The San Francisco 49ers improved to 8-4 on Sunday with a 20-9 win over the Carolina Panthers, getting back-to-back wins for the first time since Week 3.
It was a strong defensive performance from the 49ers, who forced two turnovers, kept Bryce Young in check, and allowed only two scores on nine drives.
Offensively, San Francisco overcame three ugly Brock Purdy interceptions as they had 147 rushing yards on 38 attempts, while kicker Matt Gay had two field goals in his debut.
Here are three quick takeaways from the 49ers 20-9 win over the Panthers on Monday night.
Saleh has a day
San Francisco’s defense started Monday’s game on fire. To do that with the personnel on the field and without much of a pass rush speaks to the game plan that Robert Saleh had for this Panthers offense.
I mentioned how tackling and swarming to the ball was going to be important against an offense that doesn’t have many explosive plays in the air. Well, San Francisco held Bryce Young to 5.8 yards per attempt, despite a lack of pressure.
The 49ers forced a three-and-out on their first drive and got an interception in the red zone after Brock Purdy’s first interception placed the defense in an awful spot.
San Francisco proceeded to force two more three-and-outs in the first half, with Carolina’s lone score being a field goal drive after another Purdy interception.
Carolina got just three points off three turnovers in the first half. That’s a great showing from the 49ers defense, who shut down the run enough to make the Panthers one-dimensional.
In the second half, the Panthers opened with a quick punt, which the 49ers responded to with a touchdown to increase their lead to 17-3.
Carolina finally got some movement, getting an eight-play, 68-yard touchdown drive on its next possession, but Bryce Young threw his second interception on the following drive, killing the Panthers momentum near the red zone.
Ultimately, the 49ers had a shutdown first half. Then, after giving up some plays in the second half, they made the big plays and limited Carolina to just nine points.
That’s a great job from Robert Saleh finding a way to put his defense in great spots without getting much pressure up front.
Brock struggles
Last weekend, I felt that Brock Purdy put a few balls in harm’s way, but Arizona wasn’t able to capitalize. That led to Purdy having a better box score, throwing for 200 yards and three touchdowns in his return from injury.
On Monday, the rust didn’t wear off, and the performance wasn’t pretty. After the opening 15-play, 72-drive touchdown drive, Purdy threw three consecutive interceptions. The first one was a floated pass on a dig that cornerback Jaycee Horn was able to undercut. With more velocity, the ball could’ve gotten there in a tight window, but it was also a questionable decision on what seemed like a good playcall.
On the second interception, Purdy underthrew an open Ricky Pearsall with another floater. There were several issues with the play. After stepping up in a clean pocket, Purdy had a ton of green grass ahead of him and could’ve just taken what the defense gave him and run for a first down. There were also other open receivers, such as George Kittle, but I didn’t hate the decision from Purdy. It was the execution that was a major issue.
On the third interception, Purdy telegraphed the pass once again, just like his first pick, and threw another floater that allowed a cornerback to leave his assignment and go across the field to intercept. It felt like Purdy just wasn’t willing to take what the defense gave him, which was a huge issue in 2024 when he tried to play ‘hero ball’ too many times.
After that, it felt like Kyle Shanahan had no faith in his quarterback. The 49ers still put points on the board, but there weren’t many downfield passes from Purdy anymore, with the throws much closer to the line of scrimmage and with a lot of yards after the catch.
Perhaps it’s just rust. But, Purdy’s making a lot of recurring mistakes, and the velocity on his throws is becoming a problem. There isn’t a quarterback controversy in San Francisco after the contract Purdy got in the offseason, but Mac Jones was playing at a higher level than what we’ve seen the last two weeks.
Control of game
While the 49ers had the three early interceptions that took them away from points, it really felt like they were in full control of the game at the beginning.
It all started with a nice, methodical 15-play drive where the 49ers asserted their control on the first possession of the game. San Francisco got a Jauan Jennings touchdown to cap the drive and took off more than half of the quarter’s clock in the process.
Then, they got a quick three-and-out. Even after Purdy threw an interception on the first play of the following drive, the defense got the ball right back with a pick on the fourth play.
San Francisco had 28 plays to Carolina’s seven through the first 20+ minutes of the game, and that was with two Brock Purdy interceptions. In the first half, they nearly doubled the Panthers’ time of possession.
The 49ers ended up with 37:42 time of possession. But, it wasn’t just that. There wasn’t really a time in the game where it felt like San Francisco was going to lose. The defense responded well to the interceptions, and the 49ers were leading from the opening possession.
That’s a good sign to see against a team San Francisco should beat, and that’ll be important next weekend against a feisty Cleveland Browns defense.
