LANDOVER, Md. — The 49ers weren’t exactly steamrolling toward a decisive win Sunday. Then came the fourth quarter and some appropriate heroics.
First, cornerback Charvarius Ward rushed in to make an interception near their goal line.
A few minutes later, Brock Purdy reversed field away from trouble, directed Brandon Aiyuk to a happy place in the end zone, and, voila, a 17-yard, third-down touchdown pass put the 49ers up 27-10.
That was just the complementary football needed. They had turned a takeaway into a touchdown. They had found their confidence and swagger that had been missing most of the day.
By leaving with a 27-10 win over the last-place but pesky Washington Commanders, the 49ers (12-4) assured themselves of a top-two seed for the NFC playoffs, with the No. 1 seed still in their grasp heading into next weekend’s regular-season finale against the Los Angeles Rams.
Meanwhile, 128 miles up the Eastern Seaboard, the Philadelphia Eagles were having trouble against the last-place but pesky Arizona Cardinals. An Eagles’ loss would secure the No. 1 seed for the 49ers.
Although the NFC West-champion 49ers rebounded from their Christmas night loss to the AFC-leading Baltimore Ravens, they did leave with an injury to a very important player: Christian McCaffrey.
McCaffrey’s right calf forced him out late in the third quarter, mere minutes after he was on the sideline using a therapeutic massage gun on his left hamstring and quadriceps. Elijah Mitchell was summoned for his most extensive action in over a year, and his 80 rushing yards included a 2-yard touchdown run for a 20-10 lead late in the third quarter.
Purdy became the 49ers’ all-time, single-season leader in passing yards (4,280) while bouncing back strong after his first-career four-interception game (and his second straight with a nerve-stinger to his left shoulder). Of Purdy’s 230 yards on 22-of-28 passing, his best came on the 49ers’ final scoring drive, with a 38-yard completion to Aiyuk setting up their improvised, 18-yard touchdown strike.
Having already blown a 10-point lead in the first half, the 49ers were on the brink of losing a chunk of that 20-10 lead, until Ward made his fifth interception this season. Ward cut in front of Washington ace receiver Terry McLaurin to make the grand theft at the 2-yard line, courtesy of Sam Howell’s NFL-high 18th interception.
Howell was supposed to have been benched this game, but he got pressed back into the starting role once Jacoby Brissett sustained a hamstring injury in Thursday’s practice. Deommodore Lenoir produced another interception off him before the fourth quarter was done.
The 49ers jumped out to a 10-0, first-quarter lead, but Howell pulled the Commanders into a 10-10 tie, and although the 49ers took a 13-10 lead into halftime, this wasn’t the lopsided affair anticipated between a NFC-leading team and a last-place host.
Jake Moody’s two field goals came as consolation prizes on first-half drives that stalled because of negative plays. On the opening drive, Christian McCaffrey got stuffed for a 5-yard loss on a red-zone catch, and, on the final drive before halftime, McCaffrey lost 3 yards on a first-and-goal run from the 1.
The 49ers were first-quarter ball hogs, eating up 12 ½ minutes on its two scoring drives. Moody hit a 38-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead, then Deebo Samuel scored on a 2-yard shovel pass from Purdy to make it 10-0. It was Samuel’s career-high seventh touchdown catch of the season.
For Purdy, it was his 30th touchdown pass, the 49ers’ first quarterback to reach that mark since Jeff Garcia in 2001. The only 49ers’ quarterbacks to throw at least 30 in a season are Steve Young (36 in 1998, 35 in ’94), Garcia (32 in 2001, 31 in 2000), Joe Montana (31 in 1987) and John Brodie (30 in 1965).
The 49ers’ 10-0 lead evaporated with 4 ½ minutes before halftime. Washington’s first points, like the 49ers’, came on a field goal, then it was McLaurin tying the score on a third-and-goal, 3-yard touchdown catch against Ambry Thomas. Earlier on that drive, McLaurin caught a 42-yard, third-and-2 bomb against Lenoir.
Before all was said and done, Brandon Aiyuk left with 114 yards, Deebo Samuel racked up 72 all-purpose yards, and George Kittle’s 29 yards pushed him over the 1,000-yard receiving mark for the first time since he did so in the 2017 and ’18 seasons.
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