Commanders fall to 49ers 23-17 in Santa Clara as late rally comes up short

Washington left Levi's Stadium with another loss Sunday, falling 23-17 to the San Francisco 49ers despite clawing back from a steep first-half deficit. The Commanders drop to 1-4-1. San Francisco is now 6-0.

The 49ers made it look easy early. Brock Purdy connected with George Kittle on an 11-yard touchdown pass at 10:53 of the first quarter to get San Francisco on the board first. Drew Stevens answered with a 51-yard field goal for Washington, but the 49ers kept coming. Christian McCaffrey punched it in from a yard out twice before halftime, and the Commanders went into the locker room trailing 20-3.

That second McCaffrey score, with 13 seconds left in the half, was the killing blow to the first half. Eddy Pineiro missed the extra point after the first McCaffrey run but made the kick after the second, and a 33-yard Pineiro field goal in the third quarter pushed the lead to 23-3.

Then Jayden Daniels got to work. The rookie completed 29 of 40 passes for 300 yards and two touchdowns. Stefon Diggs caught a 1-yard scoring pass from Daniels with 15 seconds left in the third quarter. Rachaad White hauled in a 9-yard touchdown pass from Daniels with 9:22 left in the fourth to cut the deficit to six. Suddenly it was a game.

Washington could not get the tying score. The 49ers held on, and that was that.

Purdy was sharp for San Francisco: 21 of 29 for 264 yards and the one touchdown. McCaffrey carried 16 times for 64 yards on top of his two scores. Mike Evans was the big play threat for the 49ers, pulling in three catches for 94 yards.

Chig Okonkwo led Washington's receivers with seven catches for 69 yards. White finished as the team's top rusher with 27 yards on 7 carries.

The Commanders trailed by 20 points heading into the fourth quarter and finished five yards short of tying it in the end zone.