Week 14 of the NFL season is here, and the NFC East race for a division winner appears to be down to two teams. The Washington Football Team and the New York Giants are the favorites to battle it out and ultimately win the division and host a playoff game. Just a few weeks ago, that way of thinking would have classified as insanity. Things have changed; however, the long-standing franchises have been well coached and emerging as two of the NFL’s hottest teams.
For Washington, an improbable win on Monday against the previously undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers now has them viewed as an up-and-coming unit that’s currently playing with house money. Under coach Ron Rivera’s tutelage, Washington has surpassed their win total of three games last season to five and counting this year. They have a chance to do in Rivera’s first year at the helm what his previous predecessors of Jay Gruden and Mike Shanahan did just once in both of their five seasons as Washington’s coach, and that was to make the playoffs.
Washington’s magical turnaround continues this week against a familiar foe in Kyle Shanahan’s San Francisco 49ers. The game will be played in Arizona at State Farm Stadium due to COVID-19 measures put in place by the City of Santa Clara, where the 49ers’ home Levi Stadium sits.
Washington sports a record of 5-7 and needs to add to their season-best three-game winning streak to keep pace with the Giants (5-7).
While speaking to team media via his Zoom conference call, Rivera talked about how his team not having a lull this week against San Francisco is essential.
“Well, that’s one of the things I was concerned with this morning, when we first started practice,” Rivera said. “I know you guys saw me huddling them up really quick beforehand. It’s a little something I learned with talking to John Madden. After big wins, you can’t pick up where you left off. You just can’t because if you do, you’re going to miss the little details. I told the guys we have to pay attention to the little things, we have to pay attention to the details, start from the bottom and prepare ourselves for this week’s game. I told them: ‘Hey, congratulations on last week, but let’s focus in on this week. We’ve got to get past it.’ That was honestly one of my concerns that we might have a little bit of a hangover. We’re trying to get these guys past that and get them to understand that what we did, how we played Monday night, doesn’t guarantee we’re going to do it again this week. We’ve got to do it how we did the previous week. We’ve got to practice, prepare and get ourselves ready to go out and play.”
In the team’s last contest on October 20, 2019, at a rain-soaked FedEx Field, Washington was defeated by the 49ers 9-0.
Sunday’s game marks the 34th time in franchise history the two teams will play each other. San Francisco leads the all-time series 21-11-1, dating back to 1952.
What would a win over the 49ers do for the Washington Football Team from a statistical and historical standpoint?
A win over San Francisco would be Washington’s first against the 49ers since the 2017 season.
A ‘W’ would mark Washington’s first time defeating the 49ers on the road since December 18, 2004.
A win would improve Rivera’s record against San Francisco to 4-1.
Beating the 49ers would give Washington their first four-game winning streak since Weeks 3-6 of the 2016 season.
Leaving State Farm Stadium victorious would mark the first time Washington has won three consecutive road games since the 2015 season.
Finally, a win would improve Washington’s record to 6-7 and keep them at worst tied atop the NFC East division.
