The Arizona Cardinals spent most of Sunday chasing the San Francisco 49ers, and nearly caught them. Arizona came back from a 23-6 deficit to get within two points in the fourth quarter before falling 36-30 at Levi's Stadium.
Down early
San Francisco scored on the third play of the game when Brock Purdy's short pass to Mike Evans was flipped back to Deebo Samuel for an 82-yard touchdown, and the 49ers led 14-0 in the second quarter. Chad Ryland kicked field goals of 26 and 41 yards for Arizona, but a 57-yarder by Eddy Pineiro sent San Francisco into halftime up 17-6.
A Christian McCaffrey touchdown run made it 23-6 in the third quarter.
The comeback
Jacoby Brissett led the push back. His 5-yard touchdown pass to Michael Wilson late in the third quarter and a 1-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiyah Love early in the fourth cut the deficit to 23-20. After George Kittle's 10-yard touchdown catch for San Francisco, Brissett ran in from a yard out with 2:51 left to make it 29-27.
The 49ers answered with Purdy's 20-yard touchdown pass to Kittle with 1:31 remaining. Ryland's 49-yard field goal with 34 seconds left closed the gap to six, and that was as close as Arizona got.
