Chapter 946: A Dull Victory

As the commentator said, maybe some people had predicted the outcome, but no one had expected it to happen this way. No one had expected the beginning, the process, or the ending. Even a Hollywood screenwriter wouldn’t dare to write a script like this, because the audience wouldn’t want to watch it. It was incredibly ugly! Even two rookies fighting each other would be more entertaining than this!

When the referee blew the whistle to confirm the touchdown, even Ted Ginn was a little confused. After a moment of cheering, he just stood there, not knowing what he was celebrating.

The entire offense, defense, and special teams of the San Francisco 49ers were the same. This victory... was simply indescribable and mixed with emotions. Only the coaching staff was celebrating. They didn’t care about the process, only the result. In the end, they won the game and completed a season sweep of the St. Louis Rams, and that was the most important thing.

A victory is a victory, whether it’s brilliant or ugly. A victory is still different from a loss.

This season, the St. Louis Rams were still one of the best teams in their division. They swept the Arizona Cardinals and defeated the Seattle Seahawks at home, but they were swept by the 49ers. For the Rams, this was undoubtedly a huge frustration.

For the 49ers, escaping a road game with a win was a huge relief. In an extremely bad state, they not only maintained their undefeated record in the division but also their undefeated record in the league. This also gave the team’s locker room another week to adjust.

"Ladies and gentlemen, whoa, please let us calm down for a moment. Ladies and gentlemen, in Week 13 of the regular season, the game between the San Francisco 49ers and the St. Louis Rams has just ended. The referee has blown the final whistle. Obviously, none of us expected this game to end with a game-winning touchdown in the final moments of overtime! It was thrilling, truly thrilling!"

"In the end, the final score was 12-6. The San Francisco 49ers, with a last-minute touchdown pass, with Lu Ke’s signature long pass, found Ginn, who had a flash of brilliance and completed the touchdown, defeating their division rival on the road and extending their winning streak to 12 games this season."

"With this victory, the San Francisco 49ers have officially clinched the number one spot in the NFC West. Their division rival, the Seattle Seahawks, only has a 7-5 record. With only four games left in the season, the top spot is officially locked. The 49ers have made it to the playoffs for the second consecutive year and are now a strong contender for the number one seed in the NFC."

"For the San Francisco 49ers, after eight years of being in a slump, being a top team in the league for two consecutive years and making it to the playoffs for two consecutive years is undoubtedly something to celebrate. Based on their overall performance this season, they have also become the most favorable contender for the Super Bowl."

"Congratulations! This is something to celebrate! But this doesn’t mean that everything is fine!"

"The victory is not surprising. Strictly speaking, before this game, the San Francisco 49ers were still the favorite. But the way they won was a complete surprise. What exactly is the reason for this is what the 49ers must figure out in the coming week."

"As December begins, the regular season is coming to an end. Now, all 32 teams are fighting for a playoff spot. The 49ers’ next four opponents, the Miami Dolphins and the Arizona Cardinals, have already been eliminated from the playoffs. But the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots are strong contenders for a playoff spot, which means that the games will definitely not be easy. Even the Dolphins and the Cardinals won’t give up easily."

"The San Francisco 49ers have shown obvious signs of fatigue. If they can’t get back on track, the matchups in the playoffs will be very, very difficult for this young team."

"The question now is, what’s wrong with the San Francisco 49ers?"

Anyone with a good eye could see that in the game against the St. Louis Rams, the 49ers were stumbling and fumbling. They were on the brink of losing several times. And it wasn’t just the defense’s performance that had its ups and downs; the offense’s performance was also far from satisfying.

With such a terrible performance, the fact that they could still win the game was not because of their superior strength but because they were lucky.

So, what’s wrong with the San Francisco 49ers?

In fact, everyone on the team knew the answer, but even Willis, Akers, Brooks, and Lu Ke were at a loss.

They had been trying. On the practice field, in the locker room, and at home, they had been trying to resolve the awkward atmosphere in the team through face-to-face communication. But... everyone said, "It’s fine," everyone said, "I don’t mind," and everyone said, "That’s in the past." It seemed like everything was already over, but the situation was still at a standstill.

This made Lu Ke start to wonder if it would have been better if he hadn’t tried to control the locker room at all and just let all the players fight it out and vent their anger. Would that have been a simpler and faster solution? Or would it have created an unfixable conflict?

But that’s just a "what if." They had no way of knowing now.

Every day in a professional team is very busy. Not to mention Lu Ke, the practice fanatic, even a normal player’s daily training is no exception. From field practice to tactical meetings to gym training, their entire schedule is packed. The locker room problem couldn’t seem to find a good time to be resolved, and another week passed by again.

On December 9, the San Francisco 49ers returned home to face the Miami Dolphins.

In the 21st century, when you mention the Miami Dolphins, with the rise of the New England Patriots, it seems like they were just a team in the AFC East that was there to make up the numbers. They only made it to the playoffs three times, in 2000, 2001, and 2008, but they never made it far. All of their glory was stolen by their division rival.

But in reality, they are one of the most historically rich teams in the league.

Founded in 1965 and joining the league in 1966, the Miami Dolphins were one of the first teams to join the NFL after the merger. They had a glorious time in the 1970s, becoming the first team to make it to the Super Bowl for three consecutive years and winning two Super Bowl championships in 1972 and 1973.

They once had one of the greatest coaches in league history, Don Shula, who coached the team for 25 years, from 1970 to 1995. Shula created countless league records here until Bill Belichick slowly broke them one by one.

They also had one of the greatest quarterbacks in league history, Dan Marino. Although Marino never won a Super Bowl ring, he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer after he retired and is still the most respected quarterback in the Miami Dolphins’ history, a feat that even the team’s two Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks can’t compare to.

More importantly, in 1972, the Miami Dolphins became the only team in history to have a perfect regular season and win the Super Bowl. To this day, no team has been able to replicate this miracle.

Of course, back then, the regular season only had 14 games. Later, the league changed the rules, and the regular season became 16 games. For more than 30 years, only the New England Patriots in 2007 were able to complete a perfect regular season. But everyone knows the outcome of that year’s Super Bowl. The Patriots, who were called the "Galactic Battleship," were unable to replicate the Miami Dolphins’ glory in 1972.

Undoubtedly, the Miami Dolphins are still one of the most historic teams in the league. The weapon that has allowed them to stay strong in the league is their offense. The team currently has nine Hall of Fame players, eight of whom are from the offense. They have a long and proud offensive tradition.

However, the entire NFL knows that good quarterbacks are hard to find, and dynasty quarterbacks are even rarer. Ever since Dan Marino chose to retire in 1999, the Miami Dolphins have been on a long journey to find a quarterback. In the process, they have been up and down. You can see it from their record in the past 13 years.

Marino was a 27th overall pick in the first round by the Miami Dolphins, which made the Dolphins believe that they could always find the right quarterback with the right draft pick. In this year’s draft, the Dolphins used their eighth overall pick in the first round to draft quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

This was the first time in 30 years since they drafted Marino in 1983 that the Dolphins had used a first-round pick on a quarterback, which shows how much the team was expecting from Tannehill.

After the season began and before the preseason started, Tannehill was named the starting quarterback. His performance was not disappointing, but it also didn’t meet expectations.

In Week 4 of the regular season against the Arizona Cardinals, Tannehill broke Marino’s record for most passing yards in a single game by a rookie quarterback. He was also only one yard short of Cam Newton’s record for most passing yards in a single game by a rookie quarterback from last year. With one touchdown and two interceptions, the Dolphins lost to the Cardinals in overtime.

In addition, Tannehill also broke Pat White’s record for the longest single run by a quarterback from 2009. The record was 30 yards, and Tannehill ran for 31 yards, taking that record for himself.

However, overall, Tannehill’s interception numbers were high. So far, he has thrown seven touchdowns and eight interceptions. Although he also has two rushing touchdowns, his overall stats are still not very satisfying. But this is the price of a rookie quarterback’s growth.

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