Brock Purdy threw for three touchdowns and Brandon Aiyuk had a career-high 156 yards receiving and a score to fuel the host San Francisco 49ers to a 27-14 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday in Santa Clara, Calif.
Purdy completed 21 of 25 passes for 333 yards and Christian McCaffrey found the end zone again after seeing his streak of consecutive games with a touchdown come to an end at 17 games (including playoffs) last week. Tight end George Kittle had eight catches for 89 yards and a touchdown for the 49ers (7-3), who have won two straight following a three-game skid.
Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield completed 29 of 45 passes for 246 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Mike Evans had a 1-yard touchdown reception and Rachaad White added a 1-yard rushing TD for the Buccaneers (4-6), who have lost five of their last six games.
McCaffrey gained position on Tampa Bay linebacker Devin White as he bolted through the line and snared a 4-yard touchdown reception to open the scoring at 3:55 of the first quarter.
San Francisco rookie Jake Moody sandwiched 37- and 28-yard field goals in the second quarter around Evans’ 1-yard touchdown reception over the middle. Evans’ TD catch was his team-leading seventh of the season and fourth in his last five games.
Aiyuk, who had a 37-yard reception to set up Moody’s second field goal, started the third quarter with a bang. He beat Tampa Bay cornerback Jamel Dean off the line and reeled in a soft pass from Purdy before racing down the left sideline for a career-long 76-yard touchdown.
Kittle added his fifth touchdown reception of the season and second in as many weeks with 1:42 left in the third. He snared a 3-yard scoring strike in the back of the end zone to push the 49ers’ lead to 27-7.
White found the end zone early in the fourth quarter for the fourth time (three rushing, one receiving) in three weeks.
Tampa Bay turned the ball over on downs at the San Francisco 12-yard line on its next drive. Ji’Ayir Brown intercepted Mayfield in the end zone on the Buccaneers’ following drive.
–Field Level Media
