49ers 23, Commanders 17: Two late stops preserve a 6-0 start

San Francisco needed its defense to finish a game its offense had made comfortable. The 49ers beat Washington 23-17 on Monday at Levi's Stadium, remaining unbeaten at 6-0 after two late stops denied the Commanders a comeback.

The home team led 13-3 after one quarter and 20-3 at halftime. Washington won the second-half scoring 14-3. San Francisco scored nothing in the fourth, leaving a six-point cushion rather than the three-score advantage it had taken into the break.

The lead shrank. The last two chances ended.

With Washington facing fourth-and-three at the San Francisco 17 with two minutes left, Malik Mustapha broke up Jayden Daniels' end-zone pass intended for Treylon Burks, according to the 49ers' official recap. The play ended a possession that could have changed the lead rather than merely reduced it.

Washington had one last possession. With six seconds remaining and third-and-22, Romello Height and Keion White combined for an 18-yard sack of Daniels as time expired, the club reported. A pass breakup and a sack, not another scoring drive, settled the finish.

Those stops deserve more weight than a description of San Francisco simply hanging on. The defense had to end two separate opportunities. At the same time, the comeback explains why an unbeaten team can leave with something substantial to review. The first-half production did not carry through four quarters.

That is the balance in this result: Washington made a game of a large deficit, but never completed the recovery. Calling the margin comfortable would miss the late stakes. Treating the second half as a San Francisco defeat would ignore the plays that protected the lead.

A perfect record, an imperfect finish

Dan Quinn feared a significant McLaurin knee injury. Scans were planned Tuesday, NFL.com reported. No diagnosis was confirmed. The receiver's status is a separate concern, not something to resolve from how the injury looked.

The 49ers' recap credits the club with its 56th Monday Night Football victory, moving it ahead of Pittsburgh on that list. The more immediate achievement is a sixth win without a loss. This one required a finish the halftime scoreboard had not made seem necessary.