San Francisco 49ers: Grading the Week 15 Win

What a rebound! I think it's safe to say that your San Francisco 49ers are for real after all.

Fluke loss against Arizona notwithstanding, the Niners are 11-3 and a smidge ahead of the New Orleans Saints for the essential No. 2 seed in the NFC.

The boys in red and gold dodged a lingering injury to star linebacker Patrick Willis, a couple power outages and the pressure of the national stage by absolutely laying the smackdown on perennial Super Bowl contenders in the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In the 20-3 romp, the 49ers defense cemented itself as the scariest in the league and anyone named "Smith" played out of his mind. 

This should put to rest any doubts that people may have about the 49ers being a legit title contender. The Steelers are no New Orleans, but they are damn good. And even a banged-up Ben Roethlisberger is better than most quarterbacks.

But in an NFL week that proved Green Bay isn't immortal, the Niners made a huge statement in using sacks, interceptions and a finally-effective offensive game plan to unseat the defending AFC champions.

Here's my Week 15 report card for the 49ers' big win. 

Passing Game: A-

I don't think Alex Smith's 86.4 passer rating really does any justice to the type of game he played on Monday night. His numbers were underwhelming but very effective, like usual.

Going 18-31 with 187 yards, one touchdown and no picks isn't going to get him a Pro Bowl vote (despite what Jim Harbaugh says), but it will get him a huge win over an elite opponent. And it did.

He still needs to work on the touch on his deep pass, but he looked great in the pocket and made a lot of good throws when they really needed a conversion. Smith's pass to Vernon Davis that went for a big chunk of yardage in the second half was picture-perfect.

And I can't give him enough credit for engineering the big drive that finally resulted in us scoring in the red zone. Overall, I was very impressed with Smith's performance, and when I hit the town after the game reppin' my No. 11 jersey, I got no less than 10 high fives at each bar.

People finally love Smith here in the Bay Area—and rightfully so. One last note for the passing game; this may be the first time since I learned how to walk that Smith didn't wake up after a game with the need for a two-hour, deep tissue massage.

Zero sacks! Hallelujah!

Running Game: A-

The running game was Frank Gore against the Steelers. More so than usual anyway. Kendall Hunter, Anthony Dixon and company didn't really see the ball much. But Gore had a pretty productive day, racking up 65 yards on 18 carries.

And of course, the big touchdown in the red zone to put the game away in the fourth quarter. The offensive line did a great job blocking for Gore, who not only was effective, but more importantly, he was healthy before, during and after the contest.

That's huge for the 49ers' postseason hopes. If they expect to contend come January, they can't do it without Gore being fresh.

Overall, big props to the offense for breaking the red-zone spell, improving (albeit just a little bit) on third downs, and for putting up 20 on the Pittsburgh defense.

And a big, fat, sloppy thank you kiss to the entire offensive line, which played a stellar game.

Front 7: A

Another impressive performance by the defensive line and linebackers.

How's this for elite: 84 yards rushing, no more than 64 by one given rusher, another game without allowing a rushing touchdown, three sacks, plus being the integral part of a defense that just held a very dangerous offense to a field goal.

Me likey. My boy Aldon Smith may have added a bit of heat to the Defensive Rookie of the Year race with his 2.5-sack performance. If Denver's Von Miller wasn't sweating already, he should be now. Smith is an absolute beast getting to the quarterback, and it amazes me that this young kid can just bulldoze huge offensive linemen who have been in the game for years.

Justin Smith had himself a great game, putting pressure on Roethlisberger from the first snap to the final whistle and recovering a huge fumble.

NaVorro Bowman had another big game, leading the team with seven tackles. And Larry Grant did another respectable job filling in for Patrick Willis.

Secondary: B+

Yes, Big Ben threw for 330 yards, but you know what? The Steelers scored three points, even with all those speedy receivers. The reason was the ball-hawking insanity of the DBs. Three interceptions will ruin most games for a team.

You've got to love the 49ers taking advantage of every opportunity they got on a badly thrown ball. The regulars each added a tally to their interception total, as Dashon Goldson and Carlos Rogers picked off Roethlisberger. And Tarell Brown made a surprise appearance on the stat sheet, too.

Overall, the secondary did a good job on Monday. A lot of the yardage for the Steelers' passing game came on shorter passes that turned in to an extra 10 yards on a catch-and-run. And there were a couple bad, open-field misses on tackles (including a very surprising one by Goldson early on). 

Other than that, this unit played extremely well. And while the Steelers don't have the offensive firepower of a Saints or Packers team, this performance gives me confidence that the secondary could hang with a better squad in the playoffs if need be.

Special Teams: A

If you've been a regular reader of my report cards, you might be tired of my constant Tebow-like worshipping for our kicking game. But damn they deserve it.

Akers kicked another field goal last night to break the 49ers' franchise record for points in a season, formerly held by a pretty decent receiver. Ever heard of Jerry Rice? 

And if Andy Lee doesn't get the NFC Pro Bowl nod, we have the world's biggest snub since the Red Hot Chili Peppers didn't put "By The Way" on their Greatest Hits album. Against the Steelers, he punted six times for an average of 47.5 yards each time, almost a full 10 yards better than Pittsburgh's punter Jeremy Kapinos.

Lee dropped four of those six punts inside the 20, and the coverage team did a fantastic job keeping Antonio Brown contained. He had decent but uneventful returns on kickoffs, but how about this to bring a smile to the coaches' faces: On the two punts that Brown did return, he went a grand total of 10 yards. Backwards. That's right; minus-10 for the night!

Let's hope Ted Ginn Jr. is OK and can play on Saturday, because we are really starting to run thin on speedy, athletic receivers who can return kicks. And I like Kyle Williams way too much to see him go down with an injury next. It was nice to see Ginn Jr. walking off the field under his own power, but the injury in itself was pretty gnarly.

Coaching: A

No question, the best performance of Jim Harbaugh's NFL coaching career. The 49ers looked like a dominant winning machine just eight days removed from getting beat up by a subpar Arizona Cardinals team. 

Everything went right—the mix of play-calling, the improvement in red-zone scoring, the impenetrable defense.

This really is proof that Harbaugh has a ton of pull with the players, and they have great relationships. The Niners could have hung their heads and laid a stinker on national television. Instead, they won. No, they demolished. 

It's the kind of resolve that a winning team needs in the playoffs, because nothing will come easy in the ice of Lambeau Field or the bright lights of a Super Bowl.

Overall: A-

This was about as close to perfect as we could have played. Alex Smith could definitely have made a couple better throws in certain situations, but I have no complaints about his play. And the running game was a little slow to get going but definitely geared it up at the end.

It was great to see Vernon Davis get involved more, including on a few long passes and seeing him wide open in the end zone on the touchdown pass. The front seven was incredible as usual, and the secondary played a really good game even if the number of yards looks bad.

Most importantly, the coaches were able to pump this team up for a huge game and come out with a really important W. Now, the second seed is theirs to lose, and with two big road division games coming up to close out the season, the Niners need to stay on that A-game and lock up the first-round bye.

Here's to beating the Seahawks in Seattle on Saturday and coasting past St. Louis into the playoffs!