The 49ers drive started and the first quarter ended on a blitz by Dean that resulted in his first career sack. Dean knocked the ball loose in the process but TE Luke Farrell fell on it to avoid a turnover. After the two teams switched sides, Jones found Bourne for a huge play again, this time a 56-yard catch-and-run down to the Bucs' 33. McCaffrey got eight yards on a first-down carry but just one on second down. Jones moved the chains on a keeper, making it first down at the 22. A pass to FB Kyle Juszczyk got nine yards before the Niners went back to McCaffrey for another chain-mover down to the nine. A swing pass to McCaffrey got a little more than half of the needed yards, and Jones made an amazing throw while being dragged down to hit Robinson at the two-yard line. On third-and-goal, McCaffrey was stopped short of the end zone but the Bucs were hit with an offsides penalty. McCaffrey got it again and was able to power over the line for the go-ahead score.
The Bucs' next drive began at their 32 and White got two yards on a first-down run. A square-in by Egbuka got him open in the middle of the field and Mayfield drilled a 17-yard pass to him. Misdirection on the next snap got Otton wide open on the right side and Mayfield lobbed it to him to set up a 23-yard catch-and-run. Otton got the ball on the next snap, too, for five more, and White kept his legs driving to push the pile up the middle for four yards. On third-and-one, Miller picked his way over left tackle to get four yards and a first down at the 13. After a short pass to White got four more, Tucker took a handoff and bounced it out wide to the left, out-running the defense to the end zone for a nine-yard score.
The Niners' next drive started at its 37 and faced an early third down after McCaffrey slipped down for a loss of three on second down. Jones kept the drive alive by layering a pass into a hole in the zone to WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a gain of 19. Jones tried a deep shot on the next play but it was well-covered and out of Bourne's reach. Two plays later, on third-and-six, jones nearly found Valdes-Scantling again on the left sideline but a hit by S Tykee Smith at the last second jarred the ball loose. Pineiro came on for another long-range shot, hitting from 54 yards to pull the visitors within one point with just over two minutes left in the half.
The two-minute warning arrived on Tucker's kickoff return out to the 28-yard line. The Bucs kept it on the ground on first down and White lunged for nine yards. On the next play, White found himself wide open in the left flat and Mayfield delivered it to him for an 18-yard that stopped the clock. A curl by Otton gained 11 more to the 49ers' 34 and Mayfield then took a downfield shot in Tez Johnson's direction that was incomplete, stopping the clock with 50 seconds left. On the next play, Kam Johnson went in motion left to right, then turned upfield and was wide open for Mayfield to hit him on a 34-yard touchdown. The Bucs went for two after the touchdown but did not convert, making it 20-13 with 44 seconds left in the half.
The 49ers had 39 seconds to work with after a kickoff return to their 29. WR Demarcus Robinson dropped the ball on first down but then hauled in a pass over the middle for 31 yards to the Bucs' 40. The 49ers used a timeout with 24 seconds left. A short pass to McCaffrey got just three and led to another timeout at the 18-second mark. The 49ers' last timeout came with 11 seconds left after a 13-yard pass to Robinson. After one unsuccessful shot at the end zone, the 49ers sent Pineiro out again and he added three points on a 42-yard field goal.
San Francisco got the ball first in the second half, starting at its own 24, but committed a false start before running a play. A simple pitch over the middle to McCaffrey got nine and Bourne ran a slant for a first down at the 47. LB Lavonte David met McCaffrey at the line of scrimmage on the next handoff, and it was then third-and-two after a sideline catch by TE Jake Tonges. The 49ers let Jones power it forward on a keeper and he was able to get three yards and a first down at the Bucs' 42. Jones had time to throw but nobody open and eventually ran out of bounds after a five-yard scramble. McCaffrey found the corner on a toss to the right and got 11 yards to the 26. Three plays later, on third-and-one, McCaffrey took a handoff out of the shotgun and burrowed his way to the 15 for a first down. An offensive pass interference call on WR Jauan Jennings cost the 49ers 10 yards and also briefly knocked CB Jacob Parrish out of the game. The 49ers managed to get it back to a third-and-seven at the 11, and Parrish, just back in the game, broke up a pass near the goal line intended four Bourne. Pineiro came out yet again and hit the 29-yard chip shot to make it a one-point game midway through the third quarter.
With Egbuka out of the game, the Buccaneers leaned on White to start their first drive of the half, and he gained nine yards on his first two carries. White was stood up short of the line on third down but was able to power forward for two yards on a second effort. A rollout sideline pass in Tez Johnson's direction was incomplete and a holding call on second down erased a good White run to make it second-and-20. After a six-yard pass to Otton, Mayfield somehow emerged from a pile of would-be tacklers and took off on an incredible scramble, juking out several defenders and extending the ball past the line as he hit the ground. Two plays later, Mayfield went over the top to Tez Johnson and the rookie made an amazing fingertip grab as he crossed the goal line for the 45-yard touchdown. The extra point put the Bucs up by eight, 27-19.
Diaby reacted quickly to a dumpoff pass to Tonges, holding him to three yards, and McCaffrey got four on a second-down toss-sweep right. Jones moved the chains with a quick little pass over the middle to Jennings for seven yards. Tonges got the ball again on the next play for a gain of 16 yards to the Bucs' 38. A holding call backed the Niners up 10 yards and brought the third quarter to a close. The first play of the fourth quarter was a dumpoff to Robinson that got only two yards thanks to the quick reaction of OLB Chris Braswell. Two plays later, on third-and-11, David looped around left tackle on a perfectly-timed blitz and smothered Jones for a sack of 10 yards. David also forced a fumble by Jones and recovered the loose ball at the 49ers' 49. However, the play was reviewed and Jones was ruled down before he lost the ball. That gave San Francisco a chance to punt it away, and the Bucs were pushed back to their 14-yard line.
Two plays into the ensuing drive, Mayfield hit Shepard on a crossing route and the veteran receiver pulled his way out of an initial tackle then weaved his way through the defense for a gain of 36 yards to get the ball one yard past midfield. Tucker took a handoff over left tackle for six yards, then found the left corner for six more and a first down. Three plays later, the Bucs faced a third-and-10 at the 37, Mayfield hit Otton for six yards, getting the ball closer for a Chase McLaughlin field goal attempt. McLaughlin came on to try a 49-yarder but missed it wide to the right.
That gave the ball back to the 49ers at their own 39, and the Bucs swarmed over Jones on first down, with Haason Reddick and C.J. Brewer sharing a seven-yard sack. However, a swing pass to Tonges got that and a lot more back, with a 13-yard gain to make it third-and-four. The 49ers had to burn a timeout before the next snap, and Parrish had perfect coverage on Jennings downfield on a third-down incompletion. The 49ers punted the ball away but Vea ran into P Thomas Morstead after the kick, drawing a five-yard penalty that made it first-and-10 on the midfield stripe. A pass out to the right to Bourne got 12 and a first down, but Vildor broke up another attempt to get the ball quickly to Bourne. A misdirection screen to Tonges worked well, giving him room to run down to the 29, and on third-and-one the 49ers tried another Jones sneak but were stopped inches short. The 49ers kept the offense out on fourth down but committed a false start. Down by eight with six minutes left, the 49ers still elected to go for it on fourth down and Dean picked off a pass intended for Jennings and went to the ground at the Bucs' 20. A post-turnover personal foul on Seattle moved it out to the 35 with 5:43 left in regulation.
Looking to drain the clock, the Bucs gave it to White on first down and he got two yards. The offense then surprisingly went empty-backfield on the next snap and Mayfield found Kam Johnson over the middle for 13 yards. White mishandled the snap on the next play but was able to fall on it to avoid the turnover and keep the clock running. Mayfield then found Kam Johnson once again over the middle for another 17 yards and a first down at the 49ers 33 as the clock ticked below three minutes. White ran into a crowd for a gain of two and the visitors used their second timeout with 2:42 left. Another four yards by White led to the Niners' final timeout at the 2:38 mark. A short pass to Kam Johnson got just a yard but did bring the clock down to the two-minute warning. The Bucs kept their offense on the field on fourth down, but only to try to induce an offsides penalty. When the Niners didn't bite, the Bucs used a timeout and sent out McLaughlin for a 44-yard try. McLaughlin nailed it to give the home team an 11-point lead with 1:55 left.
Diaby sacked Jones on the first play of the 49ers' final drive and the quarterback was hurried into an intentional grounding penalty on second down. McCaffrey turned a short pass into a 23-yard gain to give the 49ers a fighting chance at extending the drive, but a short out to Valdes-Scantling came up short when Parrish slung him out of bounds three yards shy of the sticks. Mayfield kneeled once to kill the remainder of the clock.