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In their first chance to avenge a heartbreaking loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII, the San Francisco 49ers squandered that opportunity thanks in large part to a rough outing from third-year quarterback Brock Purdy.
Purdy's play has been up and down throughout most of the 2024 season, but against Kansas City it was mostly down as three back-breaking interceptions proved to be too much for the 49ers to overcome.
Grant Cohn of Sports Illustrated noted that after the game, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy had a tense, lengthy, and rather unusual interaction at Purdy's locker.
“Kyle Shanahan just lectured Brock Purdy for five minutes at his locker. Purdy listened and said nothing. Never seen anything like it.”
David Lombardi of the San Francisco Standard noted that the conversation ended with “a big handshake,” so it appears as if the two are at least on the same page moving forward, but given the fact that San Francisco's defense intercepted Patrick Mahomes twice and held the Chiefs to a season-low 329 yards, it's all the more disheartening.
Of course, this isn't all on the shoulders of Brock Purdy. All season long, the 49ers have been playing without All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey, and heading into the game against the Chiefs, they were without emerging wideout Jauan Jennings. It turns out, the absence of Jennings was just the start of San Francisco's troubles on Sunday.
Brandon Aiyuk exited the game early with what the 49ers fear is a torn ACL and Deebo Samuel was limited to just four snaps due to an illness, leaving Purdy to throw to a skeleton crew of pass-catchers, including Ricky Pearsall Jr., who made his first appearance this year after being shot in an attempted robbery during the offseason.
Purdy finished the game 17-for-31 for 212 yards and two rushing touchdowns. But those three interceptions proved to be too costly for the 49ers, who are now 3-4 this year.
Brock Purdy knows he needs to be better for 49ers to win
Maybe it was the postgame conversation with his head coach, or perhaps Brock Purdy is just wise beyond his years, but when talking with the media after the game, Purdy said all the right things about his individual outing against the two-time defending Super Bowl champions.
“I think I've just got to play better for sure just with my throws and some decisions. That's pretty simple,” Purdy said following the loss, according to Jordan Elliott of NBC Sports Bay Area. “I've obviously got to watch the film again and stuff, but my instant reaction is I've got to play better.”
With this three-interception debacle against the Chiefs, Purdy has now thrown seven interceptions on the season, creeping closer and closer to the 11 interceptions he threw all of last season.
Purdy finished fourth in MVP voting last year after leading the league with a 113.0 Passer Rating, which was the 14th-highest mark in NFL history. This year, in the same category, Purdy's 91.2 rating ranks 17th in the league.
The 49ers visit Dallas next Sunday night before heading into their bye week, but following that week off, San Francisco enters a five-week gauntlet in which all of their opponents — Tampa Bay, Seattle, Green Bay, Buffalo and Chicago — are all above .500.
