The San Francisco 49ers survived exactly the kind of game that feels like it could break either way at any moment, hanging on for a 32-29 win over the Seattle Seahawks to stay undefeated.
It was chaos from the start. San Francisco opened with a three-and-out, then Corliss Waitman flipped the field and pinned Seattle deep.
That set up Renardo Green to jump a route and pick off Sam Darnold three plays later. Brock Purdy took the short field and quickly turned it into points, finding Mike Evans for 13 yards on third down before hitting him again on a slant for an early 7-0 lead.
The first quarter kept swinging. After the 49ers forced another quick stop, Jacob Cowing muffed a punt and handed Seattle the kind of gift teams never refuse. The Seahawks answered with a third-down conversion to Cooper Kupp, who was covered by Deommodore Lenoir, and Emmanuel Wilson finished the drive to make it 7-7.
From there, both sides traded punts until Seattle found a spark late in the opening quarter. Jaxon Smith-Njigba burned Lenoir for 38 yards and later shook Malik Mustapha on a screen for 16 more, and Jason Myers finished the possession with a 49-yard field goal to put the Seahawks ahead 10-7.
San Francisco’s defense kept creating chances. Fred Warner used his patented peanut punch to jar the ball loose from Emmanuel Wilson, and Malik Mustapha recovered at Seattle’s 11. Christian McCaffrey punched in the next snap, pushing the 49ers back in front 14-10.
Seattle answered with a field goal, but the 49ers got a major break before halftime. After Brock Purdy connected with Mike Evans for 23 yards, a third-and-12 sack pushed San Francisco out of Eddy Pineiro’s range.
Waitman then pinned the ball at the one, but George Holani couldn’t secure it in the end zone. Gracen Halton reached back, found the ball and turned the play into a forced fumble, recovery and touchdown that stretched the lead to 21-13.
The mistakes kept piling up for Seattle’s offense and for the 49ers’ own opportunities. Renardo Green undercut an Elijah Arroyo route for his second interception of the day, a big moment for a player who had been benched in the same stadium less than a year ago.
But San Francisco couldn’t capitalize, and Pineiro missed wide left. That let Seattle reset and claw back, with Myers adding a 43-yard field goal to trim the margin to 21-16.
Then came the Seahawks’ comeback push. Purdy made a poor read on third-and-7 and threw late and behind Jacob Cowing, and Seattle’s cornerback made him pay with an interception. Smith-Njigba then worked open in the middle of the field on third-and-3, slipped past Warner and Mustapha and scored to give Seattle a 23-21 lead.
The 49ers took another hit when Deebo Samuel injured his hamstring at the start of the next drive and lost control of the ball as he went down, handing Seattle another short field. Still, the defense held strong enough to force only a field goal, and Myers made it from 48 yards out for a 26-21 Seahawks lead.
That’s when Evans took over the possession that flipped the game again. On one drive, he caught passes of 15 yards, nine yards, 23 yards and then 28 yards on a 2nd-and-21, keeping San Francisco alive over and over.
Purdy and the offense stayed aggressive, and after Brandin Cooks appeared to score a touchdown, Mike MacDonald called timeout. After the stoppage, Purdy scrambled and found Cooks in the end zone to make it 27-26.
Evans was interfered with on the two-point try, but the 49ers came right back to him and he delivered again for a 29-26 lead.
Purdy was 7-for-8 on that drive for 89 yards, with Evans doing most of the heavy lifting, and he answered the turnover by pushing the ball downfield instead of retreating from it.
Seattle still had one more push in it. Rahshid Shaheed gained 22 yards to get the Seahawks into field goal range, but Keion White’s stop helped produce the fifth sack of the day for the defense. Myers tied it at 29-29.
The 49ers answered with the sort of closing drive contenders love. Christian McCaffrey opened it with runs of 8 and 13 yards, even shaking off a defender in the backfield to avoid a loss.
Kaelon Black added 11 more, and San Francisco moved into field goal range with a little more than four minutes left. On third-and-1, Black was stopped for a yard loss after Byron Murphy beat Connor Colby, but Pineiro drilled a 44-yard field goal with two minutes remaining to put San Francisco up 32-29.
Seattle still had a chance. Jordan James appeared to draw a holding penalty on the kickoff, backing the Seahawks up to the 15, but Smith-Njigba immediately ripped off 35 yards to move the ball near midfield.
On third-and-10, JSN beat Jack Jones but dropped the ball. That set up fourth-and-10, where Cooper Kupp made Upton Stout miss but was ruled out of bounds short of the first-down marker.
And just like that, the 49ers had their thriller.
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