Absolutely Epic

For the first time this season, the San Francisco 49ers found themselves in a shootout, fittingly against Drew Brees and the high-powered New Orleans Saints.

In a game with major NFC playoff implications, the Niners had just enough firepower to hold off New Orleans and leave the Superdome with a scintillating 48-46 victory. The win was San Francisco’s first in New Orleans since 2014, and it gave the Niners their first 11-win season since 2013 and their best start through 13 games since 1997.

San Francisco kicker Robbie Gould booted a 30-yard field goal as the clock expired to send the Niners to victory. The kick came after a 39-yard completion to tight end George Kittle plus a face mask penalty on Marcus Williams.

On fourth-and-2 from San Francisco’s 33, Kittle ran an option route, beat a would-be tackler and dragged Williams, who held on to Kittle’s facemask for much of the run, to the Saints’ 28-yard line. Kittle’s 36 yards after contact were the most on a catch in his career.

“That was as cool of a game as I’ve been a part of,” Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said. “A lot of emotions back and forth. It’ll probably hit me a little bit harder when I get on the plane. The guys just kept battling. … I thought I was going to have to call a number of more plays to get into field goal range, but Kittle took care of it fast, which probably saved a few years of my life.”

The combined 94 points were the most in a regular-season game between 10-win teams in NFL history, according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau. It also made for the highest-scoring 49ers-Saints game in the history of the two teams’ meetings, per ESPN Stats & Information research.

Sunday’s game was San Francisco’s third straight against a team with an .800 or better winning percentage, making the Niners the first team to play that many in a row this late in the season in the Super Bowl era. They came through it 2-1, with the lone loss coming on a last-second field goal last week against Baltimore.

“This game meant a lot,” quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo said. “It was a big one for us. It was a big game. These two in a row, they were playoff-atmosphere games, so I think that will serve us well going forward.”

For the 10-3 Saints, the loss removes them from the top seat in the NFC playoff picture and tosses them into a jumbled mess that includes the Niners, Packers, Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings. New Orleans has already clinched the NFC South division but is competing for a first-round bye and, potentially, the top seed in the NFC. While New Orleans holds the tiebreaker against Seattle, it now doesn’t have one against the 49ers and Packers.

The Niners had to conjure their most resilient performance in a game that featured fireworks right from the start. In addition to the 94 combined points, the two sides combined for 981 yards of total offense and 53 first downs while averaging a whopping 7.5 yards per play.

After a wild first half that saw the teams combine for 55 points and 581 yards — the first time two teams had that many combined points and yards in the first half since Week 8 of 2014 — the Niners’ defense settled in just enough in the second half, limiting the Saints to field goals instead of touchdowns and forcing the first lost fumble for New Orleans this season. The San Francisco offense, meanwhile, continued to roll.

The high-caliber football played Sunday should have been no surprise, given that it was only the fifth game between two teams with two or fewer losses this late in the season in the past 35 years.