For a while in their Thursday Night Football clash with the Seattle Seahawks, it looked as if the San Francisco 49ers were going to do it again and throw away another double-digit lead.
San Francisco led by 20 points in Seattle, having let slip leads of 10 and 13 points against the Los Angeles Rams and in last week’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals, and the Niners appeared to be teetering in the third quarter at Lumen Field.
Their 20-point advantage was very brief, a 97-yard kick return from Laviska Shenault following a George Kittle touchdown quickly trimming it back to 13 as the 49ers’ special teams’ failings showed up once more.
And when a 94-yard drive that ended in a Kenneth Walker III touchdown cut the gap six, it looked like the same story was playing out again with 5:38 remaining in the third quarter.
Despite failing to respond initially to that Walker touchdown, the 49ers’ next series ending in a punt, San Francisco found a way to finish, prevailing 36-24 and improving to 3-3 thanks to massive contributions from its rookie class.
Second-round cornerback Renardo Green, playing because of a knee injury to Charvarius Ward, stepped in front of an in-breaking route by DK Metcalf and picked off Geno Smith, running it back to the 15-yard line. It was the second interception of the game by a 49er rookie, with safety Malik Mustapha having picked off Smith on the first series of the game, denying the Seahawks a shot at points. Mustapha, playing for the injured Talanoa Hufanga, left the game with an ankle problem and did not return.
Three plays after Green’s pick, Brock Purdy found Kittle for their second touchdown connection of the game. Though the 49ers’ two-point conversion failed, a 12-point gap with a 6:20 remaining proved too much for the Seahawks to bridge, and another rookie made sure of that.
After a long Seattle drive saw them cut the lead back to five points with a Smith touchdown throw to Tyler Lockett with 1:49 remaining, fourth-round pick Isaac Guerendo broke off a 76-yard run, sliding down at the five-yard line and allowing the 49ers to kill more clock before Kyle Juszczyk plunged into the endzone from six yards out to put the game beyond doubt.
The 49ers’ roster has had an increasingly top-heavy look in recent years as several big-time trades have left them short of premium picks.
As such, a 2024 draft in which the Niners made eight picks was always likely to be a crucial one.
Optimistic noises about this class were made throughout the offseason. The emergence of right guard Dominick Puni partially validated them, but the huge impacts made by Mustapha, Green and Guerendo in a game in which the 49ers had their backs against the wall after a pair of in-division defeats served as the most tangible evidence yet.
Speaking in his postgame press conference, Purdy succinctly summed up the significance of the rookie performances.
“For those guys to step in and show up in a primetime game. It means a lot to all of us,” said Purdy.
Added Fred Warner: “I can’t say enough about it. So big. Really happy for them, happy for our team, finding a way to win.”
But the prevailing question on the lips of the 49er veterans surrounded Guerendo’s decision-making.
“I don’t know why he didn’t score,” said wide receiver Deebo Samuel. “I would have scored. He said he was looking at the sideline and people were telling him to get down. I don’t know why he was looking at the sideline anyway.”
Whether Guerendo’s explanation is accurate or whether it’s an excuse for going down under slight contact from cornerback Devon Witherspoon, we may never know.
What is clear is that, after rescuing the 49ers from their second-half demons, Guerendo, Green and Mustapha have all earned more opportunities to make an impact as the 49ers look to right the ship in their pursuit of long-awaited Super Bowl glory.
