49ers hold off Commanders 23-17 after McCaffrey’s two-touchdown first half

The San Francisco 49ers beat the Washington Commanders 23-17 on Monday night, building a 20-3 halftime lead behind two Christian McCaffrey rushing touchdowns and then surviving a fourth-quarter push. San Francisco improved to 6-0; Washington fell to 1-4-1.

Brock Purdy opened the scoring with an 11-yard touchdown pass to George Kittle. McCaffrey added two 1-yard runs, the second with 13 seconds left in the first half, and Eddy Piñeiro’s 33-yard field goal in the third quarter stretched the lead to 23-3. Purdy finished 21-of-29 for 264 yards and a touchdown without an interception; McCaffrey rushed for 64 yards and caught nine passes for 53 more.

The game tightened after that field goal. Jayden Daniels threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs late in the third quarter and found Rachaad White for a 9-yard score with 9:22 left, cutting the deficit to six. Daniels completed 29 of 40 passes for 300 yards and two touchdowns. Washington mounted another drive into San Francisco territory, but a 31-yard Jeremy McNichols touchdown run was erased by a face-mask penalty; the possession ended on fourth down at the 49ers’ 17 with 1:54 remaining.

Washington got the ball back one more time and reached the San Francisco 28 in the final minute. An intentional-grounding penalty brought a 10-second runoff, and a sack on the last play ended the comeback. The 49ers had stopped scoring after the third-quarter field goal, but their early cushion was enough.

Both offenses also lost established receivers during the game: Washington’s Terry McLaurin was ruled out with a knee injury after being carted away, and San Francisco’s Mike Evans exited with an Achilles issue.