It may not have been pretty, but the 49ers came out on top in a prime-time game with NFC playoff implications.
San Francisco (8-4) took down Carolina (6-6) Monday night at Levi’s Stadium, 20-9. The 49ers move into the final NFC wild-card spot and are 1½ games behind the Rams in the NFC West. They have now won back-to-back games for the first time since September. The Panthers have lost three of their past five games.
Here are my takeaways:
1. Brock Purdy’s turnovers could eventually hurt the Niners
Purdy threw three interceptions in the first half, two of which were passes behind the receiver (Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall) and one at the front end zone, allowing the Panthers to make a play on the ball. On the third, Purdy didn’t look like he saw cornerback Jaycee Horn, who came across the field to snag the pass. The Panthers’ Pro Bowler had two of the interceptions.
The Niners have had backup Mac Jones play well this season in place of Purdy, who’s missed eight games due to injury. The franchise is committed to Purdy, who signed a five-year, $265 million extension in May. So, it must get cleaner football out of him down the stretch, as San Francisco looks to return to the playoffs after missing it in 2024. He’s had multiple interceptions in three of his four starts this season, including three giveaways twice.
2. Panthers passing attack comes back to earth
Bryce Young threw for a franchise-record 448 yards and three touchdowns in the Panthers’ overtime victory in Atlanta last week, leading many league observers to believe that Carolina’s passing attack could be turning a corner. This performance indicated that it may have just been more of an outlier.
Carolina struggled to move the ball through the air against San Francisco. Young didn’t have a completion that gained more than 20 yards in the first 44 minutes of game time, and he had his multi-interception game since Week 1. The offense failed to take advantage of three takeaways, scoring just three points off of San Francisco’s three turnovers, and went 1-of-7 on third down.
The Panthers had just 161 net passing yards, marking the 10th time in 12 games this season that they’ve thrown for fewer than 200 yards.
3. Christian McCaffrey maintains historic pace against his former team
In his first game facing the Panthers, who traded him midway through the 2022 season, McCaffrey showed Carolina what it has missed — 31 touches (24 carries, seven catches) for 142 scrimmage yards and a touchdown. With 89 rushing yards and 53 receiving yards, the star tailback remains on track to surpass 1,000 yards rushing and receiving.
A frontrunner for comeback player of the year, McCaffrey leads the NFL in catches (81) and touches (298) entering Week 13.
4. Panthers blow opportunity to take control of NFC South
With a win, Carolina would’ve moved one-half game ahead of Tampa Bay (6-5) for first place in the NFC South. Instead, the Panthers will be one-half behind the Bucs with six weeks left in the regular season.
The Panthers still have both of their head-to-head games left against the Buccaneers in Weeks 16 and 18 this season.
4 ½ What’s Next?
As they look to stay in the driver’s seat for a playoff spot, the Niners have a favorable schedule over the next few weeks — at the Browns (3-8) and their bye week before hosting the Titans (1-10) — ahead of a tough stretch to the close the regular season: at the Colts (8-3), then home against the Bears (8-3) and Seahawks (8-3).
The Panthers will host the red-hot Rams (9-2) next Sunday before their Week 14 bye. They’ll finish 2025 with three division games, including two against the Bucs.
Ben Arthur is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.
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