49ers' Brock Purdy earns huge praise from Chiefs' Steve Spagnuolo for performance in Super Bowl 58 defeat
There were so many plays that contributed to the San Francisco 49ers' downfall in Super Bowl 58. But the loss certainly can't be pinned on Brock Purdy. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback, who has divided opinion among many despite a regular season that had him in the MVP discussion, delivered a performance of immense poise […]
There were so many plays that contributed to the San Francisco 49ers' downfall in Super Bowl 58.
But the loss certainly can't be pinned on Brock Purdy.
The San Francisco 49ers quarterback, who has divided opinion among many despite a regular season that had him in the MVP discussion, delivered a performance of immense poise in the biggest game of his life going up against a vaunted Chiefs defense.
And the man who leads that defense, the mastermind of a gameplan that kept the 49ers to 22 points, had high praise for Purdy in the wake of an overtime classic.
"The zones, I just think their wideouts and quarterback are so good at their timing routes, and Brock Purdy is really good," Spagnuolo told Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. "He knew when we were in certain things, and he found seams.
Purdy finished 23 of 38 for 255 yards and a touchdown, numbers that aren't reflective of the job he did moving the ball against an aggressive defense that did an excellent job disguising its coverages and playing extremely tight in man coverage.
The only time the offense truly stalled was in the third quarter, when the 49ers were forced into three successive punts as those drives went for minus two net yards.
That stretch served as a huge missed opportunity as the Chiefs mustered only three points in the third quarter until a muffed punt gave them the ball back after a three and out and set up a go-ahead touchdown pass from Patrick Mahomes to Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
But the 49ers' final three drives thereafter went for 75, 40 and 66 yards, the primary issue being that the last two, excluding a kneel down at the end of the fourth quarter, went for field goals rather than touchdowns.
That is what will haunt Purdy when he looks back on his Super Bowl debut but, as Spagnuolo and Shanahan articulated, he can be proud of his efforts, and the 49ers can at least look ahead to the future knowing that, despite all the debate, they have their answer at quarterback.
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Doesn’t make it hurt any less.
