The San Francisco 49ers-Miami Dolphins game on Sunday afternoon matched two teams hanging on to postseason hopes by their fingernails. And by the time the game kicked off, the 49ers didn’t even have that. Victories earlier on Sunday by the Los Angeles Rams and Washington Commanders eliminated last year’s NFC champion from playoff contention.
But the Dolphins kept their long-shot postseason chances going by scoring a 29-17 victory over San Francisco.
“Brother, we’re just focused on one game at a time right now,” Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said when asked about the Dolphins’ postseason possibilities. “So we got the Niners out the way, and we’ll focus on the Browns and Christmas.”
Tagovailoa completed 22-of-34 passes for 215 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions on Sunday.
The touchdown pass was a 3-yard toss to wide receiver Tyreek Hill to cap an eight-play, 68-yard drive that gave the Dolphins a 13-7 lead with 3:20 left in the first half.
It was the 100th touchdown pass of Tagovailoa’s career. The former Alabama All-American joined Bob Griese, Dan Marino and Ryan Tannehill as the Miami quarterbacks who have reached that milestone.
“I just found that out today,” Tagovailoa said. “That’s cool. That’s awesome that we got to do that in a win. But as far as the accolades and whatnot, that’s probably least on my mind. Just trying to find ways that we can end the season the way we want to and control what we can control, and we go from there.”
Miami running back De’Von Achane gained 120 yards on 17 rushing attempts. He scored on a 50-yard run with 1:36 remaining to set the final margin.
The Dolphins also got five field goals from Jason Sanders, including a 54-yarder.
