San Francisco 49ers Football: Winners and Losers from Niners' Win vs. Lions

In what turned out to be a closely contested game, the San Francisco 49ers continue to shock the world, as they defeated the Detroit Lions 25-19. 

Alex Smith had a shaky three and a half quarters, but threw a beautiful six-yard touchdown to Delaine Walker that put the 49ers up 21-19 with less than two minutes to go in the ball game. Walker dropped a "gimmie" touchdown in the third quarter, but more than made up for that drop with that go-ahead touchdown in the last few minutes 

Calvin Johnson had a solid game but in no way did the 49ers allow him to dominate this matchup. Stafford was solid, but for the most part, the 49ers took away the big play ability of this offense, and as I stated in a previous article, the Lions offense will struggle if this occurs. 

Here are the winners and the losers from the 49ers win against the now 5-1 Detroit Lions. 

Winner: Alex Smith

Alex Smith came through at the end despite in this game only completing a little over 53 percent of his passes. The six-yard slant to Delanie, with about three Lions players in the area, was Alex's best throw in this entire game, and it came at the most crucial point of the game. 

Statistically, Alex didn't play well, but Harbaugh has truly done wonders with the former first overall selection. 

Winner: Frank Gore

Frank Gore, in limited carries, played phenomenal football and was the true reason the 49ers left Ford Field victorious. 

Gore carried the rock 15 times for 141 yards and a touchdown. He was the entire offense up until the go-ahead touchdown in the last two minutes of the game. This is the third consecutive 100-yard performance by Frank Gore and the second consecutive game where the Niners racked up over 200 yards rushing. 

Winner: "Men in Red"

Calvin Johnson is nicknamed "Megatron," but I call Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman the "Men in Red." The 49ers, not surprisingly, held Jahvid Best to 37 yards total rushing. He was a non factor after his huge performance last week on Monday Night Football against a staunchly Bears defense. 

But the 'Men in Red' deserve praise more so for their coverage ability. Patrick Willis has made leaps and bounds in playing in coverage, and it was evident, as he had several crucial pass deflections in this contest. 

Bowman finished with eight tackles in this game and has racked up over 50 tackles for the season. 

Loser: Offensive Line

In the first possession for the 49ers, Kyle Vanden Bosch simply beat Joe Staley around the edge and striped sacked Alex Smith. The 49ers didn't perform well in pass protection, which likely affected the poor start on offense. They did, in fact, perform better towards the end of the second quarter and the second half. 

The 49ers offensive line did an excellent job run blocking in this game, but they committed far too many penalties. The offensive line committed five false start penalties in the first three quarters of the game.

The line continues to have inconsistent performances, but they did, in fact, perform better towards the end of the second quarter and into the second half. 

Winner: Tedd Ginn

Tedd Ginn is one heck of a kick/punt returner. He continually set up the 49ers offense with great field position. 

I did take issue with Ginn on that end around play that set up the 49ers for a 3rd in 1 instead of a first down. Ginn should have dived for the marker. Instead, he ran out of abounds, and the drive ended after a unsuccessful half-back toss to Kendall Hunter on 3rd in 1. 

Winner: Justin Smith/Aldon Smith

The two Smiths have played great football the last couple of weeks. It's not surprising to see Justin Smith perform this well because he's been playing at a high level for years now.

Aldon Smith, on the other hand, has quietly become a force early on his career. 

Aldon Smith recorded two sacks for the second consecutive game and has been a terror off the edge. Smith also racked up four tackles and a forced fumble in the Niners' win against the Lions.