49ers hold off Commanders 23-17 to stay unbeaten at 6-0

The San Francisco 49ers survived a ferocious fourth-quarter fightback from the Washington Commanders to win 23-17 on Monday Night Football at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on 19 October, moving to 6-0 and remaining the NFL’s last unbeaten team, Fox Sports reports.

San Francisco led 23-3 late in the third quarter — Christian McCaffrey scored twice and Brock Purdy continued what Fox Sports called his “MVP-caliber” season — before Jayden Daniels threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs in the dying seconds of the third quarter, then found Rachaad White in the end zone in the fourth to cut the deficit to six, according to USA Today’s live blog.

The win was sealed when safety Malik Mustapha broke up Daniels’s fourth-down pass intended for Treylon Burks with 1:54 remaining, and sacks by Keon White and Romello Height finished off Washington’s final drive, Niners Wire reported. The quarter scores read 13/7/3/0 for San Francisco and 3/0/7/7 for Washington, per Commanders Wire.

It is San Francisco’s second 6-0 start under Kyle Shanahan; the last, in 2019, ended with a trip to the Super Bowl, while the Commanders fall to 1-4-1, per Fox Sports. Washington wide receiver Terry McLaurin was carted off in the first half with a knee injury and ruled out; the team gave no further diagnosis. San Francisco also lost wide receiver Mike Evans to an Achilles injury in the first half, with the 49ers announcing he would not return, per USA Today.