SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Overcoming special teams blunders and injuries to key players to pull out a game at the end in the opener was a sign that this season could be much better than 2024 for the San Francisco 49ers.

The injury questions that arose a day after San Francisco rallied to beat the Seattle Seahawks 17-13 on Sunday seem like more of the same.

The Niners will be without star tight end George Kittle for at least a few weeks because of a hamstring injury and could be forced to play without quarterback Brock Purdy after he hurt his toe and left shoulder on Sunday.

Coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday the team will know more about Purdy’s status for the Week 2 game at New Orleans later this week.

The one positive is they are dealing with these questions following a win thanks to Purdy’s improbable TD pass to little-used Jake Tonges and a game-sealing defensive play from Nick Bosa.

San Francisco (1-0) fell short late in four of their five division losses last season on the way to a 6-11 finish.

“I think we have a really new team,” said star running back Christian McCaffrey, who had 31 touches for 142 yards after missing 13 games to injuries last season.

“I think there’s so much talk about our past teams, but we try to wipe all the past noise away and focus on this team. To have a bunch of new guys come out for the first time together and to play with each other and get out a gritty win against a good team in a tough environment, that’s a big deal.”

The Niners trailed 13-10 late when Purdy led an impressive comeback drive after falling short in those scenarios too many times last season. He threw a 45-yard pass to Ricky Pearsall to get it started and then capped it with a wild play at the end.

Purdy was pressured out to his right and threw a ball up for grabs that Tonges outfought Riq Woolen to grab with 1:34 to play for his first career touchdown. NFL NextGen stats gave the play a 14.7% chance of being caught for the most improbable catch of the afternoon. It was Purdy’s first TD pass ever in the final 7:00 of regulation or overtime when tied or trailing by a score.

It proved to be the game-winner when Bosa had a strip-sack against Sam Darnold with the Seahawks just 9 yards away from the go-ahead TD.

What’s working

Run defense. The Niners came into this season looking to overhaul a run defense that struggled late last season, bringing back coordinator Robert Saleh. The early results were good as San Francisco allowed only 3.2 yards per carry and didn’t give up a run of longer than 9 yards.

What needs help

Run game. San Francisco struggled to open up holes in the running game with McCaffrey bottled up for just 69 yards on 22 carries for just 3.1 yards per carry. Backup Brian Robinson had nine carries for 33 yards but generated only one first down.

Stock up

Tonges. With Kittle out, the Niners found a most unlikely replacement. Tonges entered the game with no career catches and just one target in 51 snaps over 20 games. He then caught all three targets on the game-winning drive for his first career catches. Tonges was the first 49ers tight end other than Kittle with at least three catches and a TD in a game since Jordan Reed on Dec. 7, 2020.

Stock down

K Jake Moody. The questions at kicker only got louder when Moody missed a 27-yarder at the end of the first half and had a 30-yarder blocked in the second half. It marked the first time since Nov. 19, 2006, that the Niners missed two FGs inside of 40 yards in the same game with Joe Nedney doing it that game against Seattle. Moody was 5 for 14 on attempts from at least 40 yards in the final nine games last season after returning from a knee injury.

Shanahan said the team could bring in a kicker for competition this week.

Injuries

The Niners had two other injuries from the game in addition to Kittle and Purdy. WR Jauan Jennings left the game with a injured shoulder. An MRI came back clean on Monday but Jennings still needs to undergo a CT scan before the team knows his status for this week. LG Ben Bartch is day to day with a minor knee sprain.

Key stat

Purdy’s 67 yards passing on the game-winning drive. That was the most yards passing on a come-from-behind, game-winning TD drive for any Niners QB since Alex Smith had 85 yards in the 2011 divisional round against New Orleans. That drive was capped by a 14-yard TD pass to Vernon Davis with 9 seconds to play.

Next steps

The 49ers will visit New Orleans on Sunday in search of their fourth 2-0 start in nine seasons under Shanahan. They made the Super Bowl after doing it in 2019 and ’23, and went 6-10 following a 2-0 start in 2020.

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