CNN
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The San Francisco 49ers entered Thursday Night Football against the division rival Seattle Seahawks in need of a win after a disappointing home loss to the Arizona Cardinals last time out.
Despite some tense moments, the 49ers got back on track with a 36-24 win at Lumen Field.
After blowing a 13-point lead against the Cardinals in Week 5, the 49ers took a 16-3 lead at halftime and extended that lead to 23-3, appearing to be well on their way to exorcising their demons. I saw it.
But on the next play, Seattle’s Laviska Shenault scored a 97-yard kickoff return touchdown to narrow the lead, and Kenneth Walker’s 1-yard touchdown run cut the lead to six points with 4 remaining minutes in the fourth quarter.
But unlike against Arizona, the 49ers didn’t buckle under pressure. A 9-yard pass from Brock Purdy to George Kittle and a 6-yard run from Kyle Juszczyk kept San Francisco in front no matter what Seattle attempted to counter.
After disappointing losses to the Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams in recent weeks, head coach Kyle Shanahan said he “feels bad” about the results.
But after Thursday’s win, he said he was more impressed with how his team bounced back against the Seahawks.
“We’ve been talking about how these two losses remind us of how the NFL works,” Shanahan told reporters. “We’re a little spoiled in terms of human nature, and sometimes we feel like we’re too relaxed, but we can never be too relaxed.
“I thought we played really well in the second half, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to win. That’s how it works. We played well. They played well. They came back and made some plays. The way we played, the game was tense, and I was happy that our team was able to fight through it. We knew the game was never going to be over just sitting back and relaxing in the fourth quarter. You have to follow it from start to finish, and we experienced that today.”
Purdy led the offense with a clean performance, completing 18 of 28 throws for 255 yards and three touchdowns.
The 49ers’ running game appeared to take a hit midway through the second quarter when Jordan Mason, who was filling in for Christian McCaffrey, left with a shoulder injury. At that point, Mason had nine rushes for 73 yards.
But San Francisco didn’t miss a beat on the ground as rookie Isaac Guerend came on and carried the ball 10 times for 99 yards.
A defense that was missing several key starters did a great job holding Seattle’s offense to just 52 rushing yards and intercepting quarterback Geno Smith twice, including on the first drive of the game. .
It was a special game for 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who made NFL history in Thursday’s matchup.
The two-way offensive weapon, known for his receiving and rushing ability, scored with a 76-yard touchdown catch midway through the second quarter. In doing so, he achieved 20 touchdown receptions and 20 touchdown runs, becoming the first wide receiver in NFL history.
Afterward, Samuel talked about the importance of Thursday’s win, which helped San Francisco improve to 3-3.
“It was definitely a must-win, but (I) looked at a must-win a little differently,” Samuel, who had a game-high 102 receiving yards and 15 rushing yards on three receptions, told reporters.
“A must-win is like if you lose, you’re done. So at the end of the day, we treated this game as a must-win to make sure we got back on track.”
