Robbie Gould’s OT field goal ends 49ers’ losing streak to Seahawks

Two weeks made a huge difference for the San Francisco 49ers.

After suffering an embarrassing 43-16 loss to the Seattle Seahawks back in Week 13, the Niners managed to stage their own impressive home effort two weeks later at Levi's Stadium, beating their NFC West division rivals 26-23 in an overtime thriller.

San Francisco's first-half efforts were capped off by an impressive 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Richie James, which helped offset an early Seahawks touchdown and missed extra-point attempt. With special teams being something of a problem for the 49ers this year, James' efforts certainly made a difference.

Meanwhile, tight end Garrett Celek added a 41-yard touchdown of his own in the second quarter:

Seattle rode two first-half touchdown receptions by wide receiver Doug Baldwin, however, who took advantage of a knee injury to cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon. Witherspoon didn't return after suffering his injury attempting to tackle Seahawks running back Chris Carson at the 49ers' 5-yard line. That forced rookie defensive back Tarvarius Moore into the fray, and he subsequently gave up the touchdown to Baldwin.

Clinging to a 17-13 halftime lead, San Francisco's defense managed to force a third-quarter shutout against quarterback Russell Wilson and Co., being aided by a defensive stand that included defensive tackle DeForest Buckner's 10th sack of the season.

The Seahawks began to push outside on the ground late in the third quarter, taking advantage of some big runs by Carson, which led to a 1-yard touchdown run early in the fourth by Carson to tie things up at 20 apiece:

Carson was impressive, rushing for 119 yards on the game and averaging 5.4 yards per carry. Considering the Seahawks led the NFL with 2,000 rush yards prior to Week 15, stopping Carson was going to be a key factor for San Francisco's defense.

The 49ers and Seahawks exchanged field goals to start the fourth quarter, Seattle's game-tying one at the 5:27 mark coming after Buckner recorded sack No. 2 on the day. And with just over three minutes remaining in regulation, the Niners defense managed to force a punt with the game knotted up at 23 apiece -- a good recipe for head coach Kyle Shanahan's two-minute offense amid an increasingly heavy rain.

Yet neither San Francisco nor Seattle scored with the fourth quarter waning, leading to the overtime frame where the Seahawks received the bonus-time kickoff. The Seahawks went 3-and-out, however, which gave the Niners a chance to win on either a touchdown or field goal.

And that's what happened, as Gould connected from 36 yards out to give the 49ers their fourth win of the year.

Other News and Notes

Mullens had plenty of first-half success, finishing the first two quarters going 11-of-14 for 176 yards, a touchdown and a passer rating of 142.6. The second half, however, wasn't quite as pretty with Mullens taking some huge hits and sacks. In total, he was sacked three times on the afternoon. He finished the day with a 20-of-29 line for 275 total yards, a touchdown and a passer rating of 110.6.

Gould was 4-of-4 on his field-goal tries, including the game winner.

The Niners' 10-game losing streak to Seattle is now over-- one which extended back to their last win in December of 2013.