Predicting the Final Score of the 49ers-Commanders Game

The 49ers have little to play for, because they clinched a playoff spot last week.
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The Commanders are the closest thing the 49ers will face to a playoff team until the playoffs.

The Commanders have a top-five defense, an excellent head coach in Ron Rivera and they're the only team so far this season that has beaten the Philadelphia Eagles. And Washington didn't merely beat them. Washington went into Philly and dismissed them 32-21. That's who the 49ers are facing.

Washington will come into Santa Clara with the same confident, aggressive mindset they had in Philly. They expect to win. And they have to win, because they're fighting for a playoff spot.

The 49ers do not have to win, because they clinched a playoff spot last week. So Kyle Shanahan will have to make sure his players are up for this game.

Because Washington has the best defense the 49ers have faced all season, and certainly the best one Purdy has faced in his life. He never has faced the pressure he will face on Saturday. The 49ers must have a plan to protect him. I suggest using extra blockers -- five alone won't do. I'm talking seven and eight on passing plays.

The 49ers might have a tough time running the ball against Washington -- they won't have Deebo Samuel, plus Jordan Mason is questionable with a hamstring injury. So if Purdy has to drop back and throw for the 49ers to win, they have to make sure he doesn't take too many hits.

And the 49ers have to make sure they get the ball downfield to Brandon Aiyuk. He's their best mismatch this week against Washington's defense -- their corners can't cover him. Let him run double moves and get him the ball down the field often. The past two weeks, the 49ers have thrown him just 7 passes. He should get at least seven on Saturday.

On defense, the 49ers will have to find a way to stop Washington's trio of talented receivers -- Terry McClaurin, Curtis Samuel and Jahan Dotson. Look for those three to take turns testing Deommodore Lenoir deep to see if he panics and commits pass interference penalties.

Fishing for penalties will be Washington's most effective strategy on offense. Anything else they try probably won't work, because their quarterback isn't good enough to threaten the 49ers all-time great defense.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION: 49ers 20, Washington 10.


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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.