The 49ers won in a thrilling, yet somewhat alarming way Sunday, as they went to Detroit to face the Lions and wound up victorious with a 41-33 final score.
During the first quarter and a half of the game, the Lions kept it fairly close, losing only 14-10, but the 49ers pulled away in the second and third quarters, leading 38-10 at one point.
In fact, with just under six minutes remaining, the 49ers led by 24 points, but a collapse, influenced by multiple defensive injuries, gave the Lions a chance to tie the game, as they reached the SF 24 yard line down just eight points, but failed to score.
After the game, George Kittle shared the lesson that he and the team learned from this surprisingly close win, speaking to the level of talent in the NFL.
"Well, winning in the NFL is really hard to do," Kittle told reporters after the game. "I mean, today's game was a perfect example of that. Up three or however many scores we were up, and you take your foot off the gas for 30 seconds, and the next thing you know, they just scored 16 points, and they're one score away."
While the tight end acknowledged that the game didn't necessarily hurt them in the standings, it was a good calling card for the team.
"It's one of those lessons where we're lucky that it didn't end up burning us in the end, but I think it was a good kind of shock to the whole team," Kittle continued. "It's a great lesson for the young guys about how the NFL is difficult. There's not really any bad teams, and there's talent all over the field. And if you take your foot off the gas, anybody can win the football games. I think it was a great lesson for us to learn.
"A win's a win, so I feel great about that, but I would have rather won by a couple of more scores. That's just hats off to them for not giving up. They're going to give people fits all year long, and they're going to win a lot of games just because of how hard they play every single play."
After a crazy finish to this game, the 49ers travel to Philadelphia, who beat the Atlanta Falcons 32-6 in their season opener, for their Week 2 matchup before coming home for a two-game stretch.
Will we see another crazy-close game or will there be some room for margin from either team?