SANTA CLARA, Calif. — No one wanted to say it Brock Purdy was for a night like this, but honestly, he probably was. No one in the 49ers organization wanted to watch him throw four interceptions against the Crows. No one in red and gold wanted Purdy to go from MVP front-runner the main reason they were crushed on national TV.
No one in a 49ers uniform wanted Purdy to hit this bump in the road at full speed and full tilt splashes.
But yeah, everyone knew something like this was bound to happen at some point, and now better than in the playoffs. Unconsciously or not, the 49ers were ready for it. Purdy’s storybook season went on and on, but it couldn’t and wouldn’t go on perfectly forever. No one can avoid a clunk. Nobody is up there. The 49ers understood that. And in the minutes and hours after the 49ers’ 33-19 loss On Monday night at Levi’s Stadium, it was abundantly clear that Purdy absolutely got it, too.
He spoke calmly to teammates in the locker room. He walked to the shower room. He got dressed. He nods to people he knows. He walks to the podium. All the same as he did after his best matches. No sighing, biting or glowing. Just the same. Except of course on this day, Purdy had just come off his worst game NFL career, by far, and had to try to explain the achievement. And most importantly: What happens now?
“For me, it’s like I have to ask myself: ‘Okay, who are you, what do you stand for? Who are you when things are good? Who are you when things don’t go your way?’” Purdy said when asked what was going through his mind as the interceptions piled up. “It’s easy to get high and think you’re the man when things are going well, winning games and all that sort of thing. And you don’t really see a lot of adversity in some games and whatnot. And that’s the reality of the NFL. …
“I have to look myself in the mirror, watch the plays, get better, make some cleaner decisions, help my team score and score and protect the ball. And when things don’t go my way, it’s understanding that I can’t act. I have to be real with myself and be better. But I want to be the same guy every day, be consistent in what I do, how I do things, whether it’s going well or not. I know who I am, and I’m not going to waver on that. I’ve said it before, I’ll continue to hang my hat on it.”
Is this the right answer? There’s no guarantee Purdy will bounce back from this outing immediately, especially after he had to leave a game Monday in the fourth quarter after suffering a shoulder sprain for the second straight week. There’s no guarantee of anything for an NFL quarterback, which against defenses is filled with fast and big guys.
Maybe Purdy’s MVP candidacy is now toast, which, I’d guess, probably doesn’t bother him much at all. The conversation, frankly, was always overcooked. You want to win games and championships, and the accolades come from that. It’s not the other way around, and everyone on the 49ers appreciates that Purdy fully embraces that ethos.
His responses Monday night, after the demolition, were merely extensions of that mindset.
Brock Purdy’s Worst Games by QB Rating
| Date | Opponent | Week | COMP-ATT | YDS | TD | INT | Grading | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
25-12-2023 |
vs. Ravens |
16 |
18-32 |
255 |
0 |
4 |
42.6 |
L, 33-19 |
|
10-15-2023 |
at Browns |
6 |
12-27 |
125 |
1 |
1 |
55.3 |
L, 19-17 |
|
23-10-2023 |
at Vikings |
7 |
21-30 |
272 |
1 |
2 |
81.5 |
L, 22-17 |
|
23-11-2023 |
at Seahawks |
12 |
21-30 |
209 |
1 |
1 |
86.7 |
W, 31-13 |
|
22-1-2023 |
against Cowboys |
DIV |
19-29 |
214 |
0 |
0 |
87.4 |
W, 19-12 |
And you can guess that’s exactly what his teammates wanted to hear and see from Purdy, because it’s the same thing they heard and saw from him before he was anybody, while he was playing brilliantly and finally during and after this game on Monday. They didn’t want to see the bad read that led to an interception after a good drive on the 49ers’ opening drive. They didn’t want to see the poor decisions and rushed throws picked up for three other picks. They didn’t want to lose this game, meaning they had to win their final two regular-season games to ensure they were the no. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs wins.
They didn’t want to see any of this, but the 49ers’ leaders also didn’t want to see Purdy seem demoralized or diminished by this. Didn’t want it at all. And I don’t know if every one of the 49ers’ leaders checked in with Purdy during or after the attack, but the detail of their answers when I asked them about Purdy kind of indicated that they did.
That they’ve seen everything they need to see from their QB. And that this night was the exception that proves how much they still believe in him.
“I think it’s amazing how he’s played the last two years,” Nick Bosa said of Purdy. “Just being a young guy, rookie last year, and it seems like he’s immortal out there. But no one is immortal. He hasn’t responded to his best performances before, and I think he will do it again.”
Said Brandon Aiyuk: “I think he will be good. This is the first time he really gets the other side of it. So I’m excited to see how he will bounce back. He will be fine.”
How did that happen to someone who threw just seven interceptions in the first 14 games of the season? Purdy was certainly not at his best. But also, the Ravens are the no. 1 defense in the league and played that way on Monday. Several of their players also suggested to The Athleticssaid Ted Nguyen that they knew they would keep the 49ers offense off balance if they slowed down their running game and also learned that Purdy wanted to throw to certain spots on certain routes. So they made sure to get to those places.
Thoughts on what they scored with Purdy, who is a spot-up or wait-off pitcher (Tua could also be placed in this category) pic.twitter.com/keJyUSUQen
— Ted Nguyen (@FB_FilmAnalysis) December 26, 2023
Is this the kryptonite for the 49ers offense with Purdy? Maybe if you have the Ravens’ staff, which almost no one has. And maybe if Purdy has a particularly awful day, which has been completely out of character for about 90 percent of his NFL career to date. His only other bad performance as the 49ers’ starter came in the Oct. 15 loss at Cleveland, and that came with the caveat that Deebo Samuel, Trent Williams and Christian McCaffrey were all injured in that game, and even then Purdy only threw one interception.
So Monday’s stats, 18 for 32 for 255 yards, the four interceptions and zero touchdowns, for a 42.6 passer rating, were easily Purdy’s worst. The entire game was his worst. By far.
“I just think the fact that he’s played this long and never had a game like this is pretty unusual,” Kyle Shanahan said. “That’s the reality of the NFL. I’m not saying it would happen – wish we didn’t have so many choices today. But… I think one of them was one he would really like to have back, the other three were, I think, unfortunate.”
On first down, Purdy tried to hit Samuel who came over the middle in the end zone but missed a safety Kyle Hamilton entered from the other side. The 49ers moved right down the field after holding the Ravens to a game-opening three-and-out. It was first-and-10 at the Ravens’ 15-yard line. It’s set to put the 49ers’ stamp on this game right away.
And then …
“That starts it,” Purdy said. “Of course we rolled, we had the momentum. We had some really big plays in that drive. And then I throw the ball like that to end the momentum we had.”
Purdy said the commonality is that he tried to make too much happen. That he should take the easier throws. That, if necessary, he should be comfortable with a layoff and punt rather than risking a turnover.
That’s exactly what happened on his third interception, midway through the second quarter, when he was flushed out of the pocket on third-and-5, saw flags flying and still forced a pass over his body that was intended for George Kittle who was turned away by Marlon Humphrey and picked off again by Hamilton.
“I saw some flags being thrown while I was scrambling and stuff,” Purdy said. “Not exactly who or who it was on, so my thoughts were, ‘Try to make a play.’ Honestly, I can’t make a bad play worse. I have to know that it’s on us, in terms of the flag, just by some body language from our O-line and things like that. I saw it. So for me to throw over my body back into the middle of the field with a guy on George, that’s very stupid of me.”
Yes, Purdy is tough on himself. Yes, it was Monday earnings. Yes, he made a few more plays, but they were all wiped out by his mistakes. Yes, Purdy will grit his teeth and go over every millisecond of the tape. Yes, he will be better. Yes, he might have some nightmares about this game. And yes, that’s the surest sign that it was a departure from a coincidence of a quirk of a night that was overdue and now done.
(Photo of Brock Purdy scrambling during Monday’s game against the Ravens: Loren Elliott/Getty Images)
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