Talanoa Hufanga and Deommodore Lenoir celebrate an interception to clinch the win for San Francisco at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday NOV 13, 2022. (San Francisco 49ers)
by Marko Ukalovic
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — It was a tail of two halves for the San Francisco 49ers.
Their defense shutout the Los Angeles Chargers in the second half as the offense did enough for a 22-16 comeback win on Sunday evening at Levi’s Stadium.
San Francisco has won two games in a row, both against the two Los Angeles teams, and are 3-3 coming off the bye week under head coach Kyle Shanahan’s reign. Los Angeles has lost two of its past three games, all against NFC opponents.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert had a very efficient first half as he was 14 of 21 for 161 yards and a touchdown. Herbert opened the game with a seven play 75-yard drive that resulted in a 32-yard receiving touchdown to wide receiver DeAndre Carter.
Los Angeles (5-4) were without both of its star receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams; each have missed the past two games with injuries.
It was the first time all season long San Francisco’s offense had all of its players healthy on the field as Deebo Samuel and Elijah Mitchell returned from their respective injuries. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo had a full arsenal and spread the ball around efficiently and effectively.
“It was a fun win, it was fun to comeback out there with the boys,” said wide receiver Jauan Jennings on how excited the team was to have everybody back on the offensive side of the ball. “It’s just like, hey it’s a party man! It was a party except it was on the football field dog. So, I just had fun, I had a great time.”
San Francisco (5-4) went on a long 14 play drive in the first quarter that went 67 yards that ate up over seven minutes of possession. However, they had to settle for a 20-yard field goal from Robbie Gould.
Garoppolo then led a nine play 75-yard drive on San Francisco’s fifth offensive possession late in the second quarter where he completed the drive with a one-yard rushing touchdown on a quarterback sneak.
“I think it showed last week against the Rams, guys stepping up in different roles. It just showed again today, guys don’t care if they get 10 targets or one target, if we get a ‘W’, a ‘W’ is a ‘W’ and that is what we’re here for,” Garoppolo said.
Linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who made his return after missing three weeks after being injured in the game against Kansas City, was ejected from the contest with 30 seconds left in the second quarter when he landed a controversial helmet to helmet on Herbert that was reviewed by the league before the officials dismissed him from the game for the unsportsmanlike play.
The 49ers defense bent but did not break in the first half as they held the Chargers to three Cameron Dicker field goals, including one when time expired in the second quarter to give Los Angeles a 16-10 lead into halftime.
“The second half, just like two weeks ago in our last game, defense hunkered down, they didn’t seem to make any mistakes, especially at the end with their (Los Angeles’) last two drives there, it was great,” Shanahan said.
San Francisco started the third quarter with another long drive, this time they went 12 plays and 67 yards with the same result as their long drive in the first a half, a Gould field goal from 26 yards.
Led by Fred Warner and Nick Bosa, San Francisco finally got pressure on Herbert in the second half and made him uncomfortable for the majority of the second half. They sacked Herbert three times in the second half.
“We just didn’t execute. We need to be better on third down and continuing to push the ball forward and getting first down but unfortunately, we didn’t do that today,” Herbert said.
San Francisco controlled the time possession 37 minutes to 23 as they ran for a season high 41 times accumulating 157 yards on the ground as they averaged 3.8 yards per carry.
The 49ers final long drive of the game gave them its first lead in the fourth quarter. San Francisco marched down the field on a 14 play 77-yard drive with a balance of rushing and passing plays. Brandon Aiyuk’s 24-yard reception set up Christian McCaffery’s two-yard rushing touchdown. Gould missed the extra point as San Francisco led 19-16 with 6:59 remaining in the game.
The 49ers defense did the rest and never allowed the Chargers to score another point. Safety Talanoa Hufanga intercepted Herbert on LA’s final drive to seal the deal as San Francisco sits a half game out of first place in the NFC West Division.
“We just went in and made some adjustments at half time, just continued to be physical and switched some things up. We just wanted to get after them up front and plat a little bit looser coverage on the back end and continue to force them to check the ball down and just rally to it,” Hufanga said.
Garoppolo finished 19 of 28 for 240 yards with only the one rushing touchdown but no interceptions. Mitchell led San Francisco in rushing in his first game back since the season opener with 89 yards on 18 carries. McCaffery chipped in with 38 yards on 14 carries to go along with his four receptions for 39 yards. Aiyuk led the 49ers in receiving with six catches for 84 yards.
Herbert ended up 21 of 35 for 196 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Star running back Austin Eckler was held to just 24 yards on just six carries. Carter led the Chargers in receiving with four catches for 64 yards.
GAME NOTES: San Francisco finished 9-for-17 on third down conversions. Los Angeles was 6-for-16.
San Francisco snapped its five-game losing streak to Los Angeles and tied the overall series record at 8-8. The 49ers are 4-3 against the Chargers at home.
UP NEXT: San Francisco heads south of the border to host the Arizona Cardinals on Monday Night Football on 11/21 at 5:15pm at Azteca Stadium.
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