San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy couldn’t write a storybook ending to his initial rise from Mr. Irrelevant, but one thing didn’t change for his team after a 25-22 overtime Super Bowl loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Purdy told reporters that “everyone in that locker room loves each other.” Purdy led his team to a pair of go-ahead scoring drives in the fourth quarter and overtime, but Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes had the final say with a game-winning touchdown to wide receiver Mecole Hardman Jr.
“It just hurts. We have the team obviously to do it — to win the whole thing — and come up short like that,” Purdy said. “The way things have been the last couple of years here, everyone wanted it so bad. So, I think we’re still trying to sort of gather our thoughts and everything right now.”
San Francisco won the NFC West, snapped a two-game losing streak in NFC championship games, and entered each of their games as the favorite. Purdy became an MVP candidate along the way, passing for 4,280 yards passing and 31 touchdowns versus 11 interceptions — plus two comeback wins in the postseason.
The second half of Purdy’s first Super Bowl appearance didn’t match his rise to stardom. He couldn’t get the 49ers to move the ball efficiently to put away the Chiefs in the second half. San Francisco’s 10-3 halftime lead evaporated amid Kansas City’s defensive pressure.
“I’m still trying to figure it out, I’m not going to lie,” Purdy said. I think first and second down we just got to be better. You get into these third-and-longs and it’s tough to convert in those kinds of situations. So, just got to be better I think first and second down.
“There’s just a couple plays where I feel like defense got the stops like they needed to — and then our first couple plays were just either negative or we’re not moving the ball. So, it’s as simple as that,” Purdy said.
Brock Purdy Played Aggressive After Christian McCaffrey Fumble
Purdy had the 49ers driving early on the opening drive before the Chiefs stripped the ball from running back Christian McCaffrey. That didn’t faze Purdy from making aggressive plays in the first half. On the first play of the second quarter, he took a shot at the end zone from the Kansas City 37-yard line, but the attempt was incomplete when wide receiver Deebo Samuel couldn’t win his one-on-one battle with cornerback Trent McDuffie.
The drive resulted in a short-lived Super Bowl-record 55-yard field goal by rookie kicker Jake Moody. (The record would be broken in the third quarter when the Chiefs’ Harrison Butker kicked a 57-yard field goal.) The Niners made it deep into Chiefs territory again, aided by a penalty. McCaffrey then capped the drive with a touchdown scamper after a flea-flicker pass from Jauan Jennings for a 10-0 lead with 4:23 left in the first half.
Purdy’s hot start helped him amass 255 yards on 23-38 passing and a touchdown for the game. That touchdown came in the fourth quarter when Purdy found Jennings on a 10-yard pass play for a 16-13 lead, but the missed extra point proved ever costly as the Chiefs only needed field goals to tie the game twice at 16-16 and later 19-19.
Brock Purdy Addresses Missed Chance With Jauan Jennings
Purdy and the Niners’ failure to make it more than a field goal deficit at 22-19 in overtime arguably hurt the most. He missed Jennings on third down, and that led to Mahomes getting a shot to win it.
“Yeah, they brought zero and was trying to get the ball to J.J. That’s what was hurting me, just knowing that yeah, we’re going to execute the field goal, trust in Jake and all the guys on special teams but obviously their offense is really good. Mahomes is really good,” Purdy said.
“You just don’t want to give an opportunity to go down and win the game off a touchdown,” Purdy added. “When I wasn’t able to connect with them it hurt.”
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Brock Purdy Sends Message After Super Bowl Loss vs. Chiefs