LANDOVER, MARYLAND – OCTOBER 20: Running back Tevin Coleman #26 of the San Francisco 49ers is tackled by Washington Redskins defenders during the fourth quarter at FedExField on October 20, 2019 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
Sunday’s game between the 49ers and the Redskins was not at all exciting, but at least it was a quickly-played contest.
The San Francisco 49ers stayed undefeated with a 9-0 win over the Washington Redskins on Sunday, as rain soaked FedEx Field. The Redskins became the second team in 25 years to cover the spread without scoring a point, but an otherwise unremarkable game made a bit of history as well.
In tracking games early Sunday afternoon, it was hard to ignore how quickly the 49ers-Redskins game was moving compared to the others that kicked off during the early slate. The rainy conditions led to a ground-focused approach, as the teams combined to run the ball 65 times in 103 total plays.
With passes not falling to the ground to stop the clock that much, with 21 combined completions in 33 pass attempts from Jimmy Garoppolo and Case Keenum, and relatively few penalties (nine for 67 yards total between the two teams), the rain-soaked battle of wills was a very quickly-played game.
At 2:36, 49ers-Redskins was the shortest game since Week 16 in 2009 when the New England Patriots and Jacksonville Jaguars played a game of the exact same length. Going back to 1996 the shortest recorded game was between the San Diego Chargers and Indianapolis Colts, which came in at 2:29. Since 1996, according to Jeff Kerr of CBS Sports, six games (or possibly just five) have been shorter than Sunday’s 49ers-Redskins game, and here’s the rest of the sampling.
- Week 16, 2008-Tennessee Titans’ 23-0 win over the Indianapolis Colts -2:33
- Week 15, 2007- Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 34-3 win over the Atlanta Falcons-2:34.
- Pittsburgh Steelers have played in two games (2005, 2007) that lasted two hours and 35 minutes, a 3-0 win over the Miami Dolphins (2007) and a 34-7 win over the Titans (2005).
Given the weather conditions, which created a game that likely wouldn’t have been competitive otherwise, the 49ers and Redskins surely wanted to get their work day over with quickly. They accomplished that goal, at a pretty historic clip as the average time of NFL games has edged back over three hours and seven minutes this season.