After big win, S.F. is a scary 5-10 team
After the Jaguars lost their composure while losing decisively Sunday, 49ers wide receiver Trent Taylor said Jacksonville would be wise to learn from its emotional meltdowns.
“I was definitely surprised by that,” Taylor said. “Hopefully, they can take a lesson going into the playoffs that they need to fix that.”
It’s not often that a player on a 5-10 team sounds like he’s looking down his nose at a division champion, but Taylor’s tsk-tsk tone didn’t sound inappropriate after the 49ers schooled the Jaguars.
The Jaguars have a 10-5 record, the AFC South title and a statistically dominant defense. But they also have this knowledge about their 44-33 loss to the 49ers: It wasn’t fluky.
“I saw a team that is really a strong football team,” Jaguars coach Doug Marrone said. “Obviously, they got after us today. I have a lot of respect for them. They did a good job.”
Yes, just call the 49ers Team Oxymoron: A scary 5-10 team.
“I can’t really speak to what they’ve done to other teams, but they really executed well today,” Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey said. “What they did today against us is what they did. They looked good.”
Said defensive tackle Calais Campbell: “They did some things we hadn’t seen on tape. That’s good ball.”
The 49ers, once 1-10, have been playing good ball since inserting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo into the starting lineup.
With Garoppolo, they are accomplishing feats not managed since the Jim Harbaugh era and, in some cases, well beyond. Consider: They are on a four-game winning streak (first since 2013), have scored 95 points in a three-game span (2013) and have at least 369 yards in four straight games for the first time since 1998, when Steve Young was throwing to Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens.
On Sunday, they pushed around one of only three teams in the past 10 years to have 31 takeaways and fewer than 210 points allowed after 14 games. The 49ers scored on seven of their 10 full drives, finishing the Jaguars off with four touchdowns on their final five possessions.
“We felt very confident in what we were able to do as an offense,” left tackle Joe Staley said. “And a lot of that is because of the way No. 10 (Garoppolo) is playing for us.”
The obvious hypothetical question: What would the 49ers’ record be if Garoppolo had been playing for them since Week 1? Without him, of course, they became the first team in NFL history to lose five straight games by three points or fewer en route to the first 0-9 start in franchise history.
Garoppolo, who won two Super Bowls rings backing up Tom Brady with the Patriots, knows what a playoff-level team looks like. But he declined to bite when asked Sunday if the 49ers fit that description.
“We’ve won four games, so I don’t know,” Garoppolo said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. That was a hell of a team we just beat, so I think that was a good test for us.”
Suddenly, the 49ers expect to cross that bridge in 2018. From porous to the playoffs? That appears realistic. Just ask the Jaguars.
“We’re on a heater right now,” 49ers tight end George Kittle said. “I wish we had a chance to keep proving ourselves going into the postseason, but it’s a little bit of a chip on our shoulder going into next year.
“We feel like we’re good enough to be in the playoffs, but we can’t because we struggled at the beginning of the season. Going into next year, it’s going to be a huge goal for us to reach that milestone.”