Rest of the NFC West, Week 12: 49ers do Seahawks a favor by toppling Vikings

In a week that saw a number of results across the NFL go the Seattle Seahawks’ way, the San Francisco 49ers delivered one of the most important in their 34-26 defeat of the Vikings, which dropped Minnesota to 5-6 on the season. While the Cardinals sat on the bye, the Rams made things a lot harder for themselves in their quest to catch up with Arizona by dropping their third straight game, this time to Green Bay at Lambeau.

49ers continue hot streak, down Vikings 34-26

I can’t believe I’m saying it, but the 49ers are above .500. Just a few weeks ago, this team seemed to be destined for another early offseason, but San Francisco has now won 4 of 5 and put themselves into playoff position in the NFC Wild Card race. Whether or not they will hold this spot, of course, remains to be seen (three of their final six games are against teams over .500), but for now, things seem to be all right in San Francisco.

The 49ers got back to their old ways against Minnesota, giving the lead back, Elijah Mitchell, 27 carries. Mitchell turned these carries into 133 yards. The team rushed for 208 yards as a whole. Getting back to this identity will be important for the 49ers moving forward, as evidenced by Jimmy Garoppolo’s mediocre play against Minnesota nearly costing them the game.

Elsewhere on offense Deebo Samuel continues to be an excellent weapon (with 66 yards rushing in this game and a couple of touchdowns), and Brandon Aiyuk is showing flashes (3 rec, 91 yards). This team will never be scary as long as they have Jimmy G under center (and a defense considerably worse than 2019’s), but look out for the 49ers potentially ending the Seahawks’ season next Sunday.

Rams continue to slide, lose to Packers at Lambeau 36-28

Behold! The Packers have discovered how to beat the Rams: don’t let Cooper Kupp go insane all over you defense!

The stats for Kupp (7 rec, 96 yards) are misleading: many of those yards came on a garbage time drive late in the game, and for the most part, Kupp wasn’t terribly involved in the Rams’ offense. However, Odell Beckham did finally show up, getting his first touchdown of the season to go along with 81 receiving yards. When those two and Woods are playing well, the Rams will be almost impossible to stop. But for now, they continue to look very human.

As bad as the defense has been, perhaps the most “human” player on the Rams during this losing streak has been Matthew Stafford, who has somehow managed put up a Jameis Winston-like streak of three consecutive games throwing a pick-six. Generational stuff.

If you can believe it, the Rams are now 7-4... and just one game ahead of the 49ers (who hold the tiebreaker). Wild stuff considering how this season started out.

Standings (pre-MNF)

Arizona Cardinals - 9-2 (4-0 DIV)

Los Angeles Rams - 7-4 (1-2 DIV)

San Francisco 49ers - 6-5 (1-3 DIV)

Seattle Seahawks - 3-7 (1-2 DIV)

Next Week

Arizona Cardinals at Chicago Bears

Los Angeles Rams vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49ers