Brock Purdy threw three touchdown passes, including a 66-yarder to George Kittle, and the San Francisco 49ers seemingly fixed all their woes with a cross-country trip and a 34-3 drubbing of the Jacksonville Jaguars that ended a three-game skid Sunday.
Deebo Samuel returned from a three-game absence and added a 23-yard scoring run for the 49ers (6-3), who stopped Jacksonville’s five-game winning streak and re-established themselves as a Super Bowl contender following a bye week.
San Francisco dominated both lines of scrimmage and controlled the game from the opening drive.
The Niners ran for 147 yards against one of the league’s top run defenses and sacked Trevor Lawrence five times. Nick Bosa was a menace all game, and newly acquired defensive end Chase Young got in on one of the sacks.
The Jaguars (6-3), meanwhile, embarrassed themselves at every turn and looked nothing like a legit playoff contender.
They had a five-possession stretch in which they fumbled, kicked a field goal, threw an interception, fumbled and threw another interception. Lawrence was responsible for three of the team’s four turnovers.
It was Jacksonville’s worst home loss since a 45-10 blowout to the Los Angeles Chargers in 2019.
Kittle finished with three catches for 116 yards. Christian McCaffrey finished with 142 total yards, but his streak of consecutive games with a TD ended at 17 games, including the playoffs.
He was tied with Lenny Moore for the NFL record, and the Niners tried to get him the mark by giving him the ball or targeting him on five consecutive plays in a 31-point game while other starters had been removed.
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Purdy completed 19 of 26 passes for 296 yards, giving way to Sam Darnold in the fourth with a 148.9 QB rating. Purdy’s first TD pass was a shaky one to Brandon Aiyuk into double coverage, but he was much better the rest of the game.
Purdy threw five INTs during the team’s three-game skid, but vowed to have better ball security coming out of the bye. It surely helped that Samuel and All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams were back in the lineup.
After scoring 17 points in each of their three losses, San Fran topped the 30-point mark for the sixth time this season — most in the NFL.
Jaguars receiver Christian Kirk had three plays he’d surely like to have back.
Kirk overthrew running back Travis Etienne on a trick play in the second quarter, let a punt bounce that ended up getting downed at the 1-yard line on the ensuing possession and fumbled in the third quarter.
The incompletion was worse. Kirk took a pitch from tight end Evan Engram and had Etienne wide open down the sideline.
He led him way too far and ended up getting Etienne hit by Charvarius Ward at the end of the play. Kirk immediately shouldered blame for the overthrow.
He still led the team with six catches for 104 yards.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
