49ers Fall Short on Final play in Miami

Week 12 - With a trip to Miami in store for Week 12 to take on the red-hot (6-4) Dolphins, winners of five straight, the upset-minded (1-9) 49ers would come out swinging in what would end up being a close game that came down to the wire. Having shown improvement week by week with the exception of last week's rain-filled loss to the Patriots, Niners QB Colin Kaepernick had arguably his best game of the season on Sunday against a dominant Miami defensive-line. Kaepernick would lead both teams in passing and rushing yardage on the day as he finished with 296 yards thru the air and another 113 yards on the ground to go along with 3 touchdown passes including one on San Francisco's opening-drive which put them ahead early on.

After forcing a three and out on Miami's opening possession to start the game, Kaepernick would help march the team down the field before dumping the ball off to Carlos Hyde who found the end zone to score his first receiving touchdown of the year and first touchdown overall since Week 5 vs Arizona. It would be a long time coming for the 49ers running back who started the season with six touchdowns scored in the first five weeks of the season but has since then cooled off while nursing a shoulder injury and sharing the load with fellow backs Shaun Draughn and DuJuan Harris. The early lead would be short-lived however, as San Francisco quickly found themselves trailing 14-7 heading into the half after back-to-back touchdown scoring drives by the Dolphins, the second of which set up by a Garrett Celek fumble which halted a 49ers drive inside enemy territory at the Miami 31 yard-line. It would also be San Francisco's 11th lost fumble of the season (most in the NFL). An equally disastrous start to the second half for the 49ers would put even more points on the board for the opposition as Kaepernick's pass intended for receiver Torrey Smith was intercepted on the first play of the second half which led to a Miami field goal.

Though the interception wasn't necessarily his fault as Smith should've came up with the catch, both Kaepernick and tight-end Garrett Celek who fumbled earlier would get to redeem themselves with a 4-yard touchdown, the first of Celek's career. Kaepernick wasn't the only one who had a fine performance on Sunday though, as Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill logged a solid outing with three touchdown passes of his own, including a 43-yarder late in the third quarter to receiver Kenny Stills and another from 15-yards out to Leonte Carroo to start the fourth quarter. Trailing 31 to 14 in the fourth, the 49ers would march all the way down to the 1-yard line before punching it in on a one-handed touchdown grab by Torrey Smith. In need of some help from the defense, the Niners would get just what the doctor ordered as they forced back-to-back Miami three and outs. Following a Phil Dawson field goal to bring them within a touchdown, San Francisco would be given one last chance to tie it late.

With the game clock a factor and no timeouts remaining, Kaepernick and company would march their way down to the 6-yard line with 5 seconds remaining. After an incomplete pass intended for Torrey Smith inside the end zone, the 49ers would have one final chance to score the game-tying touchdown. In a last-ditch effort and nobody open to throw to, Kaepernick scrambled and was stuffed by the collective effort of Ndamukong Suh and Kiko Alonso at the 2-yard line as time expired. San Francisco's late-game heroics would fall just short as Miami held on for the 31-24 win. With both teams going in complete opposite directions right now following Miami's first six-game win streak since 2005 and San Francisco on their worst losing-streak in their 70-year existence, the game that came down to the final play just goes to show that anything can happen on any given Sunday. While the 49ers secondary was picked apart time and time again by Tannehill, the San Francisco defense managed to stop the run quite well and held Dolphins rusher Jay Ajayi to only 45-yards on 18 carries, but one of those carries wound up being a touchdown. Having allowed a season average of 180 yards rushing which is the worst in the NFL, the 49ers D held Miami to less than a hundred yards rushing and forced their opponent to beat them thru the air which they did.

Week 13 Preview - After becoming the first player in franchise history with 3+ touchdown passes and 80+ rushing yards in the same game, QB Colin Kaepernick will now direct his attention to the (2-9) Chicago Bears as he gets set to face off against his former defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. Chicago, the only other team in the NFC with fewer than four wins, will hope to avenge the walk-off loss suffered at home to the 49ers in overtime a season ago. And with the 49ers leading the league this season in points allowed off turnovers, Fangio will be dialing up all he can in hopes of throwing Kaepernick off his game as the two were unable to face each other in last year's 49ers-Bears bout as Blaine Gabbert was under center for San Francisco. As for the Bears quarterback situation, Chicago will be without Jay Cutler who was recently placed on injured-reserved and will have surgery on Saturday to repair a torn labrum, thus opening the door for QB Matt Barkley. Barkley, a former QB of Chip Kelly's while with the Eagles, threw for over 300 yards and 3 touchdowns in a six-point loss to Tennessee last week and will try duplicating those numbers against the 49ers and the head coach who drafted him out of USC.


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