Things that go bump in the night: Ghosts, werewolves and … the 49ers?
After their dominant 31-14 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at SoFi Stadium, ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky certainly thinks so.
The former NFL quarterback ranked the league’s top five scariest teams Monday on “First Take,” and San Francisco topped his list ahead of the Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs.
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“And the No. 1 scariest team I’m telling everybody that no one in the league wants to see when they’re healthy? The San Francisco 49ers,” Orlovsky said. “This is a team in San Francisco that, now, they have the probably most untacklable trio in the history of the NFL: [Christian] McCaffrey, Deebo [Samuel] and [George] Kittle.
“I understand their quarterback’s Jimmy Garoppolo, but when their defense is healthy, they’re better than the Dallas Cowboys.”
San Francisco 49ers
Orlovsky has a point. With the addition of McCaffrey, who entered Sunday’s game with a full week of practice officially under his belt, the 49ers’ offense looked unstoppable by the end of the contest. And that was with Samuel sitting on the sideline nursing his hurt hamstring.
With their bye in Week 9 and several San Francisco stars still itching to return from injury, the 49ers’ showing against the Rams could be just the beginning.
But not everyone was on board with Orlovsky’s list. Fellow “First Take” analyst Ryan Clark took issue with Orlovsky’s failure to include the Buffalo Bills in his rankings, while Michael Irvin believed the 49ers should be listed fifth.
“This is like when you go to the rich neighborhood on Halloween and they give you the little candy,” Clark joked.
Orlovsky, however, held strong in his fear of San Francisco.
“These are scary teams,” Orlovsky argued. “... It’s like when you go through the haunted maze or whatever and you know what it’s going to be, I’m not scared. But when they come out of nowhere, like, ‘Ahh!’ That’s the 49ers.”
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Spooky.
And even though the 49ers don’t play on Halloween this year, there’s still plenty of season left for them to prove Orlovsky right and give the rest of the NFL the heebie jeebies.