Christian McCaffrey ran for 129 yards and two touchdowns and added seven catches for 72 yards as the San Francisco 49ers posted a 20-10 victory over the visiting Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night in Santa Clara, Calif.
McCaffrey, who only had one rushing touchdown entering play, totaled his most rushing yards since running for 145 against the Seattle Seahawks in December 2023. Mac Jones completed 17 of 26 passes for 152 yards for the 49ers (5-2), who hold the tiebreaker with the Los Angeles Rams atop the NFC West.
Atlanta’s Michael Penix Jr. threw for 241 yards and a score and running back Bijan Robinson, despite being held to 40 rushing yards, had 52 receiving yards and a touchdown. Kyle Pitts hauled in seven passes for 62 yards for the Falcons (3-3), who finished with a season-low 62 rushing yards.
After leading 10-3 at halftime, the 49ers built a double-digit lead on Eddy Pineiro’s 43-yard field goal at the 10:09 mark of the third quarter. The Falcons answered with an efficient, six-play, 48-yard scoring drive, finished off with Penix’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Robinson to cut Atlanta’s deficit to three with 6:28 left in the third.
Atlanta forced consecutive San Francisco punts before the Falcons’ offense advanced into 49ers’ territory. With Atlanta facing a third-and-one from the 49ers’ 35-yard line, Robinson was stuffed at the line of scrimmage before Penix’s pass to Drake London was broken up by Chase Lucas to end the drive midway through the fourth quarter.
The 49ers then iced the game with an 11-play, 64-yard drive punctuated by McCaffrey’s second rushing score — this time a 4-yarder to extend the lead to 20-10 with 2:26 remaining in the fourth.
After each team traded punts to open the game, Atlanta pieced together a 19-play, 60-yard drive — spanning nearly 11 minutes — as John Parker Romo’s 38-yard field goal gave the Falcons a 3-0 lead with 12:54 left in the second quarter.
Atlanta linebacker Kaden Elliss intercepted Jones on the 49ers’ next drive, but the Falcons punted less than two minutes later. San Francisco cracked the scoreboard with an 80-yard drive, capped with McCaffrey’s rushing score from a yard out to give the 49ers a 7-3 lead at the 1:48 mark of the first half.
Bryce Huff stripped Penix on the ensuing drive and the ball was recovered at the Falcons’ 40-yard line by Alfred Collins, leading to Pineiro’s 55-yard field goal with 38 seconds left to cap the first-half scoring.
