San Francisco 49ers fans could not have asked for a better week of football. Not only did they start NFL Week 5 by beating their NFC West Rivals, the Los Angeles Rams, on Thursday Night Football, but the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals both suffered losses on Sunday.
It’s not just the NFC West; the 49ers are sitting pretty, they are also in first for playoff seeding in the NFC. We have a lot, A LOT of football left to be played, and the season isn’t even halfway over, so this is far from concluded. Considering the injury issues of this team and the fact that they’ve only lost one game, that should say something. All four of the 49ers’ wins this year are games they no doubt would have lost last year. When you consider how young this team is, getting out these hard, difficult wins will do more than shape the landscape of 2025; that’s something to establish culturally with the next generation.
The 49ers are hard to pin, but that win on Thursday, with a litany of backups and a shortened week to deal with, tells you they are not to be taken lightly. They also have won all three of their divisional matchups, two of which were on the road. The Arizona Cardinals away game will need to be played, but both the Rams and Seahawks will need to get wins at Levi’s Field.
Los Angeles Rams (3-2)
It’s time to Ram it again. Even when the 49ers got up 14-0 in this game, there was just something in the back of your mind, false hope, perhaps. The question wasn’t going to be “if,” but “when.” And when Kendrick Bourne made a key third-down drop that might have made it 17-0 or even 21-0, that’s when things started unraveling, and the Rams came to life. Bourne would go on to catch 10 of his 11 targets for 142 yards receiving. His lone incompletion was maybe the most crucial. We could designate that play as the turning point.
Except the 49ers didn’t back down. In two of the most impressive defensive stands I’ve seen, they kept the Rams out of the end zone with a hell of a play by Alfred Collins and then stonewalled the Rams in overtime to take the victory.
I will never get tired of seeing these two plays:
Man, if you felt good about Collins throwing a Mike Tyson-inspired haymaker at the ball, look at how he felt.
And then there’s this:
The 2024 San Francisco 49ers would not have stopped this. They might not have even gotten out of the first goal-line-stand. If there’s any question about Robert Saleh being worth all that money, the question to ask is why he isn’t paid even more. I know there are concerns that he may leave in the offseason after just one year. We’ll have to see. Saleh has a lot of autonomy and trust with Kyle Shanahan—something Steve Wilks and Nick Sorensen didn’t have. You never know, he may want to stick around for another couple of years since he’s one of the highest-paid coordinators in the league.
Back to the Rams. That’s now two losses that really should not have happened. The first was against the Philadelphia Eagles, where what should have been a walk-off field goal turned into a special teams nightmare. The second was Sean McVay’s playcalling in the final moments of Rams-49ers. Why he would take the ball out of Matthew Stafford’s hands, even on fourth and 1, we will never know. Rather than explain his thinking or say he thought they would get it done on the ground, and the 49ers made a heck of a stuff, he handed us this gem.
He did say the 49ers made enough plays to win, but didn’t reference that specific play where they sniffed out what was going on. He is owning the call, saying it’s all on him. And now he has two losses and a trip to the East Coast to play the Baltimore Ravens.
After Baltimore, the Rams have the Jacksonville Jaguars in a London game and a bye. Given the Ravens’ situation with their backs against the wall and the Jaguars proving not to be taken lightly, the Rams could very well go into their bye 3-4. That would be devastating.
The Rams are much better than their schedule indicates, but injuries in the secondary and special teams miscues have hurt them.
Seattle Seahawks (3-2)
I want to say the Seahawks’ loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Seattle was one of the better games of the weekend, but this weekend had some insane games. The 49ers were the prelude to some impressive upsets, such as the Denver Broncos beating the Eagles in Philadelphia or the New England Patriots defeating the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo.
Much like 49ers-Rams, the Bucs came out to an early lead, making it 13-0, but the Seahawks ran a great two-minute drill to get their first touchdown before the first half concluded.
From there, all hell broke loose. There were numerous lead changes back and forth until the Buccaneers rallied late. And we mean late. The score was 35-28, Seahawks with just over a minute to go, when this gem shocked Lumen Field:
So it’s tied with just over a minute left. Plenty of time to drive down the field and kick the game-winning—
Oh, never mind. The interception gave the Buccaneers excellent field position, and they made the field goal to win. So up by seven with a minute left led to a 38-35 final score, courtesy of an interception and a 39-yard walk-off field goal.
This game has highlights aplenty for the second half, but none will ever touch this perfectly synchronized throw of a penalty flag:
And with that, the Seahawks give up 38 points to the Buccaneers at home. Given how good the Seahawks defense is, they either are incredibly overrated or Tampa Bay has one of the more lethal offenses for 2025. Or this was just one of those games where we got treated to a fun shootout.
Regardless, the loss has the Seahawks fighting with the Rams for second place and a game behind the 49ers.
Arizona Cardinals (2-3)
The Titans have not won a game this year. It’s almost as hard to run the table backwards as it is to go undefeated. Almost. Well, not really. But the Titans were due for a win.
This game had nothing suggesting that a win would happen on Sunday. Things started with a (sweet) Marvin Harrison Jr. catch that put the Cardinals inches outside the goalline. After punching that one in seconds later, the game progressed to 21-3 with 10 minutes of the second quarter still to go. The only points the Titans could answer with were a second field goal just a few minutes later. Then the Cardinals continued to impose their will, ending the first half.
15 points. The Cardinals had to stop the Titans from getting 15 points in two quarters of football. They held them down in the third quarter with little issue. The start of the fourth quarter wasn’t much different. A key third-and-one, featuring running back Emari Demercado, with him bursting right through the line to gain with nothing but green grass in his way. It was about to be 28-6, and the Cardinals were going to keep pace.
But just before he crossed the plain, this happened:
Look, that’s something you can always overcome, especially in the fourth quarter when you are up 15 points. Just play defense, bleed clock, and go home. Hold onto the ball when you cross the goal line—lesson learned. The Titans haven’t won a game, and it’s not like they are going to get 15 points in 13 minutes when they’ve been dominated for the entire game by the Cardinals.
That is what I would say, and you could take those lumps, but now that you learned your lesson about holding onto the ball when you cross the plane, perhaps it’s time to take it a step further by simply holding onto the ball in general:
I know what you’re thinking: How did the 49ers struggle against these Cardinals? Two reasons: 1: The Cardinals want to play the 49ers hard; they always do, and 2: When you get your heart ripped out on not one, but two go-ahead field goals, each by division rivals in the same number of weeks, it’s pretty hard to keep your head up and think straight.
Regardless, the Titans have one win, and it’s against the Cardinals. The Cardinals have two wins, one against the New Orleans Saints (who also earned their first win today) and the Carolina Panthers, who just beat up on the Miami Dolphins.
Needless to say, the Cardinals might not be very good. Kyler Murray went 23-31 and threw for 2020 yards passing and a quarterback rating of 93.5
There’s no one to blame in this one more besides Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon. The team melted down completely in a game the Titans probably had no business winning. Not holding onto the ball in that interception is just bad coaching.
The Cardinals sit at 2-3, last place in the NFC West, and two games behind the 49ers.
Onto Week 6
All four teams in the division will be going on the road for Week 6. The 49ers will be traveling to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in an important game. As we discussed, the Buccaneers outlasted the Seahawks in a thrilling game in Seattle to win.
The Rams will face the Baltimore Ravens. This game has the dreaded (or, in this case, welcomed) 10:00 AM start time on the East Coast. The Ravens got embarrassed by the Houston Texans in Week 5, and their sole win of the year makes them tied with the Cleveland Browns for last place in the AFC North. Quarterback Lamar Jackson was out in the Houston beatdown, which shows how valuable he is. Should Jackson return, the Ravens might be playing with their hair on fire to catch up to the first-place AFC North team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Seahawks will be traveling to face the Jacksonville Jaguars. Those of you who haven’t gotten the Jaguar game out of recent memory will know that defense is no joke, and Seattle will have their hands full. This week, we will learn a lot about the 2025 Seahawks and 2025 49ers.
The Cardinals will be facing the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts are 4-1 and trying to stay ahead of the Jaguars. They have had their best start since Andrew Luck was the team’s quarterback. If you knew the Colts were going to be in first place and the Texans in third at the beginning of the season, I’m not sure you’re telling the truth.
1st: San Francisco 49ers; Next: at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2nd: Seattle Seahawks; Next: at Jacksonville Jaguars
3rd: Los Angeles Rams; Next: at Baltimore Ravens
4th: Arizona Cardinals; Next: at Indianapolis Colts
About the Author: Insidethe49
