49ers Notebook: George Kittle keeps climbing the record book; Players have mixed excitement over bye week; Trey Lance says hello

Sunday night brought a much-needed win for the San Francisco 49ers, who now head into the second half of the season with some momentum after losing four of their previous six games.

For a moment, the game looked like it could possibly turn into the third time this season the 49ers lost a double-digit lead over the course of the second half, as the Dallas Cowboys rallied from a 17-point third quarter deficit to come within six points late in the fourth quarter. The Cowboys had possession down 30-24 with three minutes left in the game, but this time the 49ers weren't about to let a win slip out of their grasp. After forcing four consecutive incompletions, the 49ers took over on downs with 2:43 remaining and ran out the clock to send the Levi's Stadium crowd home happy.

"I was frustrated," linebacker Fred Warner said after the win. "We made it a game when it didn't need to be... We put ourselves in that situation, so we had to get ourselves out. It was about going out there and finishing the game, and we did that."

The 49ers now sit in a three-way tie for first place in the NFC West at 4-4 with the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals, with the Los Angeles Rams a half game back at 3-4. They now head into their bye week, then will return to the field for a 10 a.m. PT start in Tampa Bay on November 10. The rest of the schedule will include road games at Green Bay, Buffalo, Miami, and Arizona, with home games against Seattle, Chicago, Detroit, and the Rams. The 49ers will have their work cut out for them, but with none of their competition in the NFC West looking like they'll be able to pull away from the pack, they could remain the team to beat in the division, especially if running back Christian McCaffrey returns from the Achilles tendonitis that kept him out over the first half of the season.

"We have everybody that we need in terms of players," Warner said. "Obviously we're banged up, but we'll get healthy after the bye week, hopefully get some guys back. And it's about just getting better at this point."

The bye week was among a number of topics of discussion in the 49ers locker room following the game, as was tight end George Kittle's big night and more. Here's a rundown of that and then some in the latest version of 49ers Notebook.

Various degrees of bye excitement

One would think the 49ers players would be looking forward to taking a week off after an up-and-down start to the season that was filled with injuries and occasional frustrations. That's quite possibly a majority feeling among the players, but at least one of them wasn't interested in a week off when asked about it Sunday night.

"I'm not excited, actually," cornerback Deommodore Lenoir said. "I want to play again. But I guess we need it. We need the rest. Then Tampa Bay's got the Niners off a ten-day healthy schedule."

Defensive end Nick Bosa seemed to welcome the time off, but understood why Lenoir would want to keep playing after the win Sunday night.

"I don't think it's a momentum stopper, but I'm not surprised D-Mo feels that way," Bosa said. "It is tough to kind of watch people play on Sunday, but this league is brutal, so any rest we could get is big."

Left tackle Trent Williams, who held out for the duration of the preseason while seeking a new contract, didn't seem to think he needed any rest at this point.

"I had a lot of time off," Williams said. "I know they're excited, so I'm excited for them. But I had a lot of time off already."

From the outside looking in, it seems like now is as good of a time as any for the 49ers to take their bye, as it will allow them to heal some injuries and perhaps be ready to welcome McCaffrey back into the fold for the stretch run. Then every game will be vital, starting with the East Coast trip to Tampa.

"Obviously it's a great week for all of us to just continue to rest up and heal up and then just be hard on ourselves on the film and where we can be better," quarterback Brock Purdy said. "Because the second half of the season is everything. Every game matters, and it's the most important stretch.

"You go back to the history of this place, like this is when it matters and you put your head down, you don't look up till the end. So it'll be good for everyone to get healthy and be ready come Tampa Bay and I think that's the main focus and point."

Celebrating his own holiday

As was mentioned several times on television throughout the day, Sunday was "National Tight Ends Day," an annual event that originated in 2018 as a result of a sideline conversation between tight end George Kittle and former 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. A number of tight ends had big performances during this year's version of National Tight Ends Day, including Kittle, who put up six catches for 128 yards and a touchdown.

Making things better was the fact Kittle's sixth catch put him at 500 career receptions. Kittle is currently fifth on the all-time 49ers receptions list behind Jerry Rice (1,281), Terrell Owens (592), Roger Craig (508), and Dwight Clark (506).

"An honor," Kittle said Sunday night. "I'm just thankful that I got to be a part of an organization with a very high standard of how they play football. Thankful that they've kept me around for a long time and just every single day striving to be better than I was the day before and continually prove that I need to be on the San Francisco 49ers roster. So to be on a list with any of those names -- any list that you're on with Jerry Rice is a good thing, but to be with all those other guys is fantastic. And it's just an honor."

It won't be long before Kittle passes Craig and Clark, and perhaps Owens could be in his sights down the line as well. Either way, Kittle has left his mark on the franchise that drafted him in 2017.

"I learned in college you want to leave your jersey in a better place," Kittle said. "That's all I'm striving to do every single day, and I know all those guys did that."

Kittle has had a consistent season for the 49ers, catching at least four passes in each of the seven games he's played (he sat out in Week 3 due to a hamstring injury) while scoring a touchdown in five of those games. He has 40 catches for 503 yards and six touchdowns, and best of all he seems to be in good health heading into the second half of the season.

"He's a warrior," Bosa said. "There's a lot of guys in this league who wouldn't play through the things he plays through every year. And for him to play like the best tight end in the league on National Tight Ends Day while he's battling things just shows how much of a beast he is."

One for the trophy case

Lenoir has been the 49ers' most consistent (and healthy) performer in the secondary this season, and on Sunday night he added to his highlight reel with a leaping interception of a third quarter pass from Prescott.

Lenoir's interception was part of a 21-point third quarter run for the 49ers that put them ahead 27-10 with one quarter left to play. He had the ball in his hands when speaking to reporters in the locker room after the game, telling them "This is going to be added to the collection."

Lenoir said he recognized what the Cowboys were going to do on offense before his interception and wound up making a move that ended with the ball in his hands.

"I'm a big film guy so I saw the formation they were in," Lenoir said. "I noticed they run that formation a lot, knew it was an indicator of a sprint out. I just took my chance and baited the quarterback -- inside, open shoulder, and then take the ball."

Lenoir is in his fourth season with the 49ers after joining the team as a fifth-round pick in 2021. He had his ups and downs in the early going but has since made himself into a player the 49ers may want to keep around well beyond his rookie contract, which expires at the end of the season.

"He came in as a rookie and he was a bit of an airhead, but he has just gotten so much better," Bosa said. "And he's one of my favorite players that I've ever played with. Just such a dog.

"And you need guys like that in the back end who aren't afraid to come in and play the run. And then he makes huge plays. He could cover anybody. And he's very unselfish. They ask him to do a lot of different things. He could be a lockdown outside corner in this league and they ask him to play inside and he never wavers."

Quick recovery

When wide receiver Deebo Samuel was in the hospital with pneumonia earlier this week, it certainly didn't look like the 49ers could count on him to be available against the Cowboys. But Samuel bounced back, returned to practice, and wound up catching four passes for 71 yards Sunday night.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan said things started to turn for Samuel on Thursday, then on Saturday it appeared Samuel could be back at 100 percent for this week's game.

"I didn't really know he could have a big role until really talking to him Saturday," Shanahan said. "But the fact he was able to come out and practice some on Thursday and do some back-to-back plays and stuff, just seeing how it was, and when you hear that stuff at the beginning of the week and pneumonia and things like that, in my mind it's kind of ruled out. But when they started working him out on Tuesday and said he had a chance and that he got through practice to a degree on Thursday, and by the time Saturday came, he said he was feeling great. We still rotated him a lot and stuff, but we wanted to get the ball in his hands."

Hey Trey

Quarterback Trey Lance still has plenty of friends on the 49ers, as seen in the video below.

Lance, who will unfortunately go down as perhaps the biggest draft misfire in 49ers history, was back at Levi's Stadium with the Cowboys on Sunday night. After the game, he was seen greeting a number of people from the 49ers:

The 49ers selected Lance with the third overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, a pick they traded three first-round draft choices to obtain. Lance fell out of the quarterback picture in San Francisco after the emergence of Brock Purdy, then he was traded to the Cowboys last summer for a fourth-round pick, which was used on safety Malik Mustapha. He has yet to play in a regular season game for the Cowboys.