Dre Greenlaw stop in 49ers win vs. Seahawks echoes a Super Bowl moment

San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw made the play of his life in Week 17 versus the Seattle Seahawks, saving the win, but also echoing a Super Bowl moment from years ago.

With the opposing offense threatening to take the lead, the San Francisco 49ers needed the stop of all stops.

Fortunately, they got one. No. 57 of the defense made a crucial tackle on the 1-yard line, and the Niners would go on to win the game 26-21 in thrilling fashion.

If you’re immediately recalling San Francisco’s nail-biting Week 17 win over the Seattle Seahawks, you’d be correct. Rookie linebacker Dre Greenlaw made the “play of plays,” tackling Seahawks tight end Jacob Hollister mere inches from the goal line on 4th-and-1 with 12 seconds left in regulation and the 49ers clinging to their 26-21 lead.

Needless to say, it was a game changer:

But if you were also thinking way far back into the annals of 49ers history, you’d be correct, too.

Back in Super Bowl XVI, the Niners were facing an eerily similar situation against the Cincinnati Bengals. While the 49ers were winning in the third quarter, 20-7, the Bengals were on the 1-yard line when quarterback Ken Alexander hit running back Charles Alexander off towards the flat.

49ers linebacker Dan Bunz, who like Greenlaw was also donning No. 57, made a game-changing tackle to preserve the lead.

San Francisco would go on to win that game 26-21, too, securing the franchise’s first-ever Super Bowl victory.

Quite the similarity, right?

“It was in quarter halves, and they came out empty, so we went to quarters on each side,” Greenlaw later clarified about the play. “The back, he flared out to the flat real fast … and I knew I was probably going to have a slant behind me. So I kind of pushed out wide for the slant. All practice, coaches are telling me to look at the quarterback’s eyes whenever the back goes to the flat fast. I saw the quarterback was looking away, and I just saw where he was trying to go.”

Greenlaw and the 49ers defense looked awfully permeable during that fourth quarter, as quarterback Russell Wilson was able to engineer two touchdown drives during the frame.

But two things ended up going San Francisco’s way before Greenlaw’s stand.

Despite numerous Seahawks receiving targets getting plenty of space between themselves and defenders, Wilson missed a number of wide-open shots. Then, on 2nd-and-1 with 22 seconds remaining in regulation, Seattle inexplicably let the play clock run down to zero, resulting in a delay-of-game penalty, backing Wilson and his offense up to the Niners 6-yard line.

Still, it took an amazing effort by Greenlaw to prevent Hollister from crossing the goal line.

“I just knew that I had my foot on the goal line,” Greenlaw continued. “And I knew they had to get the touchdown into the end zone, in order to score. In order to win the game. So I just made sure I kept my feet on the goal line.”

His efforts aren’t unlike what Bunz experienced back in Super Bowl XVI.

If that play helped result in a San Francisco Super Bowl win, and if the Niners’ current trend continues along the same path, one can look back at Greenlaw’s play as a watershed moment.