What an outstanding afternoon of football. As the 49ers have been playing meaningful games in December these last 2 years, I've been constantly thinking how much more fun this is than worrying about which top 10 draft position they will end up with.
Obviously the win was great, if not unexpected. But the icing on the cake was the exercise in amazing football that was Packers/Vikings. Rooting for the Vikings is never fun for me, but if I had to do it, I couldn't have chosen a better game in which to do so. Back and forth the whole way, Peterson chasing an uncatchable record, Rodgers making you shake your head and wonder how the hell it's even possible to throw a football that way...it was just so amazing.
That feeling of rooting for a playoff outcome for our team is something we have definitely earned the hard way over a decade of misery and failure. When Walsh's kick juuuuuust grazed inside the right upright it was the kind of moment that makes you realize why sports kick so much ass. They are really really fun to watch sometimes. Other times you're watching your team lose by 30 to ass-face mcgee on national television, and you realize that it would be a lot more fun to not care about sports. That's what makes days like today that much sweeter, though. We DO care, and we're rewarded with experiences like this.
The week off is really really big for this team. All the injuries have forced new guys into the lineup, and one more week of preparation will do nothing but help them. It might even get J. Smith healthy enough to play. The defense looks completely lost without him. Aldon Smith is a shell of himself without a dominating inside presence. Very worrying for when they have to face teams with actual NFL offenses.
Either way, I'm once again just really really happy to be watching my team playing meaningful games in January again. They will have a reasonable-to-very-good chance at beating any of their potential opponents at home, but I'm rooting for a Seattle rematch. That game sucked. Let's wipe that goddamn smirk of Pete's face.
