Niners Bulletin: The great, the good, and the bad from an epic win in Seattle

By Jack Loder

If the NFL season is a semester, the 49ers just passed their toughest midterm. The team’s doubters still had reason to be skeptical through four weeks. Even while acknowledging how well the team was playing, a week five date with Seattle loomed as a sure to be revealing exam. 

Brock Purdy and the 49ers answered the bell on Sunday. It wasn’t dominant, much of the time it wasn’t even pretty, but the Niners were far more clutch than their rivals to the north, and ultimately those late game plays are the reason San Francisco walked out of Lumen Field with a win and a still unblemished 5-0 record. There’s far less now for doubters to grasp after a gutsy fourth quarter offensive performance propelled the 49ers to a dramatic 32-29 victory. 

Much of this result can be chalked up to the off-season. After winning the Super Bowl, Seattle subtracted. The Seahawks lost Kenneth Walker, and didn’t make a meaningful addition there. The 49ers, often injury-riddled especially at skill positions, added future hall-of-fame WR Mike Evans. They would not have won Sunday without Evans’ efforts, especially in the second half. He finished with seven receptions for 113 yards and a touchdown. Five of his seven catches went for first downs or touchdowns. Simply put, a potent Seattle defense had no answer for the Purdy to Evans connection. 

Evans doesn’t lack any self confidence, even as he is firmly on the back nine of his storied career. Fighting through what looks to be an obviously painful broken rib, his self assessment hasn’t changed. 

“I do feel like I’m one of the best receivers in the game, hurt or not,” Evans said after the win. “I got a big frame, if you throw it around me, I’m going to try my best to make that contested grab.” 

That he did, and then some. He was Purdy’s safety net in the second half, converting on two long first down catches before hauling in the two-point conversion during a fourth quarter touchdown drive that gave the Niners a three point lead. 

A 32-point performance usually means offensive domination, but it was the 49ers’ defense that carried the team to victory in Seattle. Four turnovers led to 24 points. Rookie defensive tackle Gracen Halton had a sack, and recovered his own strip sacked fumble in the end zone for a touchdown. 

Renardo Green picked off Sam Darnold twice. Once at the Seattle 20 to set up the game’s first touchdown, then again early in the second half. Darnold has to be thankful he won’t be seeing a secondary with Renardo Green patrolling for another month and a half. Halton’s presence in the backfield is a gasp of fresh air for Niners fans who watched a hapless pash rush all last season. The defense sacked Sam Darnold four times, and that total is all without the aid of the still-shelved Nick Bosa. When he’s back, which could be next week against the Commanders, this pass rush has a chance to be a legitimate weapon. 

There were negatives in Seattle, of course. Brock Purdy threw an interception, although it’s only his second of the year. The receivers were nearly non-existent outside of Evans. Eddy Pineiro missed another field goal, a situation that’s quietly becoming… a situation. 

But the returns from an epic afternoon are overwhelmingly positive. They won’t all be pretty. Some will be downright ugly.Don’t overthink it. When you go on the road and beat the defending champs in their house to remain undefeated, you’ve earned a nice victory Monday. 

Check out postgame coverage below and at the KNBR YouTube channel and all social platforms.