The 49ers offense didn’t score a touchdown on Saturday night, but the team is still going to the NFC Championship Game.
A blocked punt late in the fourth quarter was returned for a game-tying touchdown by Talanoa Hufanga and the 49ers were able to come up with a 44-yard drive in the final minutes to set up Robbie Gould’s game-winning field goal as time expired on a 13-10 win. Those 44 yards gave the 49ers 212 total yards for the night and they blew chances for more points with an interception and a failure to convert on fourth down, but quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo said the result was what matters at the end of the day.
“It’s just how we win. It’s never going to be pretty, but we find a way,” Garoppolo said, via 49ersWebzone.com.
Garoppolo’s performance — 11-of-19 for 131 yards — won’t convince any doubters of his fitness for the job, but tight end George Kittle doesn’t believe those players exist in the 49ers locker room.
“People just try to pull him down, and all he does is try to deliver,” Kittle said. “He leads this team, he has a sense of calm in the huddle, he has a sense of calm in the storm, and he allows us to play football at a high level.”
Trey Lance’s presence makes Garoppolo’s future with the 49ers an open question, but he’ll be starting the conference title game for the second time in three years and that makes the present pretty enjoyable.