– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA — In a perfect world, tonight’s reunion of San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey and his former club, the Carolina Panthers, would have ended with a standing ovation from the Bay Area faithful after the superstar running back ran roughshod in his first match-up against his former employer. Instead, most of the fans in the crowd resorted to booing their own squad for most of the evening after an uneven performance.
But no matter the lack of a perfect fairytale ending, the 49ers did just enough to get the result they wanted at the very end. Oh, and McCaffrey also did get a small chunk of revenge as well.
McCaffrey accounted for 142 total yards, including running for a 12-yard touchdown late in the third quarter, as the 49ers overcame an uncharacteristically horrible game from quarterback Brock Purdy to defeat the Carolina Panthers 20-9 inside Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Monday Night Football.
At one point in the third quarter, McCaffrey had more touches than the Panthers had run total plays, and he had nine touches on the first drive of the game, which ended with Purdy’s touchdown pass to Juan Jennings for a 7-0 lead.
McCaffrey’s usage only ratcheted up after Purdy threw three interceptions in the game’s first 30 minutes, including one in the end zone to cornerback Mike Jackson on an underthrown ball intended for Ricky Pearsall that ended San Francisco’s opportunity to open up a two-score advantage. The other two picks were by the Panthers other corner, Jaycee Horn, including the first one that he returned to the 49ers’ 16-yard line late in the first quarter.
Carolina, playing in its first Monday Night Football game since the second week of the 2023 season, could not capitalize on San Francisco’s profligacy, only converting those three interceptions into three points combined, and wasting Horn’s return in the first after quarterback Bryce Young threw an interception in the end zone on first-and-goal to Ji’Ayir Brown, the first of Brown’s two picks on the night.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Thursday evening’s game, with photos taken by staff photographer Dale Horton. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 46 pictures in total.
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