The 49ers proved that good teams can win ugly

As we approach a big Week 5 showdown against the Seattle Seahawks, let’s take a final look at the San Francisco 49ers’ 24-14 win over the Denver Broncos.

It took a bit, but the 49ers finally took control after a special teams play and then put things away with a big play from George Kittle. Denver’s defense was as advertised, but the game turned with a couple of injuries in the Denver secondary that aided a big fourth quarter from the San Francisco offense.

But the good news is, we learned something important from the 49ers: 

Good teams can win ugly

If we were to rank the 49ers’ wins from best-looking win to ugliest, I think the obvious order is:

1. at Rams
2. versus Dolphins
3. versus Cardinals
4. versus Broncos

But we learned the most about the 2026 49ers on Sunday against Denver. You don’t learn much with a blowout against a team like Miami, but against a team like the Broncos, there’s plenty to learn, and on Sunday we learned the 49ers can win ugly.

For three weeks, everything has worked perfectly for the 49ers. The offense scored at least 27 points in each of the first three games of the season, and was held without a touchdown in just three of the 12 quarters. The defense held their end of the bargain as well, allowing 13 or fewer points in two of those games.

On Sunday, the defense held Denver to only 14 points, but the offense was held without a touchdown the first two quarters, and was 4:15 away from a third. It wasn’t the type of game we’ve gotten used to so far this season from the offense and it felt like there was real struggle. 

Maybe it was the lack of receivers with Mike Evans leading the charge nowhere near 100 percent health. Maybe it was a sign of just how good the Broncos defense is (and maybe not coincidentally the offense started to work with Patrick Surtain and Riley Moss out). 

But not every win is going to walk in the park like Weeks 1 and 2. Good teams like Denver will make you earn wins, and in what was the 49ers first real test of 2026, San Francisco proved they can win ugly. 

An all-time revenge game

Revenge games have lost a little bit of meaning in recent years with how much player movement there is now. But every so often there’s a revenge game that has a personal aspect to it so there’s a little more juice to it.

That’s exactly what Dre Greenlaw went through on Sunday and he backed up his talk with his performance against his former team.

It wasn’t exactly a secret that Greenlaw didn’t enjoy his time with Denver with Sean Payton being the main reason. If you didn’t know about that beef, Greenlaw made it known pretty quickly. With Denver facing a first-and-15 inside its own 10-yard-line, Bo Nix checked down to RJ Harvey, with Greenlaw making the tackle. After the play, Greenlaw pointed at the Denver head coach and the two exchanged words.

But Greenlaw put that emotion into his play, leading the 49ers with 12 total tackles and seven solo tackles. If PFF grades are your thing, Greenlaw finished with the fourth-highest defensive grade at 68.2 with a team-high six stops.

Greenlaw then closed his day by politely telling Payton to leave his field. Sunday was an emotional game for Greenlaw, and he more than came through for the 49ers defense.

Play of the week

With limited options, one play stands out as this week’s play of the week and surprisingly enough, it comes from Siran Neal:

I mean, what a play from Neal. For a blink, it looked like Marvin Mims shook off Neal but a second effort from the specialist was just enough for Neal to grab Mims’ ankle. The 49ers benefitted from a technicality in the rule book where the wrist counts as the hand and Mims’ wrist hitting the ground was just enough to free the ball and allow Neal to recover.

The 49ers’ longest offensive drive by time up to that point was its opening drive that lasted 4:38 but resulted in a punt. On the drive following Neal’s forced fumble, the offense took 5:25 off the clock, and most importantly scored its first touchdown of the game. 21 of San Francisco’s 24 points came after the fumble.

After so many times of seeing the 49ers suffer from a game-changing special teams play, it’s nice to see the Niners be the beneficiary of one.