When rolling, the San Francisco 49ers look like they’re never going to lose again. Until Monday night’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the Niners were undefeated this season when Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffery, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle are healthy. And it looked as if that trend might continue — at least for a second — because Lamar Jackson/a back judge made the first mistake, and Kyle Shanahan’s offense totaled 126 yards on 15 plays over their first two possessions.
The initial drive was capped with a Purdy interception in the Raven’s end zone, but the second led to three points, and it’s not as if the Niners couldn’t move the ball. They were sunk by turnovers and Murphy’s Law, the latter of which has proven difficult to overcome for Shanahan.
A telling stat was shown during the MNF broadcast, and I’m sure you saw it because ESPN tends to beat viewers over the head with their stats and info department. Since 2017, San Francisco is now 0-38 when trailing by eight or more points in the fourth quarter. That’s a little misleading because often if you’re trailing by eight or more after 45 minutes, it’s because you’re outmatched, or can’t keep from stepping in it.
That’s what Purdy did Monday, tossing four interceptions. While it could be argued two or three picks weren’t his fault, credit the Ravens’ for harassing the QB all night, making plays and capitalizing on mistakes. I can’t say if Purdy was outmatched, or just mistake prone — it was likely a combination of the two — but there’s a certain gear that no quarterback during Shanahan’s tenure has been able to reach.
My hypothesis on why Niner GM John Lynch and his head coach were so enamoured with Trey Lance is because he has physical tools beyond Jimmy Garapolo. The organization sees a coach and team so deep in talent that having a game manager under center is a crime. While Purdy is more than a system quarterback, he doesn’t have a Get Out of Jail Free arm or Go-Go Gadget legs.
He can improvise a bit, and his timing and feel for the position is impressive; there was a botched screen play in the second half that Purdy still completed to McCaffery. The running back made a back cut on the d-lineman who sniffed out the screen, and Purdy hit him with a pass that oozed NFL anticipation.
However, Jackson escaped the pass rush more than his counterpart and made off-script plays look as if they were practiced. Turns out, Baltimore does practice those plays, but I’d be interested to see how many scramble drills the 49ers run during the week. Obviously, it’s unfair to compare any quarterback to one of the most elusive QBs to ever do it.
At the same time, that’s what pundits were doing heading into the game. There were two races heavily hyped for the Christmas finale: The first for a one seed in the teams’ respective conferences, and the second for league MVP. (There was technically a third race — the Can-Niner corgi sprint at the half — which, unfortunately, I will not touch on.)
Coming into Monday, Purdy was one of the contenders in that MVP race. Then he shared a field with Jackson, and anyone who watched could tell you one quarterback is not like the other. (Side note: If the NFL still gives MVPs to running backs, McCaffery is still alive.)
So much of what San Francisco does works that they rarely have to press the issue. Like his father Mike, Kyle has a knack for playcalling. It’s one of those skills that can’t be taught. Certain coaches just have a feel for it and there’s no arguing against the heaps of tape coming out of the Bay Area.
The rub is you can’t script all four quarters. Execution is going to get screwed up or the defense will guess right, and against the best teams, the quarterback is responsible for building the puzzle on the fly. What sets Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Jackson and other elite QBs apart from the tier below is they can find a way when things aren’t working.
A coach can only do so much, and for the Niners, they need Brock Purdy to problem solve when Shanahan’s play-calling cannot.
