1st 2nd 3rd 4th Tot
WAS 3 0 7 7 17
SF 13 7 3 0 23

The San Francisco 49ers lived up to their status as a Super Bowl contender for about two and a half quarters on Monday night, rolling to a 23-3 third-quarter lead over the Washington Commanders. The 49ers looked like anything but a contender after that, but they made enough plays to win in the end, squeezing out a 23-17 win over the Commanders in front of a home crowd at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara.

Defensive breakdowns and costly 49ers penalties down the stretch helped the Commanders dig out of their 20-point hole and get in position to put together two possible game-winning drives in the final minutes. But the 49ers got clutch plays from their defense when they needed them the most, led by back-to-back stops by safety Malik Mustapha that stopped a potential Commanders scoring drive with less than two minutes remaining and some clutch pass rushing by rookie defensive end Romello Height to seal the win on the game's final two plays.


Quarterback Brock Purdy finished 21-of-29 for 264 yards and one touchdown in the game, with most of that production coming in the first half. Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels rallied from a lackluster first half to finish with 300 yards and two touchdowns on 29-of-40 passing.

Purdy, 49ers turn in dominant first half


The 49ers got on the board quickly with a nine-play, 64-yard drive that ended with an 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end George Kittle for a 7-0 lead. The drive began at 49ers' 36-yard line after the opening kickoff return by Jordan James and moved across midfield on a 24-yard completion to wide receiver Mike Evans on a 3rd-and-4 play. A series of runs and catches by running back Christian McCaffrey moved the 49ers to the Commanders' 13-yard line, and after a 3rd-and-1 conversion run by running back Kaelon Black moved the ball to the 11-yard line, Purdy found Kittle wide open in the end zone for the game's first touchdown.


A quick scoring drive followed the touchdown for the Commanders, who moved 42 yards in five plays to get on the scoreboard with a 51-yard field goal from kicker Drew Stevens. A 27-yard completion to wide receiver Terry McLaurin opened the drive, and then the Commanders moved into field goal range to cut the lead to 7-3 with just under nine minutes left in the first quarter.


The fast pace of the game continued on the next drive, which saw the 49ers move 72 yards on eight plays to extend their lead. The 49ers reached the red zone on the first play of the drive with a 54-yard completion to Evans, then moved into a 1st-and-goal situation at the 4-yard line after Purdy converted on a 4th-and-3 from the 11. McCaffrey later ran in from one yard out to cap the drive with a touchdown, but kicker Eddy Pineiro missed the point-after attempt to leave the score at 13-3.


A third-down sack by defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa forced the Commanders to punt on the next possession. The 49ers then took over at their own 4-yard line after a muffed punt by return specialist Jacob Cowing and were unable to move past the 11-yard line, which led to a punt back to Washington. The Commanders took over at their own 41-yard line as the first quarter came to a close and quickly moved deep into 49ers territory on a 29-yard completion to wide receiver Chig Okonkwo. But the Commanders came up empty on the drive when Daniels threw the ball away on a fourth-down attempt from the 13-yard line, turning the ball over on downs to the 49ers.



The 49ers looked poised to add more points on the next drive but wound up committing the first turnover of the game instead. After digging out of their own territory with a 22-yard third-down completion to wide receiver Jordan Watkins and a 13-yard completion to wide receiver Brandon Cooks, the 49ers moved to the 38-yard line on back-to-back runs by McCaffrey. But McCaffrey put the ball on the ground on the next play after a punch-out by linebacker K'Lavon Chaisson, which led to a fumble recovery at the 19-yard line by linebacker Frankie Luvu.


A first-down holding penalty and a sack by defensive tackle Gracen Halton pushed the Commanders back to their own 7-yard line to start their next possession. The Commanders were soon forced to punt back to the 49ers, who began at their own 31-yard line after a fair catch by Cowing.


McCaffrey immediately got another chance to start the next drive and delivered with a 13-yard catch and a 9-yard run to get the ball across midfield. The 49ers then moved to the 24-yard line on multiple runs by Kaelon Black and a 10-yard catch by fullback Kyle Juszczyk, but a 17-yard run on a 3rd-and-1 play by McCaffrey to the 7-yard line was negated by a holding penalty on tight end Luke Farrell. Purdy was able to pick Farrell up with an 11-yard run for a first down on the next play, which led to the two-minute warning.

Another holding penalty, this one on left tackle Trent Williams, put the 49ers in a 2nd-and-15, but Purdy dug out of the hole again with a 16-yard completion to Evans to the 12-yard line. Purdy later converted on a fourth-down run from the 3-yard line to set up a 1st-and-goal, then McCaffrey finished the drive with his second touchdown run of the night to give the 49ers a 20-3 lead. The drive spanned 69 yards on 14 plays and took more than six minutes off the clock, leaving the Commanders with 13 seconds left in the half.


The Commanders ran out the clock after the touchdown, bringing a dominant first half for the 49ers to an end. The 49ers outgained the Commanders 303-90 in the first half, with a first down advantage of 17-2. The 49ers ran 41 plays in the first half compared to just 17 to the Commanders, while Purdy finished the half with 214 yards and one touchdown on 17-of-22 passing.


49ers fight off second-half errors to stay unbeaten


Penalties stalled the Commanders on their first possession of the second half, which came to an end after a third-down sack by defensive lineman Mykel Williams. The 49ers took over at their own 21-yard line after a punt and moved into Commanders' territory on a 35-yard completion to Kittle, but the Commanders stopped the drive at the 17-yard line, leading to a 33-yard field goal from Pineiro to make the score 23-3.


The Commanders answered with their best drive of the night, an 11-play, 65-yard possession that ended in a touchdown pass to wide receiver Stefon Diggs. A 16-yard completion to Okonkwo and a 13-yard completion to Diggs marked the largest gains of the drive, then Daniels found Diggs from one yard out to finish the drive and make the score 23-10 with 15 seconds remaining in the third quarter.


The 49ers went three-and-out on the next possession and gave the ball back to the Commanders at their own 20-yard line after a punt. The Commanders zipped downfield on 10 plays with the help of a 23-yard completion on 3rd-and-8 and multiple key penalty calls on the 49ers to cut the lead to 23-17 on a 9-yard pass from Daniels to running back Rachaad White. Daniels completed 8-of-10 passes on the drive, which put the Commanders back in the game with 9:22 remaining in the fourth quarter.


A second-down sack by defensive lineman Odafe Oweh pushed the 49ers into another three-and-out on the next possession, which gave the Commanders the ball at their own 22-yard line with 7:46 remaining. The 49ers missed a chance to get off the field early in the drive when Daniels connected with wide receiver Antonio Williams for a 10-yard gain on a 3rd-and-4, then the Commanders moved to the 49ers' 31-yard line on a 30-yard completion to wide receiver Treylon Burks. The 49ers got a break when a touchdown run on the next play by running back Jeremy McNichols was overturned by a face mask penalty, then the Commanders eventually were faced with a 4th-and-8 at the 29-yard line with 3:01 remaining. The 49ers seemed to have stopped the Commanders on a sack by Height, but the drive was kept alive on an illegal contact penalty on safety Ashtyn Davis that gave the Commanders a first down.


A seven-yard completion after the penalty to Burks moved the ball to the 17-yard line, then an incompletion on second down set up a 3rd-and-3. Safety Malik Mustapha stuffed McNichols for no gain on the next play, which moved the game clock to the two-minute warning. On 4th-and-3, Mustapha delivered again, breaking up a pass intended for Burks at the goal line, giving the 49ers possession with 1:54 remaining.



With two timeouts remaining for the Commanders, the 49ers needed a first down to ice the game. A run for a 1-yard loss by McCaffrey followed by a 3-yard reception and a six-yard run from McCaffrey wasn't enough to give the 49ers that first down and forced them to punt back to the Commanders. The 49ers were then hit with another big penalty on the punt when defensive back Siran Neal was flagged for 15 yards for hitting return specialist Luke McCaffrey after a fair catch signal, giving the Commanders the ball at their own 46-yard line with no timeouts and 52 seconds remaining.

Daniels completed passes of nine yards to White and 17 yards to Williams after the penalty to get the Commanders to the 28-yard line with 22 seconds remaining. Height then pressured Daniels on the next play, causing Daniels to throw the ball out of bounds and get flagged for intentional grounding. A ten-second runoff stemming from the penalty put the Commanders at the 49ers' 40-yard line with six seconds remaining. Height then finished the job on the next play, combining with defensive end Keion White to sack Daniels and end the game.


The 49ers moved to 6-0 on the season with the win, while the Commanders fell to 1-4-1 with the loss.

Game Notes


Monday night's game was the 37th all-time between the 49ers and the Washington franchise. The 49ers now hold a 24-12-1 series lead with wins in eight of the past 10 meetings... The 49ers headed into the game as 7.5-point favorites... Purdy moved into first place on the NFL's all-time passer rating list in the first quarter... McLaurin was carted off the field late in the first quarter with a knee injury, while Evans left the game after his 16-yard catch late in the first half with an Achilles injury... The 49ers now face a short week as they will be on the road next Sunday for a 10 a.m. PT kickoff against the Atlanta Falcons. The game will air on FOX.

Scoring Summary




Game and Player Stats


WAS Team Stats SF
261 Passing Yards 249
53 Rushing Yards 126
314 Total Yards 375
7.5 Avg Yards per Pass 9.1
3.12 Avg Yards per Run 4.34
0 Fumbles Lost 1
0 Int Thrown 0
4 Sacks Allowed 2
00:30:15 Time of Pos 00:29:45
7 Penalties 11

Commanders Player Stats
Passing Cmp/Att Yds TDs INTs
Jayden Daniels 29/40 300 2 0
Rushing Att Yds Avg TDs
Rachaad White 7 27 3.9 0
Jeremy McNichols 5 13 2.6 0
Jayden Daniels 4 10 2.5 0
Austin Ekeler 1 3 3 0
Receiving Rec Tgt Yds TDs
Chig Okonkwo 7 7 69 0
Treylon Burks 4 6 66 0
Antonio Williams 3 4 50 0
Stefon Diggs 6 7 44 1
Rachaad White 4 5 30 1
Terry McLaurin 1 1 27 0
Dyami Brown 1 1 6 0
John Bates 1 1 4 0
Austin Ekeler 2 2 4 0
Luke McCaffrey 0 1 0 0
Kicking FG Att Lg XP
Drew Stevens 1 1 51 2
Punting No Avg I20 Lg
Tress Way 3 51.3 2 60
Defense T-A Sck INTs FF
Frankie Luvu 8-6 0 0 0
Amik Robertson 7-4 0 0 0
Jeremy Reaves 6-3 0 0 0
K'Lavon Chaisson 4-2 0 0 1
Rasul Douglas 3-2 0 0 0
Daron Payne 3-2 0 0 0
Dorance Armstrong 3-2 0 0 0
Shy Tuttle 3-1 1 0 0
Odafe Oweh 3-1 1 0 0
Quan Martin 2-2 0 0 0
Kain Medrano 2-1 0 0 0
Javon Kinlaw 2-0 0 0 0
Nick Cross 2-0 0 0 0
Trey Amos 2-0 0 0 0
Sonny Styles 13-6 0 0 0
Deatrich Wise 1-0 0 0 0
Mike Sainristil 1-0 0 0 0

49ers Player Stats
Passing Cmp/Att Yds TDs INTs
Brock Purdy 21/29 264 1 0
Rushing Att Yds Avg TDs
Christian McCaffrey 16 64 4 2
Kaelon Black 8 34 4.3 0
Brock Purdy 5 28 5.6 0
Receiving Rec Tgt Yds TDs
Mike Evans 3 5 94 0
George Kittle 5 8 69 1
Christian McCaffrey 9 10 53 0
Jordan Watkins 1 1 22 0
Brandin Cooks 1 2 13 0
Kyle Juszczyk 1 2 10 0
Kaelon Black 1 1 3 0
Fumbles Fum Lost
Jacob Cowing 1 0 0 0
Christian McCaffrey 1 1 0 0
Kicking FG Att Lg XP
Eddy Pineiro 1 1 33 2
Punting No Avg I20 Lg
Corliss Waitman 4 47.8 0 49
Punt Returns Att Avg TDs Lg
Jacob Cowing 1 2 0 2
Defense T-A Sck INTs FF
Fred Warner 8-2 0 0 0
Keion White 4-3 0.5 0 0
Ji'Ayir Brown 4-0 0 0 0
Malik Mustapha 4-0 0 0 0
Romello Height 3-3 0.5 0 0
Osa Odighizuwa 3-2 1 0 0
Mykel Williams 3-1 1 0 0
Deommodore Lenoir 3-0 0 0 0
Jalen Graham 2-0 0 0 0
Upton Stout 2-0 0 0 0
Jaden Dugger 11-3 0 0 0
Luke Gifford 1-1 0 0 0
Ashtyn Davis 1-0 0 0 0
Khalid Kareem 1-0 0 0 0
Sebastian Valdez 1-0 0 0 0
James Thompson 1-0 0 0 0
Gracen Halton 1-0 1 0 0


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