49ers hold off Cardinals 36-30 as Brock Purdy throws four touchdowns

A trick play and a shootout

San Francisco needed one trick play and four quarters of chaos to hold off Arizona 36-30 at Levi's Stadium. Kyle Shanahan opened with a hook and ladder on the third play from scrimmage, Brock Purdy flipping a short pass to Mike Evans, who lateraled it to Deebo Samuel. Samuel took it 80 yards for a 7-0 lead. Purdy found Evans again for a 23 yard score, and Eddy Pineiro added a 57 yard field goal right before half to make it 17-6.

Arizona chipped away with two Chad Ryland field goals in the second quarter, then Jacoby Brissett threw touchdowns to Michael Wilson and Jeremiyah Love in the third and fourth quarters to pull within 23-20. George Kittle answered with two touchdown catches in the fourth, a 10 yarder and a 20 yarder with 1:31 left, sandwiched around a 1 yard touchdown run by Brissett. Ryland's 49 yard field goal with 34 seconds left made it a six point game. Arizona tried an onside kick, but Samuel recovered it to seal the win.

Purdy and Kittle carried the offense

Purdy finished 15 of 27 for 297 yards and four touchdowns. George Kittle caught six passes for 82 yards and two scores, and Christian McCaffrey added 75 yards on 15 carries with a rushing touchdown. Fred Warner led the defense with 17 tackles, and Ogbo Okoronkwo had the lone sack. "Brock is amazing. The offense is humming right now," Warner said.

Arizona didn't make it easy

Brissett threw for 280 yards and two touchdowns on 38 of 52 passing, and Jeremiyah Love ran for 90 yards on 21 carries. Michael Wilson caught 11 passes for 89 yards and a score, and Andrew Wingard led the Cardinals with 10 tackles. Arizona out gained San Francisco in first downs, 27 to 23, and did not turn the ball over, while the 49ers had one turnover but still finished ahead in total yards, 437 to 365. Arizona was flagged 10 times for 86 yards, compared to seven for 69 on San Francisco's side. The Cardinals are 1-2, 1-1 in the division, part of a stretch in which they have lost 22 of their last 26 division games.

Both teams are banged up

San Francisco lost Nick Bosa for the game with a calf strain, and Mike Evans left with a rib injury and is questionable. James Thompson Jr. is out with an ankle sprain, and Romello Height is out following hand surgery. "As a quarterback, it's also part of handling that," Purdy said of playing through the losses.

Arizona is dealing with longer term absences. Dadrion Taylor-Demerson is out with a back injury, and Will Johnson, Kitan Crawford and Kaleb Proctor are all on injured reserve, with a neck injury, an ankle injury and a knee that required meniscus surgery. Samuel, who scored the game's first touchdown, said of the trick play, "we walked through that play like once this week."

Facts per ESPN box score. Opinion is the taproom's.