5 takeaways from 49ers dominant Week 14 victory over Buccaneers
The San Francisco 49ers stretched their winning streak to six in a row, demolishing a fellow playoff contender in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
As seems to be a weekly tradition in recent weeks, the San Francisco 49ers put yet another win in the column and paid with an offering to the football gods.
This week, it was Deebo Samuel, who suffered an ankle sprain and will be out a few weeks. Nonetheless, considering the alternative was a serious knee injury, at least the Niners got away with the best-case scenario.
Speaking of best-case scenarios, the game couldn’t have gone much better putting aside the injury. The 49ers took only a few minutes to score a touchdown and take the lead, and it was all over from then on. San Francisco took a 35-0 lead before letting its foot off the gas and even putting in the backups to finish the game.
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Let that sink in.
The Niners played a seventh-round rookie at quarterback in Brock Purdy against Tom Brady and were able to sit their starters. Without a doubt, it was the best football the 49ers have played all season, and it confirms the notion that winning the Super Bowl is not out of the question.
Simply incredible.
The win, coupled with the Seattle Seahawks’ loss to the Carolina Panthers as well, means the Niners will clinch the NFC West if they can defeat the Hawks on Thursday night. Not a bad result given the first half of the season had people wondering if San Francisco would even get to the playoffs.
With that out of the way, let’s look at the takeaways from the 49ers’ stunning Week 14 victory over Brady and the Buccaneers.