A few very notable things, including torn elbow ligaments in an NFC Championship Game and a heartbreaking defeat in Super Bowl 58, have gone wrong for Brock Purdy in his NFL career.

For the most part, though, he has continued on a remarkable upward trajectory since taking over as the San Francisco 49ers with five games left in the 2022 regular season.

This season, however, has seen something of a leveling off for both Purdy and the Niners, with the reigning NFC champions slumping to a 5-5 record even as their quarterback has received praise for his ability to complete more aggressive, lower percentage throws and make things happen outside the structure of an offense that has provided him far fewer easy buttons to hit than in previous years.

Last Sunday, the 49er offense had its worst performance of the season in an upset loss to the Seattle Seahawks. The Niners finished with 277 yards, the first time this season they have gone for under 300, while Purdy's yards per attempt tally of 5.7 was his lowest of the campaign.

When asked about the up-and-down nature of Purdy's performances this season, head coach Kyle Shanahan suggested the optics have been influenced by the team's overall inability to close out games.

He told his Wednesday press conference ahead of the 49ers' Week 12 meeting with the Green Bay Packers: "I think it's such a fine line with, we're a 5-5 team, which isn't where we want to be. But when it, you ask a question about Brock, but I think if we were 8-2 with a top offense in the league and stuff, I think we'd be feeling a lot better. I try to keep perspective of that, especially with our guys. And to me that's come all the way down to how we finish games. And we've had four games here that have come down to the last two possessions and we've only won one of those. And that's the difference between 8-2 and 5-5 with the one we won being Tampa. 

"In contrast, you look at a team like Green Bay, they've had seven games come down to the last possession and they've won six of them, with the only one they lost being the opening game versus Philly. And that's why they have such a good record. So I think Brock's doing a lot of good things, but we're all going to be judged on winning games and that's why our team's got to find a better way to win it there in the fourth so we can get our record right."

Asked to evaluate whether Purdy had made progress, Shanahan added: "Yeah, it's hard to make a lot of progress after the way he played last year and it was hard to make a lot of progress after the way he played seven games in his first year. So I think Brock's playing at the exact same level. 

"I think there's different circumstances around him. Our team hasn't been quite as good through this, but it's been close to getting there and close doesn't matter. That's why we're 5-5, but a couple plays here and there and I think we're looking at it totally differently and that's why we've put ourselves in the hole and that's why we've made it a lot harder for ourself here at this back half."

Shanahan closed his answer with a worrying statement, saying: "But I still think it's going to come down to the same stuff. I bet these next seven games come down to the fourth quarter and we either get it done or we don't. We've got to find a way to get it done."

Whether it's on offense or defense, the 49ers have shown extremely little to suggest they can finish games confidently, with their last two victories over the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers featuring unnecessarily nervy fourth quarters.

Logic says that the 49ers' struggles in one-score games will regress back to the mean, but nothing about the Niners' 2024 season has been logical. If the 49ers are playing a bunch of close games down the stretch as they bid to make the postseason, recent history suggests that will be bad news for those playoff hopes.

George Kittle offers 49ers renewed hope for key Packers clash with simple six-word statement

He left no doubt.