SANTA CLARA - The 49ers survived Sunday with their offense doing the heavy lifting and George Kittle finishing the job.
Brock Purdy threw for 297 yards and four touchdowns, all without an interception or a sack for the third straight game, and his fourth-quarter connection with Kittle twice pushed the unbeaten 49ers past the Cardinals, 36-30, at Levi’s Stadium. The first came from 10 yards out. The second, a 20-yarder near the right pylon with 1:31 left, gave San Francisco the cushion it needed after Arizona kept answering.
Even then, the game still wasn’t over. Arizona’s Chad Ryland drilled a 49-yard field goal with 34 seconds left, trimming the margin again after the Purdy-to-Kittle score. Only when Deebo Samuel recovered an onside kick with 33 seconds remaining did the 49ers finally lock it down.
The win came with the usual San Francisco survival story attached to it. The 49ers improved to 3-0 while absorbing more injury hits, including wide receiver Mike Evans and left tackle Trent Williams being taken off on carts. Williams later returned to the sideline before the fourth quarter, but he did not re-enter the game, leaving Vederian Lowe to protect Purdy’s blind side.
Evans also left on a cart after a rib injury late in the first half, and the 49ers were already operating without Nick Bosa, who was lost to a calf injury in warmups for Thursday’s practice. The defense also played through a long list of issues, with Deommodore Lenoir and Renardo Green both going through concussion evaluations, linebacker Dre Greenlaw leaving with a quadriceps injury and Gracen Halton dealing with cramps.
That was a lot to absorb against a Cardinals team that kept hanging around. Jacoby Brissett’s short touchdown passes helped Arizona erase a 17-point deficit, and the Cardinals got within 23-20 with 13 minutes left after a punt by Siran Neal careened off a 49ers player and a fourth-down conversion was helped by a pass-interference penalty in the end zone on Lenoir. Arizona then pulled within 29-27 on its third touchdown drive of the second half.
The final stretch turned into a duel between Purdy and Kittle. Purdy’s 10-yard touchdown to Kittle midway through the fourth quarter briefly steadied things, but Brissett answered with a 14-play, 68-yard drive finished by a 1-yard run.
Purdy then led the decisive response. Christian McCaffrey, who finished with 75 rushing yards and 41 receiving yards, helped ignite the drive with an 11-yard catch and a 12-yard run into Cardinals territory with 1:55 left. That set up Purdy’s second touchdown to Kittle, the one that put San Francisco ahead for good after the Cardinals had already clawed back once more.
The early part of the game looked far less complicated. The 49ers opened with a touchdown for the third straight week, and this one had some flair. On third-and-12, Purdy found Evans for a 6-yard gain, and Evans immediately lateraled to Samuel, who took off behind a Luke Farrell block and raced 80 yards down the left sideline for the first score.
Two plays earlier, Purdy had thrown incomplete to Evans, who was hit hard across the middle by safety Andrew Wingard. Officials did not call a defenseless-receiver penalty, and Evans stayed in for McCaffrey’s next carry before the trick play broke the game open.
Purdy later hit Evans for a 23-yard touchdown to make it 14-0. Evans made the catch look easy, letting the ball drop over his left shoulder and into his hands in the end zone against cornerback Denzel Burke. It was Evans’ second touchdown in three games and the 110th of his career, leaving him one shy of Tony Gonzalez for ninth on the NFL’s all-time list.
The Cardinals answered with field goals of 26 and 41 yards around Evans’ injury, and the 49ers went into halftime up 17-6 after Eddy Piñeiro nailed a 57-yard field goal into the wind as time expired. Piñeiro missed two extra points before converting his final attempt.
San Francisco’s defense did enough early to build that lead, leaning on blitzes to force third-down stops. On Arizona’s first drive, Greenlaw hurried a third-and-15 incompletion.
On the next, Fred Warner hit Brissett as he threw deep toward Marvin Harrison Jr.; the pass-interference penalty was declined, and Lenoir was credited with the breakup. The 49ers then stuffed another third-down attempt after Brissett escaped pressure and completed only a short pass that Khalid Kareem stopped well short of the sticks.
By the end, though, this game belonged to the offense and the survival act that has become familiar for the 49ers. They kept making plays, kept losing bodies and kept just enough control to leave undefeated.
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Deebo Samuel delivered one of the oddest box-score quirks youll ever see in the 49ers win over the Cardinals, turning an 80-yard hook-and-ladder into a touchdown without officially catching a pass. It was the kind of play that reminded everyone how uniquely dangerous San Francisco can be when Samuel is lined up all over the field and the ball starts moving side to side.
Even stranger, the output came with a bit of history attached. Samuel finished with the most receiving yards in an NFL game without a reception, topping a mark that had stood since 1961, and he added two rushing attempts for 14 yards. For a player whose value often comes from his versatility, this was a rare line that fit the eye test, the highlight reel and the record book all at once. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Win Came With A Bigger Brock Purdy Concern
The 49ers got the result they needed Sunday, outlasting the Cardinals 36-30 in a game that had plenty of familiar San Francisco fingerprints on it. Brock Purdy handled the offense well despite the injury issues around him, George Kittle delivered a pair of touchdowns, Christian McCaffrey found the end zone on the ground, and Fred Warner again set the tone on defense with 17 tackles.
Still, the win came with the kind of discomfort that can linger beyond the final score. Mike Evans exited with a rib strain, Trent Williams was among the key injuries affecting the passing game, and Dre Greenlaw also left with a quad issue, leaving the 49ers to sort through what Sunday cost them as much as what it gave them. For a team that keeps finding ways to win, the bigger question now is how long it can keep doing it while pieces keep dropping out. [Read more 🡒]
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The 49ers got off to a fast start Sunday with a hook-and-ladder touchdown involving Deebo Samuel and Mike Evans, then kept stacking points even as the game started to turn into something more uneasy. Christian McCaffrey added a touchdown of his own, and the defense mixed in stops while the Cardinals found enough offense to stay around the fight, leaving San Francisco ahead at halftime with the kind of lead that can still feel fragile.
What made the win feel bigger than the scoreboard was the injury picture developing around it. Deommodore Lenoir and Mike Evans were among the players who dealt with issues, and for a team trying to build rhythm while scoring in spurts and trading field goals, the concern was impossible to ignore. The 49ers walked into the locker room with control of the game, but also with the kind of health questions that can linger long after the final whistle. [Read more 🡒]