Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers offense struggled against Kansas City Chiefs defensive wrinkle
San Francisco 49ers QB Brock Purdy had a solid outing against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII but it was not enough to secure the win. During this matchup, Purdy faced one of the league's better defenses and mastermind at defensive coordinator. This game was reminiscent of Jimmy Garoppolo's performance in Super Bowl […]
San Francisco 49ers QB Brock Purdy had a solid outing against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII but it was not enough to secure the win. During this matchup, Purdy faced one of the league's better defenses and mastermind at defensive coordinator.
This game was reminiscent of Jimmy Garoppolo's performance in Super Bowl LIV versus the Kansas City Chiefs: same team, different quarterbacks, but the same result for the 49ers. And much like Garoppolo, an area of concern heading into this matchup was Purdy's ability to push the ball down the field and outside the numbers.
During the regular season, only 10% of Purdy's passes traveled 20-plus yards down the field. On those throws, he was 30-47 for 956 passing yards, 63.8% completion, and 11 touchdowns with one interception. A good portion of these deep passes are designed through the scheme of the offense, which is evidenced by the small sample size. It's worth wondering what the numbers would look like with a bigger sample size, especially when considering how Purdy struggled in the Super Bowl.
With the small statistical sample size, most would believe throwing deep and outside the numbers is a strength of Purdy's game. These numbers are a little misleading.
Brock Purdy left points on the field
As I mentioned earlier, Purdy's numbers throwing downfield are good, but these were the plays he did not make in the Super Bowl. Against the Chiefs' defense, Purdy struggled when targeting their man coverage outside the numbers and down the field.
When asked or forced to throw 20-plus yards down the field, Purdy was held without a single completion. He went 0-4 overall and 0-2 outside of the numbers. Two of his misses down the field can be labeled as late and/or overthrown.
The first throw was a deep target to a motioning Deebo Samuel with Chiefs DB Trent McDuffie in coverage. Purdy was pressured and maneuvered in the pocket before chucking the pass to the end zone. McDuffie made an outstanding play but Samuel had a step and positioning, Purdy's pass was late and underthrown, as seen in the tweet below from Hayden Winks.
The next throw by Purdy was intended for Brandon Aiyuk on a fake bubble screen. Some fans argued that Aiyuk stopped running and that is why the pass was incomplete. Purdy is late on this throw; leading to him sailing this pass like a kite in heavy wind. This play can be seen in Hayden Wink's tweet below.
Chiefs' defensive strategy forced Brock Purdy into an uncomfortable place
The Chiefs played more man-to-man coverage than the 49ers offense had seen all season, outside of the Cleveland Browns' loss. Kansas City ran the most cover zero (blitz without safety help), third-most cover one, and second-most man coverage the 49ers faced this year.
The Chiefs wanted to take away easy, open throws for Purdy to limit any chance of yards after the catch. For the most of Sunday's big game, it worked.
Only one of the 49ers' weapons did damage after the catch and that was running back Christian McCaffrey. The Chiefs DBs were stuck to those 49ers receivers' like superglue.
Is Brock Purdy the guy of the future for 49ers?
These numbers are jarring because the Chiefs' defense yelled from the speakers, "You can't beat us deep", figuratively of course. As I mentioned earlier, Purdy did not complete a deep pass all game. On the grandest of stages in this profession, Purdy needs to hit these types of throws versus tight coverage to force defenses to play him honestly.
The Chiefs were not concerned with being burned by the constant and creative pre-snap motion of Kyle Shanahan's offense. Rather, they attacked the 49ers' receiver without a care in the world. Purdy will be eligible for a contract extension after the 2024 season. Therefore, making it a pivotal season to earn a long-term deal in San Fran.
Final word
If he cannot get this team over the massive hump when defenses force him to make "game-changer" throws, I'm not sure if a deal should be done after this season. If not now, then when Purdy?
