The 49ers left Seattle with a win that had just about everything except a quiet moment.
San Francisco survived a back-and-forth 32-29 fight Sunday to move to 5-0, outlasting the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks in a Week 5 game that swung on turnovers, goal-line chaos, missed kicks and one final replay ruling that went the 49ers’ way. The finish came down to a midfield stand, with Seattle’s last drive ending after a review upheld that Cooper Kupp was a yard short on a fourth-and-10 catch.
Eddy Piñeiro then delivered the winner from 43 yards after the 49ers burned through the two-minute warning. With Deebo Samuel sidelined by a hamstring injury and the receiver room stretched thin, San Francisco leaned heavily on Christian McCaffrey late, with help from Kaelon Black, to get into position.
That kick capped a wild fourth quarter that had already seen Jason Myers tie the game for Seattle with his fifth field goal of the day, a 40-yarder that came after Keion White sacked Sam Darnold on third down. The 49ers answered again when Brock Purdy found Brandin Cooks for a go-ahead touchdown, then hit Mike Evans on a two-point conversion for a 29-26 edge.
Even with 29 points allowed, San Francisco’s defense kept showing up at the biggest moments. The 49ers forced four takeaways, piled up five sacks and managed to absorb Dre Greenlaw’s ejection without letting the game slip away.
The first half was pure mayhem, and San Francisco still took a 21-13 lead into intermission. Every 49ers touchdown in that half came off a Seahawks turnover. The first came when Renardo Green intercepted Darnold on Seattle’s opening possession, setting up Purdy’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Evans.
The second came after Jacob Cowing misplayed a punt at the 35. He chose not to fair catch it, then muffed it under contact from Pritchett. Former 49ers tight end Eric Saubert came away from the pile with the ball, and Seattle turned that into a tying 2-yard touchdown run by Emmanuel Wilson.
The third touchdown off a turnover was the strangest. Rookie defensive tackle Gracen Halton forced a George Holani fumble right at the goal line and fell on it for his first career touchdown. The sequence was messy even before that, with Corliss Waitman’s punt being downed at the 4 by Ashtyn Davis after Siran Neal’s touchback-saving tip from the 1.
Seattle briefly swung ahead after Fred Warner punched the ball loose from Emmanuel Wilson on a drive that had the Seahawks down 10-7. Malik Mustapha recovered at the Seattle 11, and McCaffrey scored on the next snap, sliding through blocks from Connor Colby, Trent Williams and Evans. That gave San Francisco a 14-10 lead, but the momentum didn’t hold.
Greenlaw’s sideline sequence turned the game chippy in a hurry. After a shoulder-to-shoulder late hit on Darnold as the quarterback scrambled, Greenlaw got surrounded by Seahawks players and then headbutted a helmet-less Ernest Jones Jr., leading to his disqualification.
Seattle cut the margin again before halftime with Myers’ 50-yard field goal, which came after sacks by Halton and Osa Odighizuwa stalled the drive and trimmed the 49ers’ lead to 14-13. Earlier in the first half, Myers had also made a 48-yarder after Deebo Samuel’s third-quarter fumble turned into another Seahawks scoring chance.
San Francisco’s own mistakes kept Seattle close. Purdy’s first interception since the season opener in Australia came on a third-down throw to Jacob Cowing and set up Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s 16-yard catch-and-run touchdown that gave the Seahawks a 23-21 lead with 5:52 left in the fourth. Smith-Njigba shook Fred Warner and Malik Mustapha in space to finish the play.
Samuel then coughed up the ball on a stumble toward the left sideline after being tripped by Drake Thomas, and that turnover led to Myers’ 48-yard field goal for a 26-21 Seattle lead with 3:02 left in the fourth.
Purdy, though, came back with the go-ahead drive, and the 49ers closed it out from there. After the win, they head home for their first prime-time game since the season opener, a Monday night meeting with the Washington Commanders, who are 1-3-1 after tying the New York Giants.
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