Creativity and resilience are 49ers’ calling card

Jeff Wilson will forgive you if you didn’t know who he was before Sunday. After all, he’s the afterthought in the San Francisco 49ers backfield. The rarely-used running back was merely a name, number, height and weight in the team’s gameday program. Yet, on Sunday, against the Arizona Cardinals — an NFC West foe — Wilson burned his name into the memory of the 49ers faithful in his lone snap of the team’s wild 36-26 victory. Niners quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo stared down the barrel of a gun that was the Cardinals’ fierce all-out blitz and found his dump off option — Wilson — who sprinted

for a 25-yard game-altering touchdown.

“It was like whoosh, and it was right there,” Wilson said of the heave. “I was like, Oh, (expletive)!’ And I was going, but it was cool. I didn’t care if I was alone. In my head I was alone, so if someone was there, it wouldn’t matter to me.” Wilson found paydirt, ensured the 49ers would sport an impressive 9-1 mark and clip the wings of a Cardinals team that held a surprising 16-0 lead before falling in the end. When the team needed it most and was in the most dire of straits, head coach Kyle Shanahan and his players displayed the two characteristics that’s driven the hard-charging 49ers: Creativity and resilience. “Kyle is a mastermind,” Wilson said. “I can’t give no credit to me. He called the right play for me.”

Get this: Count Jimmy G as one of the many surprised to see No. 30 (Wilson) in the huddle and not Tevin Coleman.

“Literally, he was right next to me and I turned and it was like, ‘Oh, all right, Jeff’s in, not Tevin,’” Garoppolo said Sunday. “It was a helluva play, man.”

Same could be said of the 49ers franchise signal caller. What you saw in the team’s win was a Sergio Leone spaghetti western type performance out of Garoppolo. He delivered the good (four touchdowns), the bad (sacked twice), and the ugly (two horrendous red zone interceptions), but when it mattered most, he pulled the trigger — and was accurate. Yes, he could be dubbed “reckless” but it’s Garoppolo’s ability to buck the tiger that got the 49ers offense in position to score and win.

It was the ultimate case of “Who Dares Wins.”

“I mean, that’s part of being a quarterback, though,” Garoppolo said. “You’ve gotta make those tight, quick decisions and, you know, live with it after. Obviously, I want the two picks back. Two bad decisions. Bad throws. But at the end of the day, you’ve gotta trust your guys and let ‘em go make plays.”

Noting the team did abandon the run in order to make up for lost ground against a determined Arizona squad, Shanahan said the team put the onus on Garoppolo’s shoulders, and the QB, “… did a helluva job. Really played unbelievable.”

Who knew the “G” in Jimmy G meant Gambler?

San Francisco will need every bit of that as it enters the point of no return: Matchups with the Green Bay Packers (8-2), Baltimore Ravens (8-2) and New Orleans Saints (8-2) in the next three weeks.