The San Francisco 49ers entered Week 10 against the Jacksonville Jaguars amid a three-game losing streak. Kyle Shanahan’s squad had to come out of its bye playing good football in order to avoid this losing streak being extended even further.
Shanahan knew this leading up to the game against Jacksonville in Duval while focusing a bit on the aforementioned three-game skid.
“I mean, those three games there, were some tough ones,” Shanahan told reporters ahead of Week 10. “You know, I know we didn’t play our best, but I really thought watching the Cincy game on that short week from that Monday night game, the two East Coast trips, you could see it on the silent tape and that’s not a good thing. So getting some rest here really helped.”
About that? The 49ers were refreshed out of the gate Sunday against Jacksonville. They opened up a 10-0 lead in the first quarter in part due to brilliant play from much-maligned young quarterback Brock Purdy. That included a 13-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk to open the scoring.
From there, it was an absolute route in the 49ers’ favor. Nick Bosa, Javon Hargrave and the recently-acquired Chase Young spearheaded a defense that got to Trevor Lawrence for five sacks and 10 hits. Ambry Thomas and a maligned secondary also picked off the quarterback two times.
Meanwhile, Purdy overcame some recent struggles by completing 19-of-26 passes for 296 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions. He made sweet music with George Kittle, too.
The end result was a massive statement victory by the score of 34-3 against a Jags team that had won five consecutive heading in and was the hottest team in the NFL.
In reality, San Francisco was on a completely different level than the Jaguars. It outplayed the team in every imaginable way, winning going away.
Related: Brock Purdy will play major role in San Francisco 49ers’ success, failure
San Francisco 49ers’ statement win changes dynamics in NFC
The defending conference champion Philadelphia Eagles are the class of the conference at 8-1. They are coming off a statement win of their own over the Dallas Cowboys and are preparing for one of the biggest games of the year, a rematch of last season’s Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 11.
San Francisco will have an opportunity to make another statement against the Eagles in Philadelphia come Dec. 3.
But for now, Sunday’s win over the Jaguars acts as precursor to the 49ers making their name known in the battle for supremacy after falling to Philadelphia in the NFC Championship Game last season.
San Francisco has a home date with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week before a brutal stretch of action that includes two outings against the division-rival Seattle Seahawks with the aforementioned game against Philadelphia mixed in.
After an outing against the last-place Arizona Cardinals, the 49ers must take to Baltimore for a Christmas night affair against the Ravens.
This stretch of action will tell us a lot about the 49ers’ status heading into the NFC Playoffs. While acquiring home-field advantage throughout the postseason likely isn’t in the cards, the remaining eight games of the regular season could act the part of the momentum San Francisco needs moving forward.
If what we saw against a very good Jaguars team Sunday is any indication, this team will be more than ready to continue with the aforementioned momentum.
In addition to Purdy playing flawless football, the 49ers’ supporting cast was on another level against Jacksonville. Christian McCaffrey went for 142 total yards on 22 touches. Kittle hauled in three passes for 116 yards. Aiyuk added 55 yards and a score.
Defensively, Ambry Thomas stepped up with a game-changing play as Jacksonville was attempting to narrow the gap in the third quarter.
San Francisco started the season out like gangbusters, winning its first five games. That included a statement 42-10 victory over the rival Dallas Cowboys back in Week 5.
Prior to Sunday’s outing against Jacksonville, this represented the 49ers’ last win. They were a mistake waiting to happen in a Week 6 loss to the Cleveland Browns before late-game mistakes from Purdy cost San Francisco games against the Minnesota Vikings and Cincinnati Bengals.
In reality, the Week 9 bye acted as the rest San Francisco needed. The acquisition of Chase Young at the NFL trade deadline on Oct. 31 also acted as a refresher the 49ers needed.
After starting the season with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations, the San Francisco 49ers very much looked the part Sunday against Jacksonville. It starts a stretch run in which these expectations could very well be met in Las Vegas come February. That’s the biggest takeaway from Sunday’s blowout 31-point win over Jacksonville.