Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Coleman scores 4 TDs; 49ers stay unbeaten
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Racing out to six straight wins to open the season against a less than formidable schedule left some people doubting how good the San Francisco 49ers actually are. Blowing out a Carolina team that had won four straight games should quiet some of those critics.
Tevin Coleman scored three of his four touchdowns in the first half, rookie Nick Bosa had three sacks to go along with an acrobatic interception and the 49ers remained unbeaten with a 51-13 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday in their highest-scoring game in 26 years.
“It doesn’t really matter what the outside world thinks,” said cornerback Richard Sherman, who had an interception. “We know what we have in this building. The same thing we’ve said since training camp, we’ll continue to say. We knew the talent we have, we just have to execute and focus on us and let the chips fall where they may.”
The Niners (7-0) are off to their best start since winning their first 10 games in 1990 and now have a second win against a team with a winning record thanks to a complete performance against the Panthers (4-3).
Jimmy Garoppolo and the offense had little trouble carving Carolina’s defense with 232 yards rushing and a pair of touchdown passes for San Francisco’s most prolific offensive game since beating Detroit 55-17 on Dec. 19, 1993. The Niners stellar defense did the rest.
San Francisco intercepted three passes from Kyle Allen, who came into the game with no interceptions on 153 career attempts while winning his first five starts in place of injured starter Cam Newton. They also had seven sacks, with Bosa getting three of them to go along with his leaping interception and 46-yard return on the final play of the third quarter.
“Whenever your moves are working really good, it’s a good feeling,” Bosa said. “Once you get a sack early you calm down.”
Coleman did most of the rest of the damage. He scored on a 19-yard run in the first quarter, added a 10-yard catch in the second quarter, broke the game open with a 48-yard run late in the first half and added a 1-yard run late in the third quarter.
Coleman finished with 11 carries for 105 yards and two catches for 13 yards. He became just the fourth 49ers player to score at least four touchdowns in a regular-season game, joining Jerry Rice (1993, 1990) and Billy Kilmer (1961). Rice holds the team record with five TDs against Atlanta in 1990.