Another San Francisco 49ers game brings another episode of the Niner Noise Podcast, everyone's favorite place to go to reflect on the outcome of the contest.
In this particular episode, the tone is rather confusing. The Niners won 37-24 over the lowly Tennessee Titans, a score that may reflect better on the now 2-11 Titans than the game did.
Or does it? That is the crux of this tonally bizarre episode:
As per usual, your hosts (site contributors Robert Morrison and Akshaj Dwivedula) are certainly happy that the Niners won the game and ran their record to 10-4, which allows them to hold serve with the rest of the wide open NFC as the playoffs near.
Your hosts acknowledge that winning is the most important part of the puzzle. But winning in this manner against this football team is not exactly what they had in mind when they previewed this very matchup last week. It was supposed to be a blowout that the Titans were never in.
And on some levels, that was the case.
Tennessee was never closer than 14-10, a lead the Niners extended to 17-10 before the half. The gap ballooned to a three-touchdown lead in the third quarter, and the Titans were never nearer than 10 points during the second half.
Despite that, the pod leans into the "down" of the "One Up/One Down" segment, since it's pretty clear that it wasn't a clean game. Sure, San Francisco played an NFL team filled with NFL players, but the Titans are clearly not a great team, and its important to note where the Niners fell short even in a victory.
So that's why you might notice a strange feeling during this episode. It's why, if you didn't know the score and just turned on the podcast in a random place, you might be worried the 49ers lost to a bad Titans team and ruined their playoff chances in the process.
But they didn't. And that's a good thing.
All of this, plus more in-depth analysis of the current state of the team, can be found on the latest edition of the Niner Noise Podcast. You can find the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, or wherever you prefer to listen to your podcasts. If none of that appeals to you, check out the pod's website for this and other episodes in the archives.
And, of course, please subscribe and drop a rating and a review to help the podcast.