Niners tame Lions to avoid upset

Week 1 - Entering Sunday's season-opener on the road as heavy favorites against the Detroit Lions, the San Francisco 49ers would have scares to start and finish the game, while dominating in all facets in the middle. Luckily, that "bend but don't break" mentality would be a theme for head coach Kyle Shanahan's squad. The Lions came out the gates swinging and quickly pinned the Niners against a wall as they needed only two plays to make it across midfield and into enemy territory, but a risky 4th and 2 call would blow up in Detroit's face as they turned the ball over on downs, despite being in field goal range. However, San Francisco would see their first possession go up in flames on their first play on offense as quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo fumbled the snap, giving the ball right back to the Lions. The Niner defense would bail the offense out by holding Detroit to a field goal attempt which they would go on to miss from 51-yards out. With a chance to redeem themselves on offense, Jimmy G and company would do just that, marching down the field and striking pay dirt. 

Unfortunately, the injury bug which ravaged the Niners a year ago and practically put an end to their season early on, would rear its ugly head once again as San Francisco suffered blows on both sides of the ball. After nice carries of 11 and 9 yards by running back Raheem Mostert on San Francisco's first two plays following the errant snap, the former track star appeared to be headed for a big game on Sunday. Instead, his day would come to an end before the conclusion of the first quarter as Mostert would not be seen on the field again after those two carries. After making it into the red zone and facing a first and goal situation from the Detroit 5-yard line, Shanahan would dial up a play for rookie QB Trey Lance who on the second play of his career, found receiver Trent Sherfield for the touchdown. Inspired by the drive, the Lions would also have success on their next possession, eventually tying the game at 7 on a touchdown pass from QB Jared Goff to his tight-end T.J. Hockenson. With the injury to Mostert and rookie running back Trey Sermon ruled out just before kickoff as a "healthy scratch," the door would be open for another rookie running back in Elijah Mitchell. 

The 2021 sixth round pick out of Louisiana showed up in a big way in his NFL debut, making a number of big plays on Sunday, but perhaps none greater than the one on San Francisco's next possession. After a 29-yard pass from Garoppolo to Deebo Samuel who also had a huge game on Sunday, Mitchell took a 38-yard carry to the house for the go-ahead score. After a Detroit field goal made it a 14-10 49er lead, the San Francisco offense picked up right where they left off as another big play by Deebo Samuel setup another running back touchdown, this time by second-year man JaMycal Hasty who punched it in from 3-yards out. Hoping to answer San Francisco's successful drive with one of their own, the Lions would instead suffer a pick-six as Goff felt the pressure and hurried a pass into traffic which was intercepted and returned 39-yards by linebacker Dre Greenlaw. The Niners would increase their lead just before the half thanks to a Robbie Gould field goal to take a 31-10 advantage into the locker room. 

More big plays to start the second half would once again have the Niners in scoring position. A 35-yard reception to tight-end George Kittle would kickoff quarter number three before a missed field goal attempt from 52-yards out by Gould. The biggest play of the game for either team, would come on San Francisco's next possession. After forcing a punt on defense, Jimmy Garoppolo would air the ball out when facing a 3rd and 8 as he threw along the sidelines and found Deebo who did the rest by rumbling for the 79-yard score on his way to a career-high 189 yards on 9 receptions. It would mark the most receiving yards in 49ers history for a player in a Week 1 road game as Samuel would also shatter his previous high of 134 yards receiving set back on Week 11 of the 2019 season against Arizona. A 43-yard catch and run by Lions running back D'Andre Swift would get Detroit on the board in the third quarter, but the game seemed to be put away after San Francisco added another Robbie Gould field goal to start the fourth quarter. They would be sadly mistaken as the rollercoaster ride that was the fourth quarter was just beginning. 

The Lions, under new head coach Dan Campbell, showed some scrappiness when the 49ers eased up and took their foot off the gas pedal, allowing Detroit to fight back and make a game out of it, just when they appeared dead in the water. A pivotal turning-point would occur around the 8-minute mark in the 4th quarter when Niners cornerback Jason Verrett went down on an incomplete pass and had to be helped to the locker room with apparent knee injury. Leading 41-17 with just under two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Lions inched closer with a touchdown and successful two-point conversion to make it a 41-25 ballgame. Then came an on-side kick that took a nasty hop and deflected off the facemask of one George Kittle. With Detroit recovering the ball, Jared Goff suddenly couldn't miss as the Lions offense marched with ease, covering 59-yards in 46 seconds and eventually scoring on a touchdown pass to Quintez Cephus, who also came down with the subsequent two-point conversion. Before you could even blink, the Lions had cut the deficit from what was 24-points just moments earlier, to 8-points as 1:10 remained in regulation. 

Keeping Detroit from recovering a second consecutive onside-kick, all the Niners needed to do was convert a first down to seal the win. Facing a 3rd & 13, the 49er offense appeared to secure their game-sealing first down when Garoppolo stepped up to find Deebo Samuel who was racing towards the first down marker, but was stripped of the ball by Detroit's Trey Flowers. The critical takeaway would give Goff and the Lions one last-ditch effort to try and pull off the remarkable comeback. And with the drive starting with more of the same as Goff found receivers for gains of 20 and 25 yards, that luck eventually ran out. Facing a 4th & 9 on San Francisco's 24 yard-line with 17-seconds on the clock, the 49ers brought the heat and forced Goff to hurry a pass that went incomplete. Surviving the scare, Jimmy G tallied 314 yards passing and a touchdown on 17 of 25 pass attempts to have himself a game. Goff would also have an impressive game, completing 38 of 57 attempts for 338 passing yards to go along with three touchdowns and an interception. 49ers rookie Eli Mitchell would lead all running backs with 104 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. 

Week 2 Preview: Continuing their season on the road, the 49ers will pay a visit to the city of brotherly love in Week 2 to face the (1-0) Philadelphia Eagles who handled Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons on the road in Week 1 by a final score of 32-6. As if San Francisco won't already have their hands full with mobile quarterbacks when they face division foes Arizona and Seattle twice this year, they'll have another duel-threat signal-caller to prepare for in Philly's Jalen Hurts. Coming off a three touchdown performance in which he threw for 264 yards and rushed for another 62 yards, the 49er defense will need to do a much better job at containing the quarterback in Week 2 if they want to head home with an undefeated record. Pending the injury news to Raheem Mostert and Jason Verrett, the 49ers should be getting reinforcements at both the running back and cornerback positions in Week 2 with Trey Sermon and Josh Norman, respectively. The Niners will also try to keep the winning going as all four teams in the daunting NFC West won in Week 1 and the 49ers don't want to be the first team this season to fall to defeat. 

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