SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Brock Purdy threw three touchdown passes and the San Francisco 49ers started the stretch run of their season with a 37-24 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.

The 49ers (10-4) came back from a bye week and looked extremely sharp on offense against the overmatched Titans (2-12) by scoring on their first five possessions of a game for the first time since the 2021 season.

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Purdy threw two touchdown passes to Jauan Jennings, another to George Kittle and the Niners got a TD run from Christian McCaffrey as San Francisco converted its first seven tries on third down.

Purdy finished 23 for 30 for 295 yards and the Niners won despite getting only 87 yards from scrimmage from McCaffrey.

Rookie Cam Ward threw a touchdown pass to Gunnar Helm in the second quarter and another in the fourth to defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons. Ward finished with 170 yards passing as the Titans were unable to build on the momentum from a win over Cleveland last week and remained in a three-way tie for the worst record in the NFL. Tennessee hasn’t won back-to-back games since November 2022.

The Titans blew a good opportunity late in the first half when Ward missed a wide-open Van Jefferson on a deep shot and then Joey Slye missed a 50-yard field goal on the final play of the half to keep San Francisco’s lead at 17-10.

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The Niners extended the lead to 14 points when Purdy connected with Jennings for the second time on the opening possession. Tennessee went three-and-out on its first two drives of the half and never had a chance at a comeback.

Stat sheet stuffer

Simmons put together an impressive stat line in a losing effort.

He recorded a strip sack against Purdy early in the fourth quarter and then caught a 1-yard TD pass on the ensuing possession for his second career touchdown reception.

This marked just the sixth time since sacks became official in 1982 that a player had a sack, a forced fumble and a TD catch in the same game with J.J. Watt doing it twice in 2014 for Houston, with Mike Vrabel (2007), Jared Allen (2017) and Barry Krauss (1982) the others to do it.

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Injuries

Titans: Three safeties left with injuries in the first half and didn’t return: Xavier Woods (hamstring), Mike Brown (ankle) and Kevin Winston (hamstring). … G Kevin Zeitler (groin), WR Van Jefferson (back) and LB Cedric Gray (concussion) all left in the second half.

49ers: DT Jordan Elliott was scratched after injuring his knee before the game.

Up next

Titans: Host Kansas City on Sunday.

49ers: Visit Indianapolis on Dec. 22.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl