(Santa Clara) Brock Purdy again threw two long touchdown passes to George Kittle and the 49ers San Francisco beat the Washington Commanders 37-20 on Saturday to clinch their eighth straight win.
Purdy has continued to perform impressively since replacing the injured Jimmy Garoppolo at the start of the 13e activity week. The final pick in the 2022 draft certainly exceeded expectations.
He threw two touchdown passes in four consecutive games for 49ers (11-4) and has won all three of his starts. The San Francisco club keeps the pressure on the Minnesota Vikings in the race for second place in the National Conference.
Taylor Heinicke threw two touchdown passes for the Commanders (7-7-1), but also had a fumble and one of his throw-ins was intercepted in the fourth quarter. He was replaced after his second turnover by Carson Wentz.
The Commanders haven’t won their last three meetings, but they still have a half-game lead over the Seattle Seahawks and Detroit Lions in the race for the final NL playoff spot.
The 49ers opened the game in the third quarter thanks to more crucial plays from Purdy. On the first possession of the second half, they scored a major when Kittle opened up deep for a 34-yard touchdown.
Kittle scored again later in the quarter on a catch and a 33-yard run, to make it 21-7. Kittle also caught two touchdown passes last week, setting a personal-best eight touchdowns in a season.
The 49ers capitalized on important plays throughout the game, also scoring their first touchdown on a 71-yard breakout from Ray Ray McCloud.
Nick Bosa and the defense of the 49ers did the rest of the work. Bosa got Robbie Gould a field goal with a sack over Heinicke and the 49ers added another field goal after a Jimmie Ward interception in Commanders territory.
Wentz, playing for the first time since Week 6, passed 20 yards to Curtis Samuel, but it was too little too late for the Commanders.