49ers nearly let 6-0 slip away in 23-17 win as Commanders' comeback falls short

The San Francisco 49ers nearly blew a 20-point lead against the Washington Commanders on Monday night at Levi's Stadium, but they held on to win 23-17 and improve to 6-0 on the season.

After going up 23-3 early in the second half, the 49ers allowed two consecutive touchdowns that cut Washington's deficit to six. A large reason for those struggles? Penalties. San Francisco committed 11 infractions for 88 yards on Monday, many of which came in crucial moments.

Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, after largely being held in check early, exploded in the second half, finishing the night with a 72.5% completion rate, 300 passing yards and two touchdowns.

The bulk of Daniels' production came on three of Washington's final four drives. He first led an 11-play, 56-yard drive for a score. Then, a 10-play, 66-yard march to the end zone.

Finally, with four minutes to go, Commanders running back Jeremy McNichols broke free and scampered to the end zone for what would have been a game-tying touchdown. But a facemask on guard Chris Paul negated the score. With the ball at the Niners' 29-yard line, rookie defensive end Romello Height collected a fourth-down sack on Daniels, which would have essentially sealed the result… but a penalty on safety Ashtyn Davis gave the Commanders yet another life.

It looked like the 49ers were going to have an epic meltdown. The Commanders were down six with the ball in the red zone. But 49ers safety Malik Mustapha, who broke out last Sunday in the 49ers' 32-29 win over the Seattle Seahawks, made two plays that got the 49ers' defense off the field. First, he delivered a crushing hit in the box on McNichols on third down, followed by a pass breakup in the end zone on receiver Treylon Burks on fourth down.

The Commanders got one last chance in the final minute and worked their way back into 49ers territory, but an intentional grounding call on Daniels moved the ball back 12 yards. On the game's final play, Height and Keion White teamed up for a game-sealing sack, the 49ers' fourth of the game.

SF: Kittle 11 pass from Purdy (Piñeiro kick), 10:53. Drive: 10 plays, 64 yards, 4:07. Key Plays: James kick return to San Francisco 36; Purdy 24 pass to Evans on 3rd-and-4; Black 2 run on 3rd-and-1. San Francisco 7, Washington 0.

Was: FG Stevens 51, 8:48. Drive: 6 plays, 32 yards, 2:05. Key Play: Daniels 27 pass to McLaurin. San Francisco 7, Washington 3.

SF: C.McCaffrey 1 run (kick failed), 4:09. Drive: 9 plays, 72 yards, 4:39. Key Plays: Cowing kick return to San Francisco 28; Purdy 54 pass to Evans; Purdy 12 pass to Kittle on 3rd-and-15; Purdy 7 run on 4th-and-3. San Francisco 13, Washington 3.

SF: C.McCaffrey 1 run (Piñeiro kick), :13. Drive: 14 plays, 69 yards, 6:13. Key Plays: Purdy 13 pass to C.McCaffrey; Purdy 10 pass to Juszczyk; Purdy 11 run on 3rd-and-11; Purdy 16 pass to Evans; Purdy 4 pass to Kittle on 3rd-and-5; Purdy 2 run on 4th-and-1. San Francisco 20, Washington 3.

SF: FG Piñeiro 33, 5:56. Drive: 11 plays, 65 yards, 6:05. Key Plays: C.McCaffrey 5 run on 3rd-and-3; Purdy 35 pass to Kittle; Purdy 2 run on 3rd-and-1. San Francisco 23, Washington 3.

Was: Diggs 1 pass from Daniels (Stevens kick), :15. Drive: 12 plays, 65 yards, 5:41. Key Plays: Daniels 16 pass to Okonkwo; Daniels 13 pass to Diggs on 4th-and-5. San Francisco 23, Washington 10.

Was: R.White 9 pass from Daniels (Stevens kick), 9:22. Drive: 10 plays, 80 yards, 4:43. Key Play: Daniels 23 pass to A.Williams on 3rd-and-8. San Francisco 23, Washington 17.

RUSHING: Washington, White 7-27, McNichols 5-13, Daniels 4-10, Ekeler 1-3. San Francisco, McCaffrey 16-64, Black 8-34, Purdy 5-28.

PASSING: Washington, Daniels 29-40-0-300. San Francisco, Purdy 21-29-0-264.

RECEIVING: Washington, Okonkwo 7-69, Diggs 6-44, Burks 4-66, White 4-30, Williams 3-50, Ekeler 2-4, McLaurin 1-27, Brown 1-6, Bates 1-4. San Francisco, McCaffrey 9-53, Kittle 5-69, Evans 3-94, Watkins 1-22, Cooks 1-13, Juszczyk 1-10, Black 1-3.

PUNT RETURNS: Washington, None. San Francisco, Cowing 1-2.

KICKOFF RETURNS: Washington, McCaffrey 3-72. San Francisco, James 2-58, Cowing 1-24.

TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS: Washington, Styles 7-6-0, Robertson 3-4-0, Reaves 3-3-0, Luvu 2-6-0, Chaisson 2-2-0, Oweh 2-1-1, Tuttle 2-1-1, Amos 2-0-0, Cross 2-0-0, Kinlaw 2-0-0, Armstrong 1-2-0, Douglas 1-2-0, Payne 1-2-0, Medrano 1-1-0, Sainristil 1-0-0, Wise 1-0-0, Martin 0-2-0. San Francisco, Dugger 8-3-0, Warner 6-2-0, Brown 4-0-0, Mustapha 4-0-0, Lenoir 3-0-0, M.Williams 2-1-1, Graham 2-0-0, Stout 2-0-0, White 1-3-.5, Odighizuwa 1-2-1, Halton 1-0-1, Davis 1-0-0, Kareem 1-0-0, Thompson 1-0-0, Valdez 1-0-0, Height 0-3-.5, Gifford 0-1-0.

INTERCEPTIONS: Washington, None. San Francisco, None.

OFFICIALS: Referee Adrian Hill, Ump Roy Ellison, HL Danny Short, LJ Julian Mapp, FJ Tra Boger, SJ Glen Fucik, BJ Greg Steed, Replay Bob Hubbell.

Meanwhile, on the offensive side, the 49ers' attack sputtered in the second half after wide receiver Mike Evans exited with an aggravation to his previously-injured Achilles, which had already made him questionable to play Monday.

Quarterback Brock Purdy authored three touchdown drives in the first half as San Francisco had 17 first downs. But after the break, the 49ers picked up only three first downs and gained just 72 yards of total offense.

"We gotta pick it up," Purdy said of the offense on the broadcast postgame.