Jaguars 26, 49ers 21: Turnovers spoil Brock Purdy's return in first loss of season

Cam Inman, The Mercury News on Sep 28, 2025

Published in Football

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Fourth-quarter heroics kept the San Francisco 49ers undefeated through three games. Not four games.

The 49ers’ first loss of the season came Sunday when they failed to completely erase a 26-14 fourth-quarter deficit and fell 26-21 to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Four turnovers, a critical special-teams gaffe and a nonexistent pass rush doomed the 49ers, who saw Brock Purdy charged with three of those turnovers in his return from a two-game hiatus.

The 49ers (3-1) did attempt a fourth-quarter comeback. The Jaguars (3-1) spoiled it for their first win in three Bay Area visits.

Purdy, intercepted twice earlier in the game, got stripped of the ball near midfield by former 49ers defensive lineman Arik Armstead with 2:47 remaining. The Jaguars’ Foyesade Oluokun recovered that football, and the 49ers never regained possession.

The 49ers’ defense, in the wake of Nick Bosa’s season-ending knee injury last Sunday, struggled to pressure Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who did not get sacked or even hit. He was 21 of 31 for 174 yards.

Next up is the 49ers’ only Thursday game this season against the defending NFC West champion Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium.

The 49er’s deficit climbed to 12 points once the 49ers’ allowed an 87-yard punt return to Parker Washington, after Kendrick Bourne dropped a potential third-down conversion catch at midfield late in the third quarter.

Purdy, in his first game back from a Week 1 toe injury, was 22 of 38 for 309 yards with two touchdown passes and the two interceptions.

But Purdy did engineer a 92-yard touchdown drive that kept the 49ers’ unbeaten hopes alive.

Backed up to their 8-yard line with under 12 minutes left, Purdy would complete 5 of 6 passes for 75 yards on a comeback-sparking drive, capped by Jake Tonges’ 21-yard catch-and-run. Purdy converted third-down passes to Christian McCaffrey (29 yards) and Kendrick Bourne (17 yards) before an 11-yard completion to Kyle Juszczyk and then Tonges’ touchdown.

Momentum stayed on the 49ers’ side as Jaguars Cam Little missed a 47-yard field-goal attempt with 3 1/2 minutes to go.

The 49ers had pulled within 17-14 midway through the third quarter once McCaffrey scored on an 8-yard shovel pass from Purdy, followed by Jauan Jennings hard-earned two-point conversion catch.

McCaffrey finished with a team-high 92 receiving yards (six catches) but just 49 rushing yards (17 carries).

Keying that first touchdown drive by the 49ers were completions over the middle to Tonges (24 yards) and Jennings (14 yards), but also back-to-back penalties on the Jaguars that got the 49ers to the 10-yard line. After a Brian Robinson 2-yard gain, Purdy faked a handoff to McCaffrey, then shoveled him what would be Purdy’s first touchdown pass since his Week 1 game-winner to Tonges in Seattle.

Purdy got intercepted on the next series, again by Devin Lloyd, who had one in the second quarter off McCaffrey’s mitts. Only this one came on a deflected pass, and the Jaguars could only convert that takeaway into a 44-yard field goal for a 20-14 lead 4:07 before the fourth quarter.

But the Jaguars scored again less than two minutes later, on Washington’s 87-yard punt return for a touchdown and 26-14 lead.

The 49ers botched their way to a 17-6 halftime deficit. In summary, two 49ers turnovers led to two Jaguars touchdowns, two 49ers red-zone drives produced two chip-shot field goals, and then bad kick-return coverage led to a Jaguars field goal as the half expired.

The 49ers did hold a brief lead, opening with a 13-play drive that culminated in a 26-yard field goal from Eddy Piñeiro.

Former Jaguars tight end Luke Farrell fumbled near midfield to open the second quarter and spark the 49ers’ apparent demise. On the next snap, Travis Etienne Jr. produced a 48-yard touchdown while zooming past Mykel Williams, Marques Sigle and Jason Pinnock.

The 49ers’ next possession ended when Purdy’s late pass got bobbled by McCaffrey and intercepted by Lloyd at the Jaguars 22-yard line. Jacksonville this time converted on a 13-play march, capped by Trevor Lawrence’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Long against Sigle’s coverage.

Purdy completed just 11 of 21 passes in the first half, with at least four resulting in drops, including a potential 5-yard touchdown throw to Jennings.

The 49ers’ best offensive play before halftime required a hook-and-lateral from Purdy to Ricky Pearsall to McCaffrey, for a 23-yard gain into the red zone, where that series ultimately ended with a 23-yard field goal from Pineiro 40 seconds before halftime. That was enough time for a 54-yard kick return to set up a 26-yard Cam Little field goal as the half ended.

Pearsall would not be around for the fourth-quarter rally, from which he watched from the sideline due to a knee injury.

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