The happiest — or at least the most relieved — person in Cincinnati on Sunday? It had to have been 49ers special-teams coordinator Richard Hightower.
No, his unit wasn’t perfect. Robbie Gould pushed a potentially game-winning, 47-yard field goal too far to the right as time expired, his third miss of the season. Still, Hightower’s unit wasn’t nearly as bad as the Bengals‘, which flubbed a pair of Mitch Wishnowsky punts the 49ers converted into 10 points.
In a game in which the offense could cobble together only 100 rushing yards and the pass defense came apart in the fourth quarter, it was the 49ers’ opportunistic special teams that bounced back from terrible outings against the Vikings and Seahawks and made the difference on Sunday.
One of the 49ers’ issues, especially in recent weeks, has been a kick coverage unit that continually gives up big returns and that ranked 26th in that area entering the game. With stalwarts such as Trent Sherfield, who recovered one of the Bengals’ muffs, and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles back on the unit this week, it was more resolute. The Bengals averaged only 13.3 yards a return while Wishnowsky sent three kicks into the end zone for touchbacks.