The 49ers had to travel to Seattle to figure out how to be the 49ers again

SEATTLE — The 49ers may not have completely saved their season on Thursday, but they saved a valuable part of what they believe about themselves.

They entered Lumen Field just four days after blowing a monumental late lead at home against the Cardinals, and two weeks after blowing another monumental late lead against the Rams.

The 49ers were a little dizzy. They were in crisis. They have serious injuries throughout the squad. But they can't lose like they did in Weeks 3 and 5. Who are they if they keep blowing games? Definitely not the tough 49ers who are constantly fighting for the Super Bowl. Someone else. Someone worse.

Then on Thursday, in front of a national television audience, they outran the Seahawks early, forced three turnovers, didn't score a single one, racked up 483 yards of offense and secured a 36-24 victory after nearly blowing that one, too.

The 49ers win these games. They said that to each other again and again in the short run-up – even when Charvarius Ward was eliminated shortly before kick-off; even when workhorse Jordan Mason exited after one play in the second half. The 49ers have made it to two Super Bowls and four NFC Championship Games in the last five seasons because they know who they are. And they can still be who they are, even with third- and fourth-string running backs carrying the ball and kids playing all over the secondary.

They win these games.

“Of course you want to convey a high level of urgency in every game, but when your back is against the wall, it's kind of annoying,” Nick Bosa said. “I'm just glad we stuck with it when the momentum came. That’s kind of been the message all week.”

Oh yeah, that momentum thing. On Thursday, the 49ers took a 23-3 lead early in the third quarter but immediately gave up a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. The 49ers punted on their next possession and watched the Seahawks march 94 yards for another touchdown. And the lead was only 23-17.

Were they worried the bad things would happen again with another division rival?

“One thousand percent,” said Fred Warner with a smile. “It sucks, but yeah. It was definitely something that sounded familiar to me and I think, hey, we can go one of two ways here. We can stand firm in a hostile environment in a game we know we must win. Or we can be happy with how we played the last few losses we had.”

The 49ers punted again as Seattle got within one score, but then the defense stalled the Seahawks' offense twice in a row – once with a three-and-out and once with a big interception by rookie Renardo Green to cap it off Brock Purdy's second touchdown pass of the game to George Kittle.

And then it wasn't so tense anymore. Finally, rookie Isaac Guerendo capped it off with a 76-yard run and set up a TD from Kyle Juszczyk. The 49ers are now 3-3 and tied with Seattle for first place in the NFC West.

“We knew the seriousness of the situation,” Warner said. “At the start of the year we couldn’t go down 3-0 in the division.”

Or, as Trent Williams put it: “Every bit a must-have without being technically a must-have.”

The bigger point is that the 49ers have recovered from similarly shaky starts in recent years. They were 3-5 to start 2021, but won a few gut-check games in October and November and sprinted deep into the playoffs. And they started 2022 3-4, then finished the regular season with a 10-0 run and stormed into the postseason. Sometimes they put themselves in precarious situations in October, but they don't ruin their season when the pressure mounts early.

There is simply a certain opinion on this topic in the team. Young people are picking up on it. The coach doesn't have to give too many speeches. He largely assumes the culture of the locker room will reflect that.

“You know, we were just sick about those two losses we had,” Kyle Shanahan said. “We talked about how some losses are harder than others. And when you feel like you had that, especially in division games, it made us miserable.”

The 49ers are quite proud of having beaten the Seahawks six times in a row (including a wild card game in January 2022 at Levi's Stadium), including three in a row in this loud stadium.

Now the 49ers have the weekend off to rest up for a big matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs, who of course have beaten the 49ers in the last two Super Bowls, including last February. The Chiefs have a bye this weekend, so they will be fully rested.

The 49ers won't get Christian McCaffrey or Talanoa Hufanga back for another few weeks, and who knows what happens next with Mason and Ward. Additionally, the team could burn its second kicker in two weeks after substitute Matthew Wright was injured in a tackle on a kickoff on Thursday after Jake Moody was injured on the exact same tackle against the Cardinals.

But the 49ers have Purdy, who was great on Thursday after one of his worse games on Sunday (18 of 28 for 255 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 129.3). He is also recovering.

“More than anything, I’m proud of how we all pulled together as a unit,” Purdy said. “When guys would bang up or go down, the next guy would come along and do a really good job. This is a good sign for all of us.”

It wasn't perfect. But it was pretty good as there is still a lot of season ahead of us. Of course, the 49ers could screw this up again. The schedule is not easy – after the Chiefs, the 49ers host the Cowboys, who also have a bye. Then the 49ers get their bye and have to fly to Tampa Bay to play the Buccaneers.

Maybe they'll be mostly healthy by the Week 10 game. Maybe not. But as always, they did their best. They're not a team that's going to screw this up. They're too good for that.

“As long as we can keep Brock upright, he’s obviously going to split the defense,” Williams said. “As long as we can get the running backs to the line of scrimmage without mistakes, they will drop forward and get yards.

“We are not yet where we want to be,” he added, “but we are on the right track.”

The 49ers found their baseline on Thursday — the point from which they're unlikely to go any deeper, the place where they'll rally and get ready for a run. Things may not get better from here, but they probably will. There's just too much history – and pride – to assume otherwise.