It was not nice; in fact, it was thoroughly ugly. But for the second straight week, the Broncos are winners. Despite another rough patch for Russell Wilson and the offense, Denver brought out the best of the 49ers on “Sunday Night Football,” forcing three turnovers and a safety to secure an 11-10 win — just their second game in the NFL -Story with which it ended this score. The low-scoring affair puts the Broncos at the top of the AFC West alongside the Chiefs while San Francisco falls below .500 in the NFC West.
Here are some instant takeaways from Sunday night’s cross-conference showdown:
Why the Broncos won
Nathaniel Hackett has a defense that can (barely) save his offense, which remains completely without rhythm. Seriously, the Denver “D” was tough from start to finish but held up really well in the crunch time. The unit allowed just a third down conversion all night and saw four different players sack Jimmy Garoppolo, including Bradley Chubb and Josey Jewell. A late-game pick and fumbling recovery basically sealed their win, and immediate pressure on Garoppolo forced the QB out of his own end zone earlier in the night for a safety that would prove fatal in the end result.
The less talked about Hackett’s group the better, as faulty throws, substandard protection and conservative reputations still plagued them. But at least Wilson showed hints of his classic dual-threat self throughout the route, regularly linking up with Courtland Sutton (8-97) to give the go-ahead. Her performance wouldn’t have been up to par against an elite contender, but it was just about enough against a 49ers roster plagued by errors and injuries.
Why the 49ers lost
Losing Trent Williams in the left tackle in the third quarter didn’t help, but San Francisco’s problems ran deeper. Everything set them up for victory on a night where Denver mostly tripped over themselves while in possession of the ball. And yet Kyle Shanahan’s Jimmy G-led offense could only move the chains when he wasn’t third, and at times found Deebo Samuel or Brandon Aiyuk in space, but failed to string splash plays together. Jeff Wilson, averaging a healthy 6 yards per dead, was underused on the ground.
And Garoppolo buckled in a few bad spots, like when he accidentally fell back out of the end zone for safety reasons or threw a pickaxe into essentially triple cover while the game was on the line, despite an efficient start and some impressive precision shots. Wilson’s own turnover, a fumble on her last drive, was killer. So did their seven penalties, which spoiled an otherwise strong night from a defense that sacked Wilson four times and stressed him out a whole lot more.
turning point
One could look early in the game and call Garoppolo’s unintended safety a big influence on the bottom line, but in terms of flow, Wilson probably turned the tide the most with his fourth-quarter freestyle. Unable to push the ball into downfield beforehand, Russ took it upon himself to climb to an important third and 10 to the left at 8:16, and the Broncos were 10-5 behind when he hit Kendall Hinton with a nice 27 yards -Blow hit that added to the set until the team’s only touchdown that night. With Denver officially taking the lead, the onus suddenly fell on San Francisco to step up its own offense.
game of the game
Wilson’s dart on Hinton while he was out was exactly the kind of play the Broncos are paying him big bucks for:
What’s next
The 49ers (1-2) return home for another prime-time matchup, this time against rival Rams (2-1) on Monday Night Football. The Broncos (2-1), meanwhile, will try to stay above .500 by traveling to Vegas to take on the rival Raiders (0-3), who narrowly lost to the Titans on Sunday.