SEATTLE — Maybe the 49ers didn’t quite save their season Thursday, but they saved a precious part of what they believe about themselves.
They walked into Lumen Field just four days after monumentally blowing a late lead at home against the Cardinals, two weeks after they monumentally blew another late lead against the Rams.
The 49ers were a little dizzy. They were in some crisis. They’ve got major injuries throughout the roster. But they can’t be losing like they did in Weeks 3 and 5. Who are they if keep screwing up games? Definitely not the bad-ass, perpetual Super Bowl-contending 49ers. Somebody else. Somebody worse.
Then, on Thursday, before a national television audience, they jumped out early on the Seahawks, forced three turnovers, committed none, racked up 483 yards of offense, and held on for a 36-24 victory after almost blowing this one too.
The 49ers win these games. They kept telling themselves that in the brief run-up to this one — even when Charvarius Ward was ruled out right before kickoff; even when workhorse Jordan Mason was lost after one play in the second half. The 49ers have made it to two Super Bowls and four NFC Championship Games in the last five seasons because they know who they are. And they still can be who they are, even with third- and fourth-string running backs carrying the ball and youngsters playing everywhere in the secondary.
They win these games.
“You obviously want to bring a high sense of urgency every game, but when your backs are against the wall, it kind of brings it out of you,” Nick Bosa said. “I’m just glad when the momentum swung there we stuck with it. That was kind of the message all week.”
Oh, yes, that momentum thing. On Thursday, the 49ers cruised to a 23-3 lead early in the third quarter but then immediately gave up a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. The 49ers punted on their next possession and watched the Seahawks march 94 yards for another TD. And the lead was just 23-17.
Were they worrying that the bad things were happening again, with another division rival?
“One thousand percent,” Fred Warner said with a smile. “It sucks, but yes. It was something that felt familiar, for sure, and I’m like, hey, we can go one of two ways here. We can stand tall in a hostile environment in a game we know we’ve gotta get. Or we can settle for exactly how we’ve been playing the last couple losses we’ve had.”
The 49ers punted again once Seattle closed to within one score, but then the defense stuffed the Seahawks’ offense two straight times — once on a three-and-out and once on a big interception by rookie Renardo Green to set up Brock Purdy’s second touchdown pass of the game to George Kittle.
And then it wasn’t so tense anymore. Finally, rookie Isaac Guerendo helped cap it off with a 76-yard run to set up a Kyle Juszczyk TD. So the 49ers are now 3-3 and tied with Seattle for first place in the NFC West.
“We knew the gravity of the situation,” Warner said. “We couldn’t drop 0-3 in the division to start the year.”
Or, as Trent Williams put it: “Every bit of a must-win without technically being a must-win.”
The larger point is that the 49ers have roared back from similar shaky starts over recent years. They were 3-5 to begin 2021 but won a couple of gut-check games in October and November and sprinted deep into the playoffs. And they were 3-4 to start 2022, then finished the regular season on a 10-0 run and barreled into the postseason. Sometimes they put themselves in precarious situations in October, but they don’t blow their season when the pressure builds early.
There’s just a feeling around the team about this stuff. The young guys pick up on it. The coach doesn’t need to give too many speeches. He mostly presumes the culture of the locker room will bring this out.
“You know, we were just sick about those two losses that we had,” Kyle Shanahan said. “We talked about some losses are harder than others. And when you feel you had those, especially division games, made us sick about it.”
The 49ers are quite proud that they’ve beaten the Seahawks six times in a row (counting a January 2022 wild-card game at Levi’s Stadium), including three consecutively in this rowdy stadium.
Now the 49ers have the weekend off to rest up for a big tilt against the Kansas City Chiefs, who, of course, beat the 49ers in two recent Super Bowls, including last February. The Chiefs are on a bye this weekend, so they’ll be fully rested.
The 49ers won’t get Christian McCaffrey or Talanoa Hufanga back for a few more weeks, and who knows about Mason and Ward. Also, the team might be burning through their second kicker in two weeks after replacement Matthew Wright banged himself up making a tackle on a kickoff Thursday after Jake Moody was hurt doing the exact same thing against the Cardinals.
But the 49ers have Purdy, who was terrific Thursday (18 of 28 for 255 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 129.3 passer rating) after one of his poorer games Sunday. He bounces back too.
“More than anything, I’m proud just how we all stuck together as a unit,” Purdy said. “When guys got banged up or went down, the next guy came in and did their job really well. That’s a good sign for all of us.”
It wasn’t perfect. But it was pretty good, with a lot of season left to go. The 49ers could mess this all up again, of course. The schedule is not easy — after the Chiefs, the 49ers host the Cowboys, who also will be coming off a bye. Then the 49ers get their bye and have to fly to Tampa Bay to play the Buccaneers.
Maybe they’ll be mostly healthy by that Week 10 game. Maybe not. But as always, they’ve given themselves every shot at this. They’re not a team that screws this up. They’re too good for that.
“Obviously, as long as we can keep Brock upright, he’s going to carve the defense up,” Williams said. “Long as we can get the running backs to the line of scrimmage clean, they’re going to fall forward, they’re going to get yards.
“We’re not where we want to be,” he added, “but we are on a good track.”
The 49ers found their baseline Thursday — the point from which they will likely not go any lower, the place where they collect themselves and get ready for a run. It might not get better from here, but it probably will. There’s just too much history — and pride — to assume anything else.