The 49ers survive three missed field goals, the side battle for victory is ugly against the Bucs

If you don’t succeed the first – or second, or third – time, try again.

San Francisco’s Jake Moody missed three field goals Sunday afternoon against Tampa Bay but made one he needed – a 44-yard game-winner as time expired to lift San Francisco to a 23-20 victory. It wasn’t pretty, but it kept the 49ers in the playoff hunt…even if they might have significant locker room issues.

Moody also kicked three field goals, but after the third of three misses, teammate Deebo Samuel confronted him and long snapper Taybor Pepper – not what you see on a smooth-running team.

San Francisco’s first score was promising – the first touchdown for wide receiver and first-round draft pick Ricky Pearsall in an apparent offseason heist gone wrong. Pearsall’s acrobatic 46-yard touchdown topped most early afternoon highlight packages, and for good reason:

On the 49ers’ next possession, George Kittle used a bit of his own magic to catch a pass from Brock Purdy:

That possession stalled in the red zone and San Francisco scored a field goal to take a 10-0 lead.

The Bucs’ normally productive but currently injury-riddled offense didn’t even get past midfield until halfway through the second quarter. Quarterback Baker Mayfield was only able to lead Tampa Bay to one field goal in the first half, making the score 10-3 at halftime.

But the Bucs found a touch of mojo in the third quarter. Tampa Bay turned a 49er punt into a touchdown, a short 9-yard pass to Rachaad White that tied the game at 10 yards. San Francisco took the lead back with a 33-yard field goal, but Mayfield put the Bucs ahead with an intentional 10-yard punt. game, 70-yard drive that ended with a 12-yard Bucky Irving touchdown run to secure a brief 17-13 lead.

Christian McCaffrey returned for his first game of the season and his standout moment of the afternoon came with just under nine minutes left in the game. Purdy threw a moonshot pass that flew right into the hands of McCaffrey, who turned it into a 30-yard gain.

Later in the drive, Purdy found Kittle in the corner of the end zone for a nifty 11-yard toe-tap touchdown that put the 49ers back in the lead, 20-17.

San Francisco beat Tampa Bay by a net-minus-13 three-pointer, but Moody missed a 44-yard field goal, his third of the day.

That was enough for Deebo Samuel to confront Moody as he left the field; Moody’s Long Snapper, Taybor Pepper, intervened on Moody’s behalf and got in Samuel’s face.

Tampa Bay was unable to capitalize on the previous two misses, but that miss gave the Bucs an opportunity to force overtime late in the fourth quarter.

On their final, desperate drive, Mayfield passed Nick Bosa on an all-or-nothing fourth-and-seven to complete a pass to White, and the Bucs converted multiple 49er penalties leading up to the game-winning field goal. But the 49ers were able to drive 39 yards in 41 seconds, enough for Moody to make arguably the most nerve-wracking field goal of his life.