SANTA CLARA — The 49ers just lost 26-21 to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now, the 49ers’ record is 3-1. Here are their grades for this performance.
To be fair, Brock Purdy seemed injured. He had no agility and he floated his passes worse than usual. Still, he said he was 100 percent healthy and he was on the field, so no excuses. And to be brutally honest, he played like an undrafted free agent in the preseason who is destined to land on the practice squad. He did all the bad things a quarterback can do in one game. He floated passes into traffic. He missed receivers high, low, in front and behind. He threw into triple coverage. He got intercepted twice. He had a sack fumble with the game on the line.
If he were anyone else and he had the same exact performance, he would have gotten benched and he would have deserved it. Instead, the 49ers decided to go down with Purdy today because he’s the franchise quarterback, supposedly. In his past five starts, he has thrown eight interceptions. If he throws a couple more on Thursday against the Rams, the 49ers might have no choice but to bench him. He’s awful right now.
Christian McCaffrey averaged 2.9 yards per carry and fumbled. He hasn’t been a good running back since 2023. As a receiver, he’s still good, but the 49ers targeted him 11 times. That’s way too much. Their offense will continue to struggle as long as it goes through him. They need to spread the ball around and use other running backs.
Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall both played through injuries just to get beaten up further and lose. Now, it’s unclear if either one will be healthy enough to play against the Rams on Thursday, a game which matters far more than this one. In addition, Kendrick Bourne dropped a critical pass in the second half. I have no idea why he’s on the team other than the fact that he knows the head coach.
Jake Tonges had 58 yards and a touchdown — he’s a good player. The other tight end, Luke Farrell, had 20 yards and a fumble. He is not a good player. The 49ers shouldn’t have signed him.
They gave up just one sack all game, but they let Arik Armstead strip the ball away from Purdy on the final drive. The 49ers don’t have one good interior offensive lineman. Dominick Puni has regressed big time.
They literally never touched Trevor Lawrence — not one time. In addition, they couldn’t stop the run. They missed Nick Bosa tremendously.
Fred Warner and Dee Winters are two of the best players on the team. Even in a loss, they combined for 18 tackles, a tackle for loss, a pass breakup and a forced fumble which the 49ers didn’t recover.
They gave up only 171 yards through the air, but they played soft zone coverage for most of the game and conceded lots of short throws which negated the 49ers’ pass rush. And that’s not their fault. They simply were executing what the coaches wanted them to do.
They gave up an 87-yard punt return for a touchdown which essentially was the difference in the game. Meanwhile, the 49ers haven’t returned a punt return for a touchdown themselves since Week 1 of 2011, which was the first 49ers game I ever covered. That was 14 years ago.
Robert Saleh’s defense wasn’t good in the first half, but he made adjustments and gave up only three points in the second half, and he gets credit for that. Meanwhile, Kyle Shanahan made no adjustments. He continued to run his offense through Christian McCaffrey even though he’s not their best player anymore — not even close. And he played Purdy even though he seemed injured. And he let Purdy give away the game.
Had they started their practice squad quarterback and lost, the 49ers could have told themselves that they’re still good when healthy. Now, the 49ers have to wonder if they’re as good as their record says they are, or if their early-season success was a mirage. They don’t seem like they have much of a chance to win Thursday night against the Rams, especially if Purdy’s toe is sore from playing today. Which means that Shanahan may cost the 49ers more than one game with his decision to play Purdy today. Irresponsible,
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