After all the games of Week 15 of the regular season had ended, ESPN was undoubtedly the biggest winner, and the San Francisco 49ers also benefited. Their official Twitter account alone gained 300,000 followers in just three days, making the team look great. Not to mention the team's official website, official Facebook page, and all other online platforms, which saw a surge of traffic.

Jim Harbaugh and Trent Baalke, who were the main advocates for signing Lu Ke, became city heroes! Everyone knew how crazy of a gamble it was to sign an undrafted Chinese rookie, especially for the quarterback position, even if he was just the team's fourth-string quarterback. The initial wave of doubts at the beginning of the season was as strong as the passionate wave of support now.

However, the real winner was Lu Ke! Before this, Lu Ke had never seriously managed his social media platforms, and he wasn't even sure of his fan count. If it weren't for a special task from the system, he wouldn't even have an Instagram account. He was so dedicated to his training all year round that even though he had Facebook and Twitter accounts, he rarely used them.

But now, in just three days, all of Lu Ke's social media accounts had undergone a massive change. On Twitter, his followers had skyrocketed to over three million, whereas before, he only had fewer than 120,000. On Instagram, if Lu Ke remembered correctly, he had gained about 50,000 or 60,000 followers during the rookie training camp, thanks to a special task, but now it had surged to 1.8 million.

As for Facebook, Lu Ke hadn't opened it yet because his inbox seemed to be overflowing. The unread emails in his registered email account had long surpassed "999," and it would be a huge hassle to deal with them now. So, Lu Ke simply handed over his account and password to Leigh so that a professional team could handle it. This was just the beginning. All of this happened in just three days, seeming to explode overnight. In the following days, the growth rate began to slow down, but the growth curve was still not stopping. All major social media platforms were continuously seeing an increase in followers.

He was on fire, nothing but on fire! A long, long time ago, when Lu Ke was still at UCLA, Logan had filmed a short video documenting Lu Ke's passing practice. It showed him completing thirty consecutive passes, accurately landing them in the short, medium, and long-range areas. It was just a simple short video posted on the Bruins' YouTube account. A year had passed, and the views were only a little over 2,000, but now, in just three days, it had surged to eight million, quickly becoming one of the most popular videos on YouTube and making it to the homepage.

What was even more ridiculous was that on Instagram, the last time Lu Ke had posted a photo was during the bye week, which was two months ago. He had posted a behind-the-scenes photo of an ad shoot and hadn't logged into his account since. Originally, that photo had fewer than 3,000 likes, but now it had easily surpassed 2.5 million, and the upward trend was astonishing. It easily became one of the most popular photos of the day, and netizens were surprised to find out that "Lu Ke and Stephen Curry from the Golden State Warriors are friends!"

As a result, the conversation slowly began to spread to other social media platforms. The Google search ranking was the best barometer of online popularity, and it was clear that through this night game, Lu Ke's popularity was rising across the board. No wonder people always say that night games have too many benefits for players, teams, and even TV stations and the league, and no one is willing to give them up.

In the past, Tony Romo established himself in the league through the Thanksgiving night game broadcast, becoming the leader of "America's Team." And now, Lu Ke has successfully walked into the hearts of the fans through a Monday Night Football game, defeating one of the strongest opponents in the league. The career development trajectories of these two undrafted rookies have some similarities, more or less.

However, none of this felt real to Lu Ke. First, he didn't log into these accounts and had given them to Leigh to handle. Second, the season was not over yet, and he still couldn't be distracted. After fighting so hard, step by step, until now, Lu Ke would never easily be satisfied with the success of the regular season. The playoffs were his goal!

People could call him crazy, but the Super Bowl was his ultimate goal. Just as no one believed he could secure a spot in the regular season, no one believed an undrafted rookie could aim for the Super Bowl in his first season. People could mock him, ridicule him, look down on him, and even curse him, but he would never waver! Defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers was just a regular season game.

After the game, the locker room at Candlestick Park had become an ocean of celebration. Team owner Jed York, for the first time, came to the locker room to congratulate and thank all the players. He also talked about the playoffs, hoping they would be able to charge through the finish line in one go and not get carried away just because they were returning to the playoffs after eight years. After that, there was more fun and laughter. It was late at night when Lu Ke got home.

After a season of intense competition and a physically and mentally exhausting game, his physical and mental state had truly reached its limit. Now Lu Ke finally understood why the deeper into the season you get, the more a team's and a player's depth and foundation show. Fortunately, Lu Ke had improved his physical fitness-related attributes in time. Otherwise, in this final push, he could have been the first one to fail the team.

After this game, there were only four days to prepare for the next game, which was undoubtedly a piece of bad news. This week's Saturday was Christmas Eve, and Sunday was Christmas Day. Unlike the NBA, which has a Christmas Day game every year, the NFL has a Thanksgiving Day game every year. In a situation like this year, the league moved the game day up to Saturday. All games would be completed on Christmas Eve, and a Christmas Day game would be scheduled for the next day, and all other teams besides the two playing could have a holiday.

For professional players, this was a rare holiday. But for the two teams that had a Monday Night Football game this week, it was quite unfriendly. After the game on Monday, there would only be four days to adjust before the next game day. This was even one day shorter than a normal Monday Night Football game. The San Francisco 49ers were the lucky ones because they had a home game and could go home and rest well after the game. The Pittsburgh Steelers, on the other hand, were more miserable. They had to travel across the North American continent, take a flight of more than six hours to return to Pittsburgh, and then rest and adjust for three and a half days before playing in their next game. The only good news was that the Steelers' last two opponents were the St. Louis Rams and the Cleveland Browns, who were not very strong. Although they still couldn't relax, they wouldn't have to play as fiercely as they did against the 49ers.

Now, with only four days to rest and adjust, and with today—it was already past midnight, so it was the next day—he still had to go back to the training facility for recovery training, so Lu Ke should go to bed immediately. He had over 40 text messages on his phone, from Stephen Curry, J.J. Watt, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Candice Swanepoel, but he could only reply to them tomorrow.

However, before he truly turned off the lights and went to bed, Lu Ke had one more thing to do: check his harvest. This might have been the toughest game of the season. Wait, what about the game against the Cowboys? Or the one against the Giants? He couldn't make a judgment at the moment, but he was sure that the pressure from the Steelers' defense was huge, like a beast that would devour people. The oppression on the offense was all-encompassing and continued until the very last moment of the game. This also meant that completing the game tasks and special tasks was even more difficult. Now, Lu Ke needed to confirm the status of his tasks.

First, the game tasks. He had completed four passing touchdowns, so he got four base points. He completed passing control in the second half, with the medium-pass ratio higher than 30% and the yards gained higher than 50, so he got one base point. He completed defensive reads in the second half, identifying the opponent's intention to sack the quarterback at least twice, so he got one base point. He completed the designated formation pass in the second half, with at least 50 yards gained from the shotgun formation, so he got one base point. He won the game, so he got three base points. All in all, he earned a total of ten base points.

The regular season game tasks had gradually gotten on track. As long as he won the game, the rewards each week were more or less the same. It seemed that the game tasks would only change in the playoffs, and the rest would depend on the next season.

Among the many game tasks, besides the medium-pass ratio, which was crucial for controlling the second half, the most surprising one was the defensive read. He had to identify the opponent's intention to sack the quarterback twice or more. Facing the league's top defense, Lu Ke finally understood the system's purpose. Reading the defense was not just a simple analysis of the formation. It also required a systematic and comprehensive understanding of the opponent's defensive strategy. Just like today, the Steelers had not been able to break through and complete a sack, only applying pressure, but they created unimaginable trouble and launched a surprise attack at a crucial moment. They truly showed the essence of "surprise," catching Lu Ke completely off guard.

Only by truly confronting a top expert can you understand your own shortcomings. The game tasks were completed by the skin of his teeth. Next were the special tasks, and there were two of them.

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