The opportunity was there for the taking. One of the few things Brock Purdy<\/a> has yet to do in his young career is lead the San Francisco 49ers<\/a> to a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback.
On Sunday, with Joe Montana sitting in the building, he had the chance. With his team trailing by a touchdown in the fourth quarter, Purdy got the ball back, and immediately threw an interception. Late in the game, now down by 14 and with a reprieve when an interception was nullified by a roughing the passer call, Purdy was sacked and fumbled the ball away to Cincinnati.
Game over.
\u201cClearly towards the end of the game I was starting to force things, and not see things clearly,\u201d Purdy said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to let the game come to you.\u201d
For the third straight week, the game did not come to the 49ers. Both the game, and a win, eluded the 49ers. And this third straight loss was the worst yet: it came at home, it had been dubbed a \u201cmust win\u201d by Fred Warner, and it came right before the bye week. So for 14 days it is going to hurt and throb, like an infected wound.
\u201cThe good news is that it\u2019s going to fester,\u201d said George Kittle<\/a>, wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the word \u201cCHAOS.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s going to be really annoying.\u201d
Annoying. Chaotic. Shocking. Panic-inducing. Pick your reaction. The 49ers are 5-3, still better than they were a year ago. But this is not a happy or fun 5-3. After starting 5-0 and losing three straight, falling into second place in their division and two games behind the mighty Eagles in their conference, the 49ers are going in decidedly the wrong direction.
Most of the panic and puzzle surrounds the defense, the problems with the pass rush, the new defensive coordinator. And that\u2019s all very concerning, especially as the 49ers\u2019 once dominant defense has, in consecutive weeks, made Kirk Cousins and Joe Burrow look like Tom Brady and Joe Montana. (Before the game Montana made a point to embrace Burrow on the field, the two Joe Cools hanging together.) Burrow and Cousins combined to go 62 of 77 for 661 yards for 10.6 yards per completion.
But the offense is also a huge cause for concern. After scoring 30 or more points in their first five games, the 49ers have managed just 17 points each of the past three weeks. And they don\u2019t have Jimmy Garoppolo to blame anymore.
Kittle said he feels the team hasn\u2019t been able to do what it does best: execute outside zone running plays.
\u201cSo far we haven\u2019t been able to do that because of penalties and turnovers,\u201d he said. \u201cUs being a one-dimensional football team hasn\u2019t been very good.\u201d
After the fairytale beginning to Purdy\u2019s career, he also seems to be regressing, along with the rest of the team. He was accountable for three of those turnovers.
Purdy cleared concussion protocol on Saturday, the day before the game. For parts of the game, he was very good. He completed 22 of 31 passes for 365 yards and was the team\u2019s leading rusher with 57 yards (which in itself is a red flag for the 49ers offense).
But he threw two second-half interceptions, just three minutes apart. The first on Cincinnati’s eight-yard line, at the end of the third quarter, effectively nullifying a touchdown that could have tied the game, and the other on the first possession of the fourth quarter, looking for Brandon Aiyuk<\/a>. And he had the fumble to end the 49ers\u2019 chances.
\u201cI felt 100%,\u201d Purdy said. \u201cAll week, my symptoms and stuff weren\u2019t bad compared to any other concussions that the team has had. I was doing fine for each phase of the protocol and I felt 100% going into this game.\u201d
Should he have been playing? The world will second-guess, but once he cleared protocol he was going to play. Kyle Shanahan<\/a> didn\u2019t think Purdy was compromised.
\u201cHe had those turnovers, but he made some really good plays in the game,\u201d Shanahan said. \u201cWe were getting one-dimensional\u2026 I thought (Purdy) was one of the reasons we were in this game today.\u201d
But on the play before he fumbled, Purdy threw another interception but was hit hard by the Bengals\u2019 D.J. Reader, who drew a roughing the passer penalty. He landed on his back, his head hit the turf and he immediately grabbed his helmet with both hands. Exactly the kind of play that you don\u2019t want to see happen to a player who has just suffered a brain injury. But Purdy shrugged it off.
\u201cIt\u2019s a typical whiplash play like that,\u201d Purdy said. \u201cYour head goes back and hits the ground. But just like any other body part that gets hit, you shake it off a little bit and go from there.\u201d
Ohhhkay. That\u2019s not what medical science says about a hit to the head just days following a concussion. So we\u2019ll see what happens the next few days and hope this doesn\u2019t turn into a situation like the Dolphins faced last year with Tua Tagovailoa.
After throwing no interceptions in the first five games, Purdy has thrown five in the past three. Some of that is a normal slump that\u2019s going to happen to a young player. But he has definitely looked ordinary. And like with everything else going wrong, the 49ers\u2019 quarterback hasn\u2019t been able to make a correction.
\u201cBrock\u2019s the reason we\u2019re in every football game,\u201d Kittle said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what it takes to play quarterback, I don\u2019t play that position. All I know is, it\u2019s hard to win football games when you lose the turnover battle. We just have to play better.\u201d
In every aspect. At least the 49ers have that: they are failing collectively.
\u201cWe gotta take it, that team beat us straight up,\u201d Shanahan said. \u201cThe bottom line is we\u2019ve gotta get better in every aspect. The things that disappointed me today were with some of the fundamentals of just throwing, catching, tackling.\u201d
Everything.
For the moment, the 49ers look like frontrunners. Great with a big lead. Not so great when they\u2019re struggling and need to come from behind.
\u201cWe haven\u2019t shown that we can play from behind and come back and win the football game,\u201d Warner<\/a> said. \u201cSo that’s something that we\u2019ve got to address and get better at. We can\u2019t just be a team that can only win when we\u2019re up.\u201d
The opportunity for the comeback was there. The maestro of the comeback was watching. \u00a0But Purdy couldn\u2019t make it happen. That box remains unchecked.
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be better at bouncing back off of adversity,\u201d Warner said.
We\u2019ll have to wait for two weeks to find out if they can.
Reach Ann Killion: akillion@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @annkillion<\/em>
Born in San Francisco and raised in Marin County, Ann Killion has covered Bay Area sports for more than a quarter of a century. An award-winning columnist and a veteran of 11 Olympics, several World Cups and the Tour de France, Ann joined The Chronicle in 2012. Ann has worked for the San Jose Mercury News, the Los Angeles Times and Sports Illustrated. She is a New York Times best-selling author, having co-written “Solo: A Memoir of Hope” with soccer star Hope Solo,”Throw Like A Girl” with softball player Jennie Finch and two middle-grade books on soccer, \u201cChampions of Women\u2019s Soccer\u201d and \u201cChampions of Men\u2019s Soccer.\u201d She was named California Sportswriter of the Year in 2014, 2017 and 2018. She has two children and lives in Mill Valley. <\/p>\n