Biggest winners, losers from 49ers nail-biting Week 14 win vs. Saints

The San Francisco 49ers pulled off an epic 48-46 road win over the New Orleans Saints in Week 14, and Niner Noise breaks down the team’s biggest winners and losers from the bout.

Ideally, the San Francisco 49ers would have simply pummeled the New Orleans Saints on the road in Week 14, alleviating the many stresses Niners fans everywhere likely had throughout what turned into a crazy back-and-forth, high-scoring bout.

In the end, the 49ers pulled off a 48-46 win on Sunday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, utilizing quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and tight end George Kittle‘s clutch playmaking skills in the waning minutes to come away with a game-winning field goal as time expired.

The win lofts head coach Kyle Shanahan’s squad to 11-2 and puts the team in a much better position, as far as the NFC playoff picture goes. And beating what was previously a top-seeded Saints squad has to do some wonders for San Francisco’s confidence heading into its final three regular-season games. Into the playoffs, too.

That said, not everything from the Niners’ efforts on Sunday were good.

There were plenty of top performances, yes. But the 49ers also suffered some notable shortcomings as well. The score tells a lot about just how effective both teams’ defenses were, and San Francisco surely could have done better on that side of the ball.

But if there’s an ultimate takeaway, the Niners found a way to win despite its usually stout defense not having the best of games.

While the 49ers defense as a whole could be flagged as something of a loser in this bout, let’s explore some of the individual winners and losers from this contest, starting off with Garoppolo.