SANTA CLARA — For more than five minutes after the 49ers’ lost 28-18 to the Kansas City Chiefs, coach Kyle Shanahan, in full view of a locker room full of media, was engaged a serious conversation with 49ers’ quarterback Brock Purdy.
It’s been a remarkable 34 games (including playoffs) since Purdy took over as seventh-round draft pick in 2022 for an injured Jimmy Garoppolo, eventually morphing into a highly unexpected quarterback of the future for a quarterback-centric franchise.
After conquering a serious elbow injury in Philadelphia as a rookie, Purdy has had some rough games in Year 2 that included an unsightly road loss to Cleveland as well as the Christmas Night massacre against the Baltimore Ravens when he threw four interceptions.
Purdy bounced back just fine from the Ravens debacle, proving he could elevate the performance of his teammates just as well as they could elevate him into the upper echelon of NFL quarterbacks.
But after a miserable Sunday afternoon in yet another loss to the Chiefs, Purdy will face his biggest tests to determine not only if he can get the 3-4 49ers back to a consistent winner, but also prove he will merit a contract extension that could put him in the $50-million-plus range.
Purdy finished 17 of 31 for 212 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions. His passer rating of 36.7 was the lowest of his career, and two of the interceptions were followed by Kansas City touchdowns on long drives engineered by Patrick Mahomes.
Mahomes, his Chiefs counterpart who has already proven he can elevate a rotating supporting cast to a championship level, had a pair of interceptions of his own and a 44.4 rating on 16 of 27 passing for 154 yards and no touchdowns. Yet Mahomes made plays when it mattered, just as he did in Las Vegas in Super Bowl LVIII last Feb. 11 when the Chiefs won 25-22 in overtime.
Instead of coming up just short this time, Purdy missed by a missed by a mile. He was erratic and off-target in throws that he normally makes. No doubt that was part of the postgame conversation with Shanahan.
“We were just talking about some stuff about the game and some moments throughout it, how we can do better going forward,” Purdy said.
Purdy has always deflected the good and accepted the bad, and this game was almost all bad.
“I’ve got to play better for sure, some of my throws, my decisions,” Purdy said. “My instant reaction is I’ve got to do better.”
Shanahan has been known to lose patience with quarterbacks, and Purdy’s even keel demeanor together with his penchant for processing information and delivering accurate, drive-sustaining passes have made the quarterback-coach relationship work.
The locker room conversation ended with Shanahan and Purdy exchanging a bro hug of sorts, and it’s not as if the head coach will be pondering life with Brandon Allen or Joshua Dobbs after one bad game.
“We didn’t do anything really good on offense,” Shanahan said. “I know he’d love to have all three of those picks back. Brock’s played unbelievable this year, has done some good things, but today wasn’t his day.”
A HAT TRICK OF PICKS 🪄 pic.twitter.com/rp3Nq7Q4N2
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) October 20, 2024
Purdy’s first interception came on first-and-10, when he never saw safety Justin Reid when looking for tight end George Kittle. Reid accepted the gift and ran it back eight yards. The 49ers were spared points after the turnover when Kalia Davis deflected a Mahomes pass at the line of scrimmage and intercepted it.
Late in the second quarter, Purdy found Kittle for 41 yards and on second-and-6 from the 29 hit Brandon Aiyuk for 14 more. Aiyuk, however, was hit by Chamarri Conner and Trent McDuffie and sustained a potential season-ending knee injury.
With Deebo Samuel already out with an illness, the 49ers were without two of their top playmakers to go along with the season-long absence of Christian McCaffery. They settled for a 24-yard Anders Carlson field goal.
The 49ers got within 14-12 when Purdy scored on a 1-yard run on a drive set up by Deommodore Lenoir’s interception and 33-yard return.
But two more interceptions were to come, with Purdy misreading a break by Ronnie Bell resulting in an interception by Chris Roland-Wallace. The Chiefs drove 79 yards for a touchdown and a 21-12 lead.
Then with third-and-goal at the Kansas City 5 and a chance to get within a field goal, Purdy, under pressure by George Karlaftis, was intercepted in the end zone by Jaden Hicks with 9:29 to play. Another Chiefs touchdown drive ensued, this one from 80 yards, and all that was left was window dressing.
Shanahan resisted the notion that Purdy wasn’t capable of elevating his play without some key weapons.
“Brock elevates himself a lot,” Shanahan said. He had some good plays today but overall the offense didn’t do well. When you miss your best players, it makes it harder on everyone and you hope you can overcome that. Brock is very capable of doing that.”
Kittle said some mistakes made around Purdy — a poor route by himself, a drop by Aiyuk — were costly and maybe the quarterback was trying to force things to get extra momentum.
“All I know is Brock is this is his third year. He’s had a couple of games he feels he didn’t play very well in,” Kittle said. “I have no concern with Brock. I think he’s going to come back and sling the hell out of the football next week.”
To Purdy, the key to getting the offense untracked is to convert a few third down plays. They were 1-for-9 while it was still a ballgame and finished 2-for-11 after getting a too-little, too-late touchdown with less than two minutes to play.
“It’s hard to get the ball rolling when we’re not getting first downs,” Purdy said. “It starts with that. It’s on us to move the chains. Kansas City is a great defense, but we’re a great offense in our eyes and can play at a real high level. That’s on us.”
It’s also possible Purdy is pressing himself to carry the 49ers offensively with key players out instead of letting the offensive system do the work.
“All I think about is going through my reads, trusting in Kyle’s play calls and hitting the open guy,” Purdy said. “I don’t feel like I have to put on a Superman cape and do more. We have a lot of talent in my eyes. It’s on me.”
