The San Francisco 49ers danced their way to a win in Week 10 on the road against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Kicker Jake Moody, who had not played in a month because of an injured ankle, missed three field goals on Sunday. To his credit, he entered this matchup 13-of-14, but it took some late-game heroics to redeem himself, if only barely. With time expiring, Moody connected on a 44-yard field goal to win the game, 23-20 for the 49ers, making it extra interesting by nearly scraping through the uprights.
Moody made field goals of 28, 33 and 44 yards. He missed from 49, 50 and 44 yards.
ESPN's Benjamin Solak put Moody on blast before his eventual game-winner.
Another Niners fan was a little more to the point with his analysis of Moody.
“Get this loser off my team.”
Luckily, it all worked out in the end. The 49ers improved to 5-4 on the season and are now the No. 8 playoff seed in the NFC, just shy of making the postseason if the playoffs started today. San Francisco has a 65% chance of making the playoffs. Tampa Bay dropped to 4-6, becoming the NFC's No. 12 seed. The Bucs have a 33% chance to make the postseason.
49ers earn critical road win
Fans are quick to forget that San Francisco was a streaky team last year. They started 5-0 but promptly lost three games before their Week 9 bye. They then won six more straight games before returning to Earth in Week 16 because of a 33-19 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The 49ers lost two of their last three games to close out the regular season.
While 2024 hasn't been as streaky, inconsistencies have been brought about by injuries, close calls and fourth-quarter collapses. But teams can galvanize around narratives, especially after gritty wins. The 49ers are now on their first win streak of the season. Coming off their Week 9 bye, they found a way to win against the Buccaneers on the road in a game that likely had them at their wit's end at times.
For example, the 49ers committed three straight defensive penalties on the Bucs' final drive with less than two minutes to play. Penalties by Fred Warner (facemask), Maliek Collins (roughing the passer) and Evan Anderson (illegal use of hands) took Tampa Bay from the San Francisco 47-yard line to 1st and goal at 8-yard line. The Bucs equalized the score 20-20, thanks to a Chase McLaughlin 26-yarder with less than a minute to play.
Yet, with 0:41 left on the clock, the 49ers were able to advance to the Bucs' 26-yard line for Moody's eventual game-winner. It wasn't pretty, like whatever Deebo Samuel is doing here to long snapper Taybor Pepper, but the 49ers got it done.
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