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Reminders of every gutsy, grimy detail behind the 49ers' 17-13 win over the Seattle Seahawks were scattered all about the visitors' relieved locker room.

General manager John Lynch pulled a chair up next to receiver Jauan Jennings, who struggled to put on his jacket over his injured shoulder. Jennings, one of the toughest 49ers, was feeling the physical toll that this game had taken — and Lynch, the former safety who'd seen his own fair share of NFL slobberknockers, knew that it was important to check in on one of his former players.

On the other side of the room, a scab remained on linebacker Fred Warner's nose. In a particularly brutal first half collision, the superstar's chin strap had pushed up into and cut his face, all while a defender's cleat spiked his stomach. Warner, while his face bled, felt like he wanted to vomit. But he re-entered the game a couple minutes later and helped spearhead a Herculean 49ers' defensive effort that had him and edge rusher Nick Bosa — whose bullrush on former teammate Sam Darnold and fumble recovery sealed the 17-13 win — laughing in the locker room after.

Then there was Ricky Pearsall. The receiver didn't have to deal with an injury Sunday, but there came a pivotal fourth quarter point when he and 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy also needed to show serious guts.

Blown opportunities — including a missed Jake Moody field goal, a blocked kick and two Purdy interceptions — had put the 49ers on the doorstep of defeat. And Seattle's defensive line was giving the 49ers' front all it could handle, so more three-yard runs or completions to underneath receivers weren't going to cut it.

"We need to go deep one time," Pearsall said. "I said on the sideline, 'We need to hit someone on a double move.'"

The problem: Seattle realized the same thing just as the 49ers called a curl-and-go to Pearsall. Cornerback Riq Woolen backed up to prevent that exact play.

So at the line, Purdy and Pearsall thought of going conservative again. But the magnitude of the moment overrode any potential conservatism. Fortune does, after all, favor the bold.

"I was like, 'We might as well run it,'" Pearsall said. "Trust your speed."

Purdy's 45-yard laser to Pearsall put the 49ers, trailing 13-10 at the time, in position to take the lead. Five plays later, Purdy — rolling to his right in a manner evocative of Joe Montana's most famous moment — rifled the go-ahead touchdown to tight end Jake Tonges.

That was an even bigger risk. After the slog of the prior 58 minutes, Purdy decided he had to essentially force the ball through Woolen, and Tonges — who didn't have a career catch entering this game — rewarded his QB by snatching it away from the corner at the top of a big leap.

This wasn't a playoff game, so "The Catch IV" wouldn't be an apt moniker. But Tonges' reception, which positioned Purdy for his fourth win in Seattle in four tries, does deserve a nickname. And the South Bay native's background allows for one to roll off the tongue.

"When Brock was breaking the pocket, I couldn't see it at all," 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said after. "I didn't know if he was throwing it away, I didn't know if it was a pick. But our guys on the sideline started cheering, so it ended well."

Per NFL Next Gen Stats, Purdy faced pressure on 57.9% of drop backs, the highest rate of his career. His two gaffes, then, were understandable ones. Coach Mike Macdonald's defense has top-5 aspirations — and it was clearly dialed in against a 49ers offense that lost key players through the afternoon.

Tight end George Kittle, who caught a game-opening touchdown from Purdy to cap a 95-yard touchdown drive, exited with a hamstring injury. Later, Jennings left with that painful shoulder issue. Both Kittle and Jennings will undergo MRIs Monday, Shanahan said the 49ers will continue trying to re-sign their former receiver Kendrick Bourne.

The 49ers leaned heavily into running back Christian McCaffrey as a result of their Sunday shortages. He led the team with nine catches and 142 all-purpose yards.

But Seattle made every bit of sledding tough for the 49ers, who managed just 3.3 yards per rush. It might've been easy to forget that, outside of that statistic, the 49ers actually dominated this game statistically. The 49ers held the ball for nearly 38 minutes, compared to only 22 minutes for Seattle. They ran 22 more plays than the Seahawks, who didn't manage to push well past 4 yards per play until Darnold found receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba on a late deep heave.

Lodged in that statistical stranglehold were reasons for 49ers' optimism in 2025. Their renovated defense, which started three rookies, seemingly grew up on the spot Sunday. Darnold and the Seahawks victimized nickelback Upton Stout twice in the first half but were unable to do so again in the second half, when the third-round pick even posted a key PBU.

"Stuff like that is going to happen," 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir said of Stout's early struggles in the locker room. "You've just got to give it time with the young guys."

Returning defensive coordinator Robert Saleh dialed up a slew of blitzes that suppressed Darnold to 150 passing yards. The young 49ers' front seven, a year after the team was gashed repeatedly by the run, allowed only 3.2 yards per carry.

Toward the end, another rookie, safety Marques Sigle, then recovered a critical fumble forced by 49ers D-lineman Sam Okuayinonu.

Not long after that, Bosa — one of the 49ers' veteran stalwarts who's being tasked with guiding the youth movement — sealed the game when he pushed right tackle Abe Lucas into Darnold. That forced a fumble that Bosa recovered to finish it.

The moment might not've been as stomach-churning as the one that transpired on the same side of the field in 2019, when former 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw stonewalled Seattle receiver Jacob Hollister a millimeter short of the goal line.

There wasn't as much at stake this time. Greenlaw's legendary moment came in the final week of the season and clinched the No. 1 seed for the 49ers. This Bosa coup de grâce came in Week 1 and simply set the table for the road ahead.

But gutsy resolve linked both of those Seattle successes for the 49ers, and it just so happens that their road ahead includes a grudge match with the Seahawks in Week 18 — the very end of the regular season.

For a 49ers team that blew a staggering four divisional games in the final minutes last year, Sunday's triumph could be considered a huge confidence boost entering the march toward that bookending matchup with the Seahawks in about four months.

"That was one that could've gone either way, especially after the missed field goal, the block, the two turnovers, a few of the big injuries in this game," Shanahan said. "So for us to find a way to close out this win, I was really proud of this year's team."

And that's why left tackle Trent Williams, leaning back against the chair at his locker, held a wide smile for a long time after the game. Williams had lived through the toil of 2024. He realized that the 49ers needed to set a new trajectory in 2025.

"That one," Williams said, still grinning, "was fun."

He then remembered his view on Tonges' game-winning catch.

"I saw him sky up for the ball," Williams said. "It was like a movie."