same as last time, was a victory — a 41-17 drubbing of the Cincinnati Bengals.
In actuality, victory is such a generic term, especially when discussing what the 49ers did in Week 2. They weren’t merely victorious in Cincinnati. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and company dismantled the Bengals and sold off the parts for spare change.
San Francisco ended the day with 572 yards from scrimmage, its fifth-highest total for a single game in franchise history. The defense did more than enough to win as well, as it allowed Cincinnati only 316 yards from scrimmage en route to the lopsided win.
The 49ers are now 2-0 for the first time since 2012. To make this start even more impressive, it’s the first time since 1989 the team has started by winning its first two games on the road. As I noted here, the last time they had this kind of start, they finished 14-2 and won their second consecutive Super Bowl.
Here are the five crucial takeaways from their Week 2 win.