SEATTLE – The San Francisco 49ers have been like a baseball team forced to play without its injured All-Star closer.
Everyone in the bullpen has had to alter their roles, and the manager hasn’t quite been sure whom to hand the ball to in the ninth inning.
Or, in the 49ers’ case, the fourth quarter.
Thursday night, the 49ers used a bullpen-by-committee approach in the absence of reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffrey, who has yet to take a snap this season because of Achilles tendinitis, as they held on for a 36-24 victory against host Seattle to pull even with the Seahawks atop the NFC West at 3-3.
The 49ers had already blown double-digit leads in losses to division rivals Arizona and the Los Angeles Rams and looked like they might do it again after building a 20-point edge early in the third quarter on the first of George Kittle’s two touchdown receptions.
Seattle’s Laviska Shenault Jr. returned the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown, Kenneth Walker III scored on a 1-yard run, and the Seahawks got the ball back trailing 23-17.
All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner admitted to having flashbacks to the previous defeats at that point.
“(A) thousand percent,” Warner said. “It sucks, but yes, it was something that felt familiar for sure. I’m like, ‘Hey, we can go one of two ways right here. We can stand tall in a hostile environment and get the game that we got to get, or we can settle for exactly how we’ve been playing the last couple losses.’”
Rookie 49ers defensive back Renardo Green then stepped in front of DK Metcalf and picked off a Geno Smith pass to set up Kittle’s second touchdown, a 9-yard reception with 6:20 remaining, to make it 29-17.
“We’ve been in a lot of big games, we’ve won a lot of big games. We’ve lost some big games, and so it’s just we are experienced in the moment,” Kittle said. “When you have new guys out there and when they feel the confidence from all the guys who’ve been through there before, they feel like they fit right into it and they have that confidence as well. So, it’s just our team’s been in those situations, and we’ve done pretty good with those, especially here on the road in Seattle.”
The Seahawks scored again with 1:44 left to pull within six and had all three timeouts remaining.
Niners rookie Isaac Guerendo broke free on a 76-yard run, and two plays later fullback Kyle Juszczyk clinched the victory by scoring from 6 yards.
Guerendo rushed for 99 yards on 10 attempts after Jordan Mason, who entered the game second in the NFL in rushing, left with a shoulder injury after gaining 73 yards on nine carries.
“I’ve talked about some hard losses are harder than others and when you feel like you have those won, especially division games, that’s made us sick about it,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We’ve been talking about how these two losses are a reminder of how the NFL works, and I think we got a little spoiled in that way of just human nature of sometimes feeling too relaxed and you can never feel too relaxed.”
The Niners’ Brock Purdy was 18-of-28 passing for 255 yards and three touchdowns, including a 76-yarder to Deebo Samuel Sr. in the first half.
“We talk about it all the time, and it’s something we’ve had to get better at this season,” Purdy said of holding on to leads. “Coach always says, no matter what the score is, our offense should be able to put up points when our team needs it.”
The 49ers will take the weekend off before preparing for a Super Bowl 58 rematch against the Kansas City Chiefs (5-0), who are on their bye week. The Chiefs beat San Francisco 25-22 in overtime in the title game played Feb. 11 in Las Vegas.
“It’s not like we can get payback for losing in the Super Bowl,” 49ers All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams said. “That ship has sailed. … Obviously, we know what type of team that is—one of the best teams in the league, all-star quarterback, great coach. So, it’s going to be a tough game regardless. We’re going to take these three days off and regroup and come try to put a complete game together.”
