The 49ers vowed to end the frustrating late-game cycle with the win against the Seahawks

The 49ers vowed to stop frustrating late-game cycle with win over Seahawks originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SEATTLE – It was almost like déjà vu on Thursday night.

At the end of the third quarter in the 49ers’ 36-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks, it appeared as if coach Kyle Shanahan and his staff were heading down a familiar path and losing a healthy lead.

Linebacker Fred Warner and several teammates recognized the feeling of their last two losses to the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals — and they vowed not to let it happen again.

“One thousand percent,” Warner said. “It sucked, but yeah, it definitely sounded familiar and I thought, ‘Hey, we can go one of two ways here.’ “We can stand firm in a hostile environment in a game we know we have to win, or we can settle for exactly how we played in the last few losses we’ve had.”

“That’s probably what I’m most proud of right now, is the way we came through.”

The 49ers went into halftime with a 16-3 lead, and Brock Purdy and the offense opened the second half with a nine-play, 70-yard drive capped by a 10-yard touchdown catch by George Kittle , which extended the lead to 20 points.

Then things seemed to get out of hand in all phases of the game, and a total collapse for the 49ers seemed imminent.

Lavishka Shenault returned the ensuing kickoff for a 97-yard touchdown to bring the Seahawks within 13 points after the 49ers’ special teams unit missed several tackles during the play.

The 49ers offense could only muster 19 yards in four plays on their next drive and had to punt. The Seahawks then responded with a 13-play, 94-yard touchdown drive that cut the 49ers’ lead to six.

Shanahan tried as best as he could to suppress the feeling that he had been down the same path before.

“I’m not going to go into what happened in our last two losses,” Shanahan said. “Just stay closed-minded, try not to develop negative feelings and just try to take it one step at a time. Our goal is to be in control the entire game, regardless of the score, and I thought the guys played that way.”

Fullback Kyle Juszczyk, whose 6-yard TD run with 1:17 left in the game closed the door on a possible Seahawks comeback, shared that there was talk on the sidelines about how much responsibility the offense felt for the win.

“The message on our sideline was, ‘Okay, we’re at this again, let’s get to it,'” Juszczyk said. “‘Let’s not hope that we’ve already done enough, that we’ve built up a big enough lead and hopefully everything will work out and we’ll get the win. No, let’s consolidate this win, score a goal and put it on our shoulders.”

“That’s exactly what we did and I’m glad it ended that way. That was definitely a focus.

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