SEATTLE — About nine minutes into the San Francisco 49ers’ 20-point lead against the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night, linebacker Fred Warner suffered an embarrassing case of déjà vu.
Seattle scored 14 straight points to cut San Francisco’s lead to six and took the ball back to open the fourth quarter.
For a Niners team with double-digit fourth-quarter leads against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 3 and the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, it’s hard not to doubt that it will be an NFC West trifecta. .
“[A] A thousand percent,” Warner said. “It’s ugly, but yeah, it’s definitely familiar. I said, ‘Hey, we can go one of two ways right here. In a hostile environment we can stand tall and get the game we deserve or settle for how we’ve been playing in the last two losses.”
This time, despite another set of injuries and an unseen challenge replay going against them, the Niners persevered to put away the 36-24 victory they so badly needed.
During the week, the Niners announced that Thursday’s matchup was the closest thing to a must-win game you could get in Week 6 of the NFL. A loss would have dropped them to 2-4 overall, 0-3 in the division and 0-4 in the conference. They would still have 11 games to get back in the mix, but the climb would have been much tougher.
On the other hand, of course, a win would lift the Niners to 3-3 and tie with first-place Seattle in an early head-to-head tiebreaker against the Seahawks.
“I talked about some tough losses, tougher than others and when you think you’ve won, especially divisional games, it sickens us,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We’ve been talking about these two losses as a reminder of how the NFL works, and I think we’ve been a little spoiled by human nature to feel so relaxed sometimes, you can never feel so relaxed.”
Everything the Niners dealt with before the injury this season is tough to fathom. The Niners were already without key players Christian McCaffrey (Achilles tendinitis), linebacker Trey Greenlaw (torn Achilles), defensive tackle Javon Hargrave (torn triceps) and safety Talanoa Hufanga (torn ligaments in his wrist) Thursday. the night
Cornerback Charvaris Ward went through practice hoping to play through a knee injury, but was inactive for a pregame. Rookie safety Malik Mustafa, starting in Hufanga’s place, came up with an early interception that Shanahan later called a low-ankle sprain. Perhaps most importantly, Jordan Mason injured his left shoulder in the first half, returned a carry to open the third quarter and then got the rest of the game only in emergency situations. He finished with 73 yards on nine carries and caught another pass for 9 yards.
Shanahan said Mason will undergo further testing Friday to determine the severity of the injury.
“He thought he was going to be good,” Shanahan said. “He went back in and it really hurt him, so he went out. … And we’ll find out tomorrow.”
If the injuries weren’t bad enough, they were on the wrong end of a replay in which a camera angle showed fans at home at the end, Shanahan said, as Seahawks punt returner Dee Williams fumbled a ball that the Niners would recover at Seattle’s 18. Brian Hampton, the 49ers’ vice president of football administration, warned him about Williams touching the ball, but when officials reviewed the play, they didn’t have an angle that would provide clear evidence. That call stopped and left San Francisco frustrated on the sidelines.
Mark Butterworth, the NFL’s vice president of instant replay, said after the game that they didn’t see a clear replay of where the ball was touched until it was too late to overturn the play.
“I thought because it was ‘Thursday Night Football,’ they would have camera angles,” Shanahan said. “We threw it thinking we’d get some great angles, and then they told me he didn’t. And then two minutes later, I heard all the guys in the box start freaking out that they saw another angle. A fumble.”
As it turned out, that play didn’t matter as the 49ers finished the game with the help of rookies working in alternate roles.
Cornerback Renardo Green, playing more snaps since Ward was out, came up with his first career interception midway through the fourth quarter, catching a 9-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Brock Birdie to George Kittle. Rookie Isaac Curendo ripped off the ensuing 76-yard run for Mason.
“We’ve been in a lot of big games and we’ve won a lot of big games,” Kittle said. “We’ve lost some big games, so we’re experienced at this point. … When you have new guys in there, and they feel the confidence from all the guys that have been there before, they feel it. They fit right in and they have that confidence, so , that’s what our team has been in those situations and we’ve done well with them, especially on the road in Seattle.”
While the 49ers can enjoy Thursday’s win for a few extra days, it won’t take long to turn their attention to the next opponent on the schedule, the Kansas City Chiefs. The 49ers haven’t beaten Kansas City in a regular or postseason game since Shanahan took over in 2017, including a pair of Super Bowl losses.
Kansas City is 5-0 and will be more rested than the Niners.
No one in San Francisco says they have to win. But there’s no denying that they love it.
“It’s not like we’re going to take back losing in the Super Bowl,” Williams said. “That ship has sailed. … Obviously, we know one of the best teams in the league, an All-Star quarterback, a great coach, what kind of team. So, it’s going to be a tough game. We’ll take these three days off and regroup.” Trying to put together a complete game.”
