SANTA CLARA – Alone atop the NFC West are the undefeated 49ers, a fact that caught at least one of them off guard.
“How did the Rams lose?” right guard Dominick Puni casually asked at his locker. “The last thing I saw (pregame) was the training room TV and they were lining up for a winning field goal.”
Nope. The Eagles blocked it, returned it 44 yards for a touchdown and remained unbeaten with a 33-26 home win over the Rams (2-1). The NFC’s only other 3-0 team is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who, like the 49ers, won on a walk-off field goal.
That’s a lot of field-goal action, and the 49ers are loving their honeymoon period with Eddy Piñeiro, who banged home a 35-yard game-winner while predecessor, Jake Moody, is a Chicago Bears practice-squad refugee.
The Niners’ margins of victory each Sunday so far: four, five, and one point. Tight triumphs. A year ago, the Minnesota Vikings went 7-1 in one-score games, then lost big back-to-back as the stakes increased and their season ended. Stay humble, get healthy.
How did the 49ers survive Sunday afternoon at Levi’s Stadium’s grand reopening? Let us count 10 ways that caught my eye:
San Francisco 49ers’ Nick Bosa (97) heads to the locker room in the second quarter of their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
1. BOSA: THUMBS DOWN
Nick Bosa sprinted in from right defensive end, took seven strides, his right leg stretched wide, and two offensive linemen shoved him to the ground. Meanwhile, Kyler Murray rolled away from them, chucked a third-down incompletion, and Bosa trudged off to the sideline with a right knee injury that jeopardizes his immediate future.
Coach Kyle Shanahan said a preliminary examination did not reveal a dreaded tear of Bosa’s anterior cruciate ligament – which was torn in Bosa’s other knee in 2020 Week 2 – but further imaging should lead to a better diagnosis Shanahan might share on his Monday afternoon call with reporters.
Bosa’s initial reaction: He relayed a thumbs-down signal to his parents in a suite as he limped to the 49ers’ medical tent.
Shanahan said he had not spoken with Bosa, but left tackle Trent Williams did. Williams didn’t downplay Bosa’s “buzzkill” injury, expressing hope that it won’t be a season-ender, which is Arizona running back James Conner’s fate from a Marques Sigle tackle that wrecked his ankle.
San Francisco 49ers’ Brayden Willis (82) and San Francisco 49ers’ Curtis Robinson (59) tackle Arizona Cardinals’ Emari Demercado (31) in the second quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
2. NEXT MEN UP
Welcome to The Bryce Huff Show. Or The Rookie Parade. Maybe Sam Okuayinonu and Yetur Gross-Matos will be second-year sensations in 49ers uniforms.
None can replace Bosa’s presence that stretches far beyond his pass rush. His pursuit as a run defender, not just an edge setter, has been mighty impressive, especially this season.
Huff, after his Week 2 strip sack that sealed the 49ers’ win in New Orleans, got to Murray on Sunday, notching back-to-back games with a sack for the first time in his five-year career. But Huff is a pass rusher. First-round draft pick Mykel Williams can be an every-down menace if healthy; Williams went to the locker room before halftime with a wrist injury but returned to the game.
“The whole D-line room said we’ve got to step it up because Bosa is a great player for us and he holds a heavy load,” Williams said.
Williams and fellow rookie linemen C.J. West and Alfred Collins were in hot pursuit of Murray, nearly forcing a safety in the fourth quarter. “Anytime you lose your best player, guys are disappointed and stuff, but you can’t sit there and feel sorry for yourself,” Shanahan said.
San Francisco 49ers kicker Eddy Pineiro (18) celebrates after kicking a 35-yard game-winning field goal in the fourth quarter of their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. San Francisco 49ers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 16-15. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
3. WINNING CELEBRATION
Piñeiro is no Moody. And that’s not intended as another knock on Moody, who was nice enough but unreliable. Piñeiro celebrated Sunday’s game winner a la Robbie Gould’s 2017 return to Chicago.
Flashback: In Jimmy Garoppolo’s starting debut, Gould kicked a walk-off field goal at Soldier Field against the Chicago Bears. Gould emphatically celebrated by gesturing toward his former employers, whose scoring record he holds.
The Cardinals are not among the seven teams that have employed Piñeiro. Nevertheless, he relished beating them and immediately cast a gaze to their sideline while repeatedly gesturing toward his golden boot. Because it’s him against the world?
“No, no. I was really excited,” Piñeiro answered. “I didn’t want to lose to them at home. They were our division rivals. We weren’t going to let them come in and do that to us.”
Politically correct answer.
A better one came when he told the AP’s Michael Wagaman: “I’ve hit like seven game-winners in my life. Obviously this one’s extra special because of the whole kicking situation that was going on here and what the Niner fans went through, and what the team went through. It was a big kick.”
4. STOUT CLOSES IT OUT
Bosa and Huff closed out the 49ers’ first two wins with strip sacks, and this game’s clutch defensive gem went to rookie Upton Stout.
Instead of allowing a third-down conversion at the 49ers’ 32-yard line, Stout rallied and broke up Zay Jones’ possible game-deciding reception.
“Upton Stout came up with a huge, big-time PBU there on that throw and gave our offense a chance,” said linebacker Fred Warner.
Shanahan noted that Jones created separation but Stout rallied. “That’s how kind of Upton’s been with everything. Just never quits, never stopped, ate up the cushion,” Shanahan said. “I didn’t get to see, but it looked like he raked out the ball when the guy was bringing it down in transition. Huge game, wouldn’t have been able to win it without that play.”
San Francisco 49ers kicker Eddy Pineiro (18) receives a hug from quarterback Mac Jones (10) after defeating the Arizona Cardinals during their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. San Francisco 49ers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 16-15. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
5. MAC JONES’ CONFESSION
Mac Jones made a startling yet humble confession after this fourth-quarter comeback: “I failed a lot in that situation to be honest and in the NFL.”
After his 2021 Pro Bowl rookie season in New England, Jones lost 13 starts in one-score games, tough only four included a fourth-quarter interception.
He overcame a fourth-quarter interception with five minutes left in this game, when Dadrion Taylor-Demerson cut in front of Ricky Pearsall at the Arizona 21. “I threw it right to the guy, so it wasn’t like he made a good play,” Jones said with a playful laugh. “I mean, good for him.”
Jones aggravated a preseason knee sprain earlier in the fourth quarter, yet he completed five of six passes for 59 yards before spiking the ball and taking a knee before Piñeiro’s winner.
“The way he came back on the end on that last drive, he was unbelievable,” Shanahan said of Jones, who went 2-0 before Brock Purdy’s presumed return next Sunday against Jacksonville, Jones’ 2024 team.
San Francisco 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey (23) runs against Arizona Cardinals’ Mack Wilson Sr. (2) in the third quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group
6. McCAFFREY’S GRAND FINALE
Jones took a postgame, cold-tub plunge with Christian McCaffrey, who was the 49ers’ crash-test dummy all game. He had 17 carries (52 yards) and 10 receptions (a whopping 15 targets for 88 yards, his most as a Niner).
The Bay Area News Group’s Jerry McDonald shrewdly asked McCaffrey if he takes a perverse joy in getting walloped, to which the 2023 NFL Offensive Player of the Year replied: “No, I do not. I don’t like getting hit. Sometimes there are games you take a lot of shots but I feel great right now. The nature of the beast is sometimes when it rains it pours.”
Of the 49ers’ 62 plays, they went to McCaffrey 32 times. The last one paid off with a 20-yard screen to set up the game-winning kick. “It was a screen that I hadn’t really run before and I was like, ‘Christian, what is this again?’” Jones said. “So he reminded me and he was like ‘Oh yeah, I got you.’”
San Francisco 49ers’ Kyle Juszczyk (44) celebrates his touchdown with teammates against the Arizona Cardinals in the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
7. PUNI’S PRAYER
That game-winning drive gave Puni what he desperately wanted: another chance to (successfully) block 39-year-old Calais Campbell, who blew past him on the previous series to draw a holding penalty on Puni in the end zone for a safety that pushed the Cardinals ahead 15-13.
“He knew the call. He’s just very smart,” Puni said. “He’s on my inside shoulder, did a very quick swim move, got my arm, got the edge. He’s very smart. I give him his credit.”
Right tackle Colton McKivitz gave Puni a pep talk, saying if the 49ers won, the safety would be forgotten. Puni agreed, though he admitted afterward it won’t immediately vanish from his or offensive line coach Chris Foerster’s memory.
“I just wanted him to come back to my side so I could block him again,” Puni said of Campbell. “He did one play. I blocked him. I wanted to know if I could get the job done against him.”
As Piñeiro did his job, Puni looked to the sky and said a prayer.
San Francisco 49ers’ Ricky Pearsall (1) makes a 34-yard catch for a first down against Arizona Cardinals’ Kei’Trel Clark (13) in the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
8. PEARSALL’S PRODUCTION
Ricky Pearsall figured that Jauan Jennings’ absence with an ankle injury would put him in greater demand, and Pearsall delivered eight catches for 117 yards on a career-high 11 targets.
Two were third-down conversions in Third-and-Jauan style. But Pearsall’s primo catch was a 34-yard, over-the-shoulder jewel on fourth-and-2 that set up Kyle Juszczyk’s 1-yard touchdown catch.
“Trips right, 3-Jet, Florida,” Shanahan recalled of Pearsall’s play call. “Thought it was awesome. Mac had an option to hit K.B. (Kendrick Bourne) on the out route or to throw Ricky on the go (route). He had a good look for both of them and he chose the right one. It was a big-time play.”
Two days earlier, a judge ruled that the teen charged with shooting Pearsall during an attempted robbery last year will be tried as a juvenile.
“What I went through last year, I wake up every day thankful for what’s to come,” Pearsall said. “There’s a lot to be happy and excited about every day.” This man is a walking, talking, living motivational speaker who is a damn good NFL wide receiver.
9. NEXT RECEIVER UP
Demarcus Robinson has served his three-game suspension, and the 49ers’ wide receiver unit sure as heck could use his experience and expertise (nine seasons, 147 games, 68 starts, 250 catches, 27 touchdowns).
He may not be an immediate starter, however. Pearsall and Jennings are a great mix, if Jennings is healthy. Pearsall and Bourne are kindred spirits who smile, laugh, dance and exude positive energy.
The first half of this season is all about a makeshift receiving corps, until Brandon Aiyuk makes his comeback from last October’s knee injury. Aiyuk is a daily fixture at practice, pantomiming warmup drills and showing an eagerness to come off the Physically Unable to Perform list next month.
Not to be totally overlooked is the lost rookie season of Jordan Watkins, a fourth-round pick who excelled in the spring but could be headed for injured reserve (calf) before making his official NFL debut.
San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Brock Purdy (13) walks off the field after the 49ers 16-15 win against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
10. NFL LANDSCAPE
The 49ers’ 3-0 start matches those of the 2019 and 2023 seasons, which ended with them in the Super Bowl. This season ends with Super Bowl LX on the 49ers’ home field, as reminded by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s presence at Sunday’s game as well as his Friday appearances in San Francisco and a Saturday night dinner with key movers and shakers.
As desperate as they are to snap a 30-year drought between Lombardi Trophy wins, the 49ers aren’t about to tout themselves as a true contender, especially after their highest-paid defender has a concerning knee injury. But reinforcements are coming, at least offensively with Purdy, Aiyuk, Demarcus Robinson (suspension) and George Kittle.
“It’s been gritty and grimy, but we have found ways to figure things out and still finish with a win,” Juszczyk said. “We know we’re not a finished product, but we’re going to continue to grow, and right now we’re doing that at 3-0 and 2-0 in our division. Which is a good place to be.”
The 49ers are one of just six 3-0 teams in the league.
“We are calling on a lot of guys who probably didn’t know that they were going to be needed as much as they have been,” Warner said. “Just extremely proud of the group and finding ways to win and we’ll just continue to try to get better and keep finding ways to win.”
