Unlikely hero Jake Tonges uses his first NFL catches to push 49ers to win over Seahawks

It took over three NFL seasons for San Francisco 49ers tight end Jake Tonges to get a chance to make a catch in a regular season game, but when that opportunity came, he made it into a moment he'll never forget.

Tonges entered Sunday's season opener against the Seattle Seahawks as the No. 3 tight end on the 49ers' roster behind George Kittle and Luke Farrell. But when Kittle went to the sidelines in the first half of the game with a hamstring injury, Tonges was called upon to step up. He did so in a manner that nobody expected, catching the first three passes of his NFL career on the 49ers' game-winning drive, including the decisive touchdown that gave the 49ers a 17-13 road victory.

A product of Los Gatos, California, Tonges entered the league as an undrafted acquisition of the Chicago Bears in 2022 after catching 47 passes in college at Cal-Berkeley. Between his time with the Bears and his days with the 49ers, whom he first signed with in 2023, Tonges appeared in 20 games but caught zero passes while spending most of his 282 career snaps on special teams. There was no reason to think he'd make such a splash on offense coming into the game on Sunday, but when his chance came, he was ready.

"I can't tell you how many games I've prepared for mentally and really haven't even gotten in the game on offense -- mostly playing special teams and stuff," Tonges said after the win on Sunday. "But that's just years of just trying to take every practice serious, and no matter if you're running with the ones during camp or if you're on the scout team giving the defense looks, just always trying to trying to maximize the time you get to make yourself a better player."

Tonges' first catch was a modest two-yard gain on a first down play that moved the ball from the Seahawks' 22 to the 20-yard line. He caught his second pass on the next play -- a nine-yard gain coming out of the two-minute warning that moved the ball to the 11. After a run and catch by running back Christian McCaffrey that moved the ball to the 4-yard line, quarterback Brock Purdy escaped the Seahawks' pass rush on a 3rd-and-3 play and flung a wild pass towards the end zone that looked at first like it was heading into the hands of Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen. But the 6-4 Tonges jumped in the air, plucked the ball away from Woolen, and came down with a touchdown catch to give the 49ers the lead with just over 90 seconds remaining in the game.

"(It was) a corner curl route and I kind of slipped a little bit coming out of it," Tonges said. "But I looked back at Brock and he was started scrambling around. So immediate scramble drill, you know, try and stay in bounds, try and beat your guy. I saw him throw it up. I wasn't sure if he was throwing it away or whatever, but I just tried to cut underneath the corner right there and high point it and come down in bounds."

It was somewhat of a surreal, slow-motion moment for Tonges, but he knew he had done something big by the noise surrounding him -- or lack thereof.

"I went up, I caught it, looked down at my feet, made sure I was in bounds and kind of looked around for some flags and it was silent, you know, because we're on the road," Tonges said. "So I think [wide receiver] Russell Gage, someone was like, 'You scored! You scored!' And so then I was, you know, didn't believe it. And then I was 'Spike the ball, go celebrate with all my guys.'

"I think this is my first game winner in my whole career. So, definitely exciting and you know, a dream come true."

Tonges wasn't overly pleased with his first two catches, but he couldn't find anything to complain about with catch number three.

"The first one was a screen, honestly, and I could have done a better job on that one," Tonges said. "Kind of got my feet caught up with one of the offensive linemen, so I was disappointed about that one because they were calling my number a little bit. So that one could have gone better. And then the other one, I knew I could have gotten the ball later in the progression, so I was just trying to stay alive and convert that into a first down. And obviously the last one, I wasn't expecting in that fashion."

49ers players were caught by surprise after the game to find out that Tonges did not have a catch prior to Sunday's game. But their feeling that Tonges deserved to catch the game-winner seemed to be unanimous.

"He's a guy that even last year I remember against the Rams, George was down and we had Tonges go in," Purdy said Sunday. "He's been a smart guy and it comes down to opportunities and in games do you get the right look to get the ball and everything. So he's been a consistent guy all throughout last year and camp. And George goes down today and then boom, he's ready for his opportunity. So we all love Jake. He's a smart kid and we all love him and he's a brother to us."

McCaffrey added, "He's a guy that's made of the right stuff, too. Practices really hard, attention to details, willing to block, does all the things right."

Cornerback Deommodore Lenoir said, "He had a great week of practice. I'm proud of my boy. He had a beautiful touchdown. That was one of them plays. I'll remember that forever. He worked for it. He earned that... I'm proud of you, Tonges."

Kittle's status for the coming week wasn't known after Sunday's game, but the 49ers now know they have another tight end capable of making a clutch play if their star can't play next week. Tonges, Farrell and fullback Kyle Juszczyk all made plays down the stretch in Kittle's absence, which will certainly inspire confidence going forward.

"It's huge," head coach Kyle Shanahan said. "I mean, it wasn't just that catch, but both of those tight ends, him and Luke and Juice picking it up. Losing Kittle in that game was big for us. (He) was a huge part of the game plan, as you guys saw earlier. Had to mix some guys around and those guys stepped up big, and especially to end it with the game-winner."

In the meantime, Tonges can celebrate knowing he played a huge part in an opening day win while also creating a small piece of 49ers history -- one that reminded fans of the franchise's biggest moment in Dwight Clark's famous NFC Championship catch that sent the 49ers to their first Super Bowl. Of course, Tonges's catch won't have the impact of Clark's, but it's nice to be mentioned in the same sentence for at least a day.

"Yeah, I mean, maybe some similarities," Tonges said. "I don't know. But that's cool if people are saying that."