49ers struggled against a one-win team, but they won and improved to 6-0; today was a good day

With both the Seattle Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams losing in Week 6, the San Francisco 49ers had themselves an opportunity to add another game to their lead in this NFC West thing. I don’t know about you, but I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. And it wasn’t in their 23-17 win over the Washington Commanders, given how wide open the NFC East is and how the 49ers are dealing with their own issues; this wasn’t going to be a cakewalk like the 7.5 points indicated.

Even knowing it wasn’t going to be a boat race, I certainly didn’t expect THAT. I didn’t feel good when the half ended, thinking there was a window for the Commanders to come back, and that’s exactly what they did. But the 49ers pulled out the win, and the defense, despite falling apart in the second half, made it right at the very end. They also picked up the offense when they sputtered out in the same half.

That means we play the oldies but goodies. Ice Cube, what kind of a day is it?

And because Fooch didn’t give me my pony in the game thread. Here’s the pony:

The 49ers struggled in this game, but good teams find a way to win; bad teams find a way to lose. While the victory is nice, it shows the 49ers need to get healthy if they want to make it back and finally win a Super Bowl. All of our gripes, annoyances, rolled eyes, whatever we did to cope with this frustrating game, come back to that: They won. Something should be said for them being 6-0 despite all these injuries.

This week we’re going to hear about how the 49ers are “beatable,” and maybe Brock Purdy isn’t MVP. Whatever. The 49ers are a 6-0 team but still beatable, while Brock Purdy is now the NFL’s all-time passing leader; I’ll take that. He can get back into the MVP conversation later. The 49ers won, the rest of the NFC West lost.

But again, as Fooch always said: a win is a win is a win. I don’t prefer this type of win to be against a 1-win Commanders team, but their backs were against the wall. They had to make right for that (dumb) tie they had last week.

Many of you noticed how I grabbed a clear shot of Mike Evans’ jersey number 5 in the 5-0 headline I had on the site. Well, how adequate is it that the 49ers are 6-0 thanks to one number 6, Malik Mustapha? Mustapha delivered that hit to stop a Commanders run and then jarred the ball loose on a possible touchdown to save the day. And here are those amazing plays in order:

If trends continue, that means if the 49ers go to 7-0, De’Zhaun Stribling did something to help the win. Don’t get too excited; I doubt Stribling will be back in a week, when we were looking like later in November/early December. So I guess the player contributing to the undefeated streak will end…

I would be saying that if there wasn’t a number 70, and that jersey belongs to Romello Height. And I think next week we’ll get another big game from him after this one. This game? Height led the team in pressures. That’s a good draft pick, I’ll say.

So if current trends continue, we may see Romello Height’s photo featured front and center.

Speaking of Height, the defensive line is getting it. They got gassed (and gashed) late, but Height and Gracen Halton both showed us that once they get Nick Bosa back, this line has a chance to be filthy. Along with those two, Mykel Williams played maybe his best game as a pro. The 49ers have some youngsters on the defensive line that are developing nicely.

I also want to call out the officiating: it was trash for both sides. That officiating crew looked way over their heads during that game with their calls (including letting Fred Warner get away with that hit). That illegal contact penalty towards the end was absolute garbage—and predictable before the ball was snapped—only highlighted more by how long it took them to figure out what the penalty was. But good teams overcome bad officiating.

Still, you know it’s ridiculous when you can predict something stupid like this is coming on fourth down:

Again, the 49ers and the Commanders both got hosed by the officiating crew. It was near-embarrassing.

Hopefully the 49ers get Nick Bosa back next week. They have the Atlanta Falcons, then a much-needed bye. And then add more pieces and just. stay. healthy!

But we don’t need to worry about that right now. Right now, the 49ers are undefeated at 6-0, have a three-game lead in the NFC West, and are doing this not healthy. This team is only going to get better.