The San Francisco 49ers are officially on a winning streak. Robbie Gould's walk-off 45-yard field goal gave the 49ers their third-straight victory, a 25-23 victory over the Tennessee Titans in Week 15. Gould drilled six field goals on the day and Jimmy Garoppolo set a career-high with 381 passing yards.
Here are the top takeaways from a thriller at Levi's® Stadium as the 49ers improved to 4-10 this season.
1. Gould has had ice in his veins over the last three weeks. The kicker has 15 made field goals during that time span and set a career-high with six makes on Sunday. Gould was good from 38, 48, 28, 50, 48 and 45 yards. He now has two game-winners over the last three weeks with the other coming against the Chicago Bears.
Gould became just the second kicker in NFL history to record three games with at least five made field goals in the same season. His 36 made field goals in 2017 are also a career high.
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2.** What is there to say about Garoppolo that you don't already know? He's the real deal and is now 3-0 as the 49ers starting quarterback. He led two separate go-ahead scoring drives in the fourth quarter. Garoppolo has made the 49ers offense a resilient group with the belief that they can move the ball no matter the situation. San Francisco posted 414 total yards against a Titans defense that entered the game ranked 10th in the NFL.
On the game's final drive, the 49ers got the ball back with one timeout and 1:07 left on the clock, trailing by a point. It took just three plays for San Francisco to reach field-goal range. Garoppolo started with a 7-yard pass to Trent Taylor. George Kittle followed with a 24-yard catch-and-run to the Titans 44-yard line. Then it was Marquise Goodwin's turn with a 14-yard reception. The 49ers worked the clock from there and gave Gould a chance to win it as time expired.
Garoppolo's 1,008 passing yards through three starts with the 49ers are the most in franchise history.
3. Garoppolo completed passes to eight different receivers. Goodwin continues to be Garoppolo's go-to guy with a career-high 10 receptions for 114 yards. Kendrick Bourne also checked in with four receptions for 85 yards, both of which are career highs. Garrett Celek chipped in with three receptions for 63 yards and the 49ers lone touchdown. Garoppolo found Celek all alone in the end zone for a 5-yard TD pass. Kittle caught four passes for 52 yards, including the huge 24-yarder on the game-winning drive. Trent Taylor posted four receptions for 40 yards.
4. The ground game never got going for San Francisco. Pierre Garçon was limited to 25 yards on 16 carries. Matt Breida mustered just 16 yards on five carries. It was clear that the Titans were selling out to stop the run.
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5.** San Francisco's defense was on fire to start the game, but the flood gates opened near halftime. Tennessee ripped off a six-play, 79-yard touchdown drive that took just 1:08 towards the end of the second quarter. The Titans later rattled off a 12-play, 84-yard touchdown drive that capped a 17-0 scoring run.
However, the 49ers came up clutch in a few big moments. San Francisco got a huge stop in the fourth quarter with the team trailing 22-20. They later stopped Tennessee on 3rd-and-short to save time at the end of the game. Had the 49ers allowed one more first down at the end of the game, Tennessee would have been able to try a game-winning field goal with no time left on the clock. Instead, San Francisco had its chance to answer Ryan Succop's go-ahead field goal.
DeForest Buckner split a sack with Garrett Celek and registered a team-high nine tackles. He also had a sack wiped away due to a penalty.
6. Goodwin now has 897 receiving yards this season and needs just 103 yards over his final two games in order to notch his first-career 1,000-yard season. The way he's clicking with Garoppolo right now, it seems like that milestone is well within reach. He'll be tested against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Rams to close the season, though.
7. The 49ers won the turnover battle 1-0. San Francisco's lone takeaway came when Brock Coyle forced a fumble of Titans tight end Delanie Walker and Adrian Colbert recovered the loose ball.
8. Marcus Mariota finished the game with 241 passing yards and two touchdowns. Rishard Matthews caught six passes for 95 yards and a touchdown. Delanie Walker caught the other score with five total receptions for 37 yards. DeMarco Murray was limited to just 59 yards on 18 carries.
