The 49ers are riding a three-game winning streak into their bye week after beating the Browns 26-8 in windy Cleveland on Sunday.
It was a tight game through the first two quarters, but San Francisco held the Browns scoreless in the second half to secure a road win on a short week.
The cold and wind kept the offense muted for both teams, but the Niners capitalized on two Cleveland fumbles to help secure the win.
Brock Purdy was 16-of-29 passing for 168 yards and a touchdown to Jauan Jennings in the fourth quarter.
Christian McCaffrey led the 49ers with 53 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries as the Browns loaded up against the run. Brian Robinson chipped in 26 yards on eight rushes and Purdy (2 rushes, 4 yards) scored from 2 yards out.
George Kittle was the Niners’ top receiver with 67 yards on four catches, including a 33-yarder that set up a field goal just before halftime. Jennings had four catches for 39 yards and McCaffrey matched their catch total for 21 yards. Kyle Juszczyk had two catches for 27 yards.
Kyle Shanahan
On the game:
This is actually kind of how we expected today to go. We were really hoping we could get some turnovers and not turn it over on offense. We were hoping for some big plays on special teams. We got the huge one with Sky on the return
On Purdy’s toe:
The week he came back, it was 100% and we haven’t been worried about it since. … You can do boots and he does those fine. Anytime he runs, he’s doing all right.
On whether Purdy was wearing a steel plate:
Those are questions I don’t ask him, so I’m not sure he did.
On Purdy’s TD dance:
He told us he was going to do that if he scored, told the team, so he had pressure on him to do it, so he couldn’t let them down.
On being aggressive on the final drive of the first half:
We were almost not going to go for it, just going into the wind like that with 30-something seconds left, the odds with their pass rush making something bad happened seemed a little bit higher than going on to score, but Ricky made that big third down, got us down there, got us down there throwing that go route in the wind like that.
On the defense:
I thought the D was setting the tone all day, really. They got that one score off a double move, I think they ran it nine plays in a row and set it up. Every drive after that I thought our D was real good. We made some adjustments at halftime, did better in the run game, I thought in the second half, and fourth down is as good as turnovers when you stop them.
On Clelin Ferrell:
He’s done a hell of a job. I mean, we loved him here a couple of years ago when we had him, and he’s been the same guy. He’s given us a lot of juice.
On Myles Garrett:
He’s a challenge. I mean, he’s someone you’re thinking about on every play. You think about him throughout the week when you’re trying to game plan. He moved around a lot more than usual today, which made it a little bit tougher. We weren’t perfect against him, but I was proud of the guys, how we handled them.
On his team entering the bye:
I love where we’re at right now. It’s been a long wait for a bye week — I’ve never had one this late, I don’t know anyone on our team who has. It’s finally here, mentally and physically it will be awesome to rest and come back from that with four games to play for a chance to play in the playoffs is everything we could ask for.
On special teams success:
They have been a weapon at least this past month in both returns, whether it’s a kick return or a punt return. We made some big plays in that and we made some big plays in some important times, too.
George Kittle
On his key catch late in the first half:
The guy was playing outside leverage, which is usually not a good thing but he just kind of opened the gate. Brock threw that into some hard wind and I was really happy, he just gave me an opp on it. I think if there was no wind, that was an easy touchdown.
On Matt Gay:
How about Matt? Just stepped up and made every kick that we’ve needed him to since Eddy’s been out.
On the bye:
I think it’ll be great for everybody, every single person. When you’re at this part of the season, if you’re 100% healthy, then you’re probably not playing the game the right way.
Brock Purdy
On the last drive before half:
We needed some momentum and obviously we’re trying to be smart but within that, there’s the game of, I got to be aggressive and go for our matchup when we get it and in our opportunity to push the chains and move the ball down the field.
On his interaction with Myles Garrett:
We just had a keeper bootleg and I rolled out and he was right there. I was like ‘Oh man’, so I threw the ball away. He’s like ‘Come on, bro.”
On his touchdown dance:
I’ve always been able to Dougie, I just haven’t done it publicly. My wife, she can tell you, I annoy her in the kitchen.
On the remaining schedule:
Every game is so huge. You got to find momentum throughout every game. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past, good or bad, it’s about the next game. We’re obviously 9-4, we got the bye, which is great for us to heal up and feel good. But we got to have the same mindset come the end of next week.
On the weather:
Yesterday we got here and there was snow all over, or two days ago. And then yesterday it was snowing late at night. So I woke up this morning, I was like ‘It is what it is, we just got to find a way to win.’
Christian McCaffrey
On the team’s bye week:
I can’t believe it’s here. I felt like for a while it just wasn’t going to come. So yeah, it’s nice to get some rest.
On the team at the bye week:
I love our character, I love our urgency and I like where we’re at.
On the matchup with the Browns:
We knew it was going to be a grimy game, so for the defense and the special teams to step up and put us in a really good position was awesome.
On Skyy Moore:
Any time he gets the ball, I love the way he hits it. He’s built for this team. He plays with zero hesitation, and it’s good to see him start to break some of these long ones.
Clelin Ferrell
On his return to the 49ers:
For me, it’s just not taking it for granted. When I came back, this team was right in the thick of it. The biggest reason why I came back here was because I wanted to win, so I’m just thankful for my teammates, coaches, everybody in the building just helped me get prepared and be ready for the moment.
On whether he was vindicated by the sack after being inactive earlier this season:
I wouldn’t say vindication. I’m not owed anything from this team.
On the team overcoming injuries:
From my perspective, being new, this team didn’t listen to any other noise. I think the biggest word is belief. Regardless of who’s in there, I think that this team really just shows we have a lot of good players that can really, really play.
On whether he’s peaking:
We shall see, right? I’m just trying to stick to my process. At the end of the day, if you focus on results, you always let yourself down. Just focus on the process and I think the process really paid off today.
On d-line coach Kris Kocurek:
Kris just always tells us he believes in us and that’s all a player sometimes really needs to go out there and have the confidence to really cut it loose. I think for someone like myself, definitely being in a young group, he just really emphasized, like ‘We got this; let’s take this game over.’
