FULL BOX SCORE
Nick Shook’s takeaways:
- Purdy rebounds. Six days after enduring an ugly performance in a win over Carolina, Purdy looked much more like his usual self. The statistics — 16 of 29, 168 yards, one touchdown pass — don’t quite suggest it, but Purdy made a number of key throws by navigating the pocket and rolling away from pressure, preventing Cleveland’s ferocious pass rush from making a significant difference. Even more impressive was that Purdy completed many of these passes on a windy late-November day along the shore of Lake Erie that included gusts of 20 miles per hour. Unlike previous weeks, Purdy’s passes were delivered with more zip, were largely accurate and represented a much-needed improvement from where he started when he returned from injury. That’s good news for a 49ers team that will need its quarterback at his best going forward.
- Giveaways doom Browns. As has been the case for much of the 2025 season, Cleveland’s defense kept the Browns within striking distance of the 49ers for a significant portion of Sunday’s game. It forced four punts on San Francisco’s first six possessions, and while the Browns didn’t record a takeaway, the final score is once again not indicative of how Jim Schwartz’s unit performed. The other areas of the game, however, are where the Browns faltered. Facing fourth-and-1 on his 33 midway through the third quarter in a 10-8 game, Kevin Stefanski dialed up a direct snap to rookie tight end Harold Fannin Jr. his first such usage in his career. Fannin fumbled the snap, resulting in a significant giveaway at the Browns’ 32. Undrafted rookie Gage Larvadain muffed two punts and lost the second, giving the 49ers possession at Cleveland’s 18 and all but surrendering any hope of a comeback in a 17-8 game early in the fourth. Both turnovers led to touchdowns, taking a two-point game and turning it into a 15-point deficit, an insurmountable difference for the Browns’ low-ceiling offense. Add in a questionably aggressive decision to go for it on San Francisco’s 20 early in the contest, and it’s easy to see how Cleveland — a team with little margin for error — ended up on the losing end of a lopsided defeat.
- Niners pass rush makes a surprise appearance. Since losing Nick Bosa and Mykel Williams to injury, San Francisco’s pass rush has all but disappeared in recent weeks. That wasn’t the case Sunday. Clelin Ferrell notched two sacks as part of a team-best nine tackle day while Keion White logged another as part of a defensive effort that saw the 49ers register a pressure rate of 36.7%. On third down especially, San Francisco’s pass rush made for a hectic experience for rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders in only his second NFL start, undercutting a Browns offense that still managed to gain 253 total yards but produced just eight points. It’s not a guarantee this pass rush will suddenly become a frequent contributor, but for one Sunday, it was nice to see the Niners get after the quarterback more than usual.
Next Gen Stats insight from 49ers-Browns (via NFL Pro): Shedeur Sanders averaged a 3.37-second time to throw in his second start, the longest time to throw by a Browns quarterback over the last three seasons. As a result, the 49ers pass rush was able to generate a 36.7% pressure rate, their second-highest of the season (and highest without Nick Bosa), while logging three sacks, despite blitzing just one time.
NFL Research: Christian McCaffrey cleared 800 rushing yards and 800 receiving yards in a season for the third time in his career, joining Marshall Faulk as the only two players to accomplish this feat.
