San Francisco 49ers 20-9 Carolina Panthers
Christian McCaffrey ran for 89 yards and a touchdown as the San Francisco 49ers overcame a testing first-half stretch from quarterback Brock Purdy to beat the Carolina Panthers 20-9.
The 49ers (8-4) did the job on defence to register back-to-back wins for the first time since September.
The Panthers (6-6) dropped into second place in the NFC South, a half-game behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, after managing just 230 yards of total offence.
McCaffrey had 24 carries and caught seven passes for 53 yards against his former team. Purdy completed 23 of 32 passes for 193 yards and a touchdown, and he was intercepted three times.
Panthers quarterback Bryce Young, who threw for a franchise-record 448 yards a week earlier at Atlanta, finished 18-for-29 for 169 yards.
McCaffrey ran 12 yards for a touchdown on San Francisco's first possession of the second half. The Panthers scored their first one touchdown with 49 seconds left in the third quarter on Young's 29-yard pass to Tetairoa McMillan.
After a personal-foul penalty was called against the 49ers on the extra-point kick, the Panthers opted to try for a two-point conversion, but Young's throw was incomplete and the score remained 17-9.
San Francisco responded with a six and a half minute drive that resulted in Matt Gay's 29-yard field goal. When Carolina's Ryan Fitzgerald missed a field-goal attempt from 57 yards out with less than three minutes remaining, the outcome was pretty much sealed.
The 49ers somehow led 10-3 at halftime, though a big reason for that was Carolina's 72 yards of total offence.
Purdy was intercepted three times in the first 21 minutes, but all the Panthers got out of those takeaways was a 25-yard field goal from Fitzgerald following the third Purdy turnover.
Following Carolina's field goal, the 49ers went 25 yards and got a 47-yardfield goal from Gay with one minute left in the half.
Gay, a veteran of seven NFL seasons, was in his first game for the 49ers since playing 10 games this year for the Commanders. Washington released him last week.
Before Purdy's pick-off problems, the 49ers quarterback opened the scoring with a 12-yard pass to Jauan Jennings, finishing a 15-play, 72-yard drive on the game's first possession.
