The 49ers took a 30-13 lead when Robbie Gould kicked a field goal with just over 11 minutes to play in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against the Lions, but any hope that they’d have an easy wrap to the game went away quickly.
The Lions scored touchdowns on back-to-back drives and appeared to get the ball back after their second score when Tracy Walker picked off a Jimmy Garoppolo pass just before the two minute warning. A holding penalty on Quandre Diggs wiped out the turnover, however, and the 49ers were able to hold on to a 30-27 win.
Cornerback Richard Sherman said after the game that “it feels like a loss to me.” After noting that Matthew Stafford is a good quarterback, Sherman turned his focus to his teammates and their need to learn from how close they came to flushing the game away.
“It’s a good learning lesson for a young team that we needed,” Sherman said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “It’s a humbling lesson. Thank goodness we got the win out of it. There’s a lot of good tape, a lot of good learning for us. I think it’s going to be a humbling experience for a lot of our players.”
Head coach Kyle Shanahan said it was “extremely frustrating” to not put the Lions away, so that’s something for the team to work on as they prepare for the 2-0 Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium next Sunday.