Silver: 49ers are clinging to hope while enduring a ‘season from hell’ (paywall)
“On Wednesday I spoke to Ward, who returned to the team to play in the Bills game following an extended absence. I won’t tell you exactly what he said, but just know that — understandably — football does not feel like the most important force in his life right now.......
In comparison to that real-life grief, losing football games is trivial. Yet the 49ers, who’ve pulled themselves out of midseason ruts in each of the past three seasons, take a lot of pride in their culture, chemistry and collective ability to plow through adversity.