The first half looked like a demolition, the last two minutes like a thriller. In the Monday night game in Santa Clara, San Francisco held off Washington 23-17 and remain perfect after six weeks, their best start since the 2019 team opened 8-0 on its way to the Super Bowl.
Brock Purdy set the tone immediately. Three plays in, a long completion to Mike Evans moved the ball deep into Washington territory, and soon after Kittle caught the opening touchdown. Christian McCaffrey then bulldozed in twice from close range. At halftime San Francisco had gained 303 yards, the visitors a mere 90. By the end, the quarterback had completed 21 passes from 29 attempts, gaining 264 yards. With that, he cleared the 1,500-attempt minimum and officially owns the best career passer rating in NFL history, 105.6, ahead of Lamar Jackson.
After halftime, though, the 49ers offence stalled with just three first downs. Washington’s young quarterback Jayden Daniels found the end zone twice through the air, and suddenly a 20-point gap had shrunk to six. Less than two minutes from time, it came down to fourth down near the goal line, and safety Malik Mustapha swatted the ball away from Treylon Burks. Washington got one more chance, but a grounding penalty and then a shared sack from Keion White and Ogbo Okoronkwo snuffed it out.
Daniels admitted afterwards that his side had played well for only one half and needed to compete for all four quarters. Kyle Shanahan praised what he called his side’s “competitive stamina”. The duel also had a personal angle: Shanahan once served as offensive coordinator under Commanders coach Dan Quinn in Atlanta.
Washington paid a high price. Their top receiver, Terry McLaurin, hurt his knee early on and had to be driven off on a cart; his coach expects bad news. For the 49ers, Evans left with Achilles tendinitis, although Shanahan does not expect a long absence. The Commanders now have a bye before hosting Philadelphia on 1 November.
