SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Malik Mustapha, the 49ers’ impressive rookie safety, was one of the bright spots in San Francisco’s 28-18 loss Sunday at Levi’s Stadium. He was aggressive in his pursuits and forceful with his impact. It felt No. 6 in red was all over the field on Sunday. Six of Mustapha’s game-high 12 tackles were solo, including a few impressive takedowns in open space.
Oh, but when crunch time arrived.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ all-time quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, a jiu-jitsu red belt when it comes to the art of winning, scrambled up the middle toward the end zone. A touchdown would all but extinguish the 49ers’ hopes for victory. He was on his way to deliver a reminder that, nine months after he shattered the 49ers’ hearts in the Super Bowl, they still can’t clear the last level of the game.
Mustapha was knocked back as if he ran into the side of a hill. And the Chiefs quarterback, in a declaration of his supremacy over all things 49ers, looked down tauntingly at the rookie and provided a fitting illustration. A visual as profound for San Francisco as it was embarrassing for Mustapha from his back. Mount Mahomes. Again the summit the 49ers couldn’t reach.
“There’s no way to sugarcoat that,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We got our ass kicked.”
Mahomes keeping it real 😭🤣
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/81X5s0iIDI
— NFL on FOX Podcast (@NFLonFOXPod) October 21, 2024
Mahomes, already with three Super Bowl MVPs, is a cruel mirror for the 49ers, who’ve never beaten him. And Sunday’s reveal was how much the 49ers need their quarterback to continue growing.
The 49ers religiously stop short of putting the weight of their wins on Brock Purdy. It made sense when he was a rookie. Even last year. But this season is showing why it should be on him. Not just because he was an MVP candidate in 2023. Nor because he is due a big contract extension. Nor because so much about him suggests he’s capable of such a burden.
But because this season, the 49ers need him to be borderline heroic. Scaling Mount Mahomes, and the even greater sierra representing their title drought, requires Purdy to summon his best as the adversity increases.
He couldn’t on Sunday. His three interceptions and career-low 36.7 passer rating as a starter were so far from the Purdy they needed.
“Is there more pressure for me to put on a Superman cape and do more? No,” Purdy said. “I think who we have and the players that we have that step up in those positions, they’ve done a great job and we have a lot of talent in my eyes.”
If not the Man of Steel, they need him to at least be Batman. He is, remember, in line to get Bruce Wayne money next season.
This isn’t a referendum on all Purdy’s accomplished. He’s legit. That conversation is over. But this one is about the growth he still needs to make for the highest echelon. This is a quarterback league. The best ones embrace the burden as a birthright. And the more the 49ers’ weapons get taken off the grid, the more they need their quarterback to be the difference maker. By the time the second half began Sunday, the 49ers were down four of their best weapons: Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Jauan Jennings and Brandon Aiyuk.
But Purdy missed chances to capitalize on great field position early. So late in the game, when he was playing with tight end George Kittle and backups, they needed some magic from him even more.
It might come next week. It may not come this season. But at some point, the escalation of Purdy’s game must come. The 49ers, if they want to win a Super Bowl, will have to do so because of him. They need him to grasp the magnitude of the moment. They need him calm and certain. They need him impeccable with his decision-making. They need him to execute.
Two of his biggest completions on Sunday, one to Kittle and one to Jacob Cowing, both 41-yard receptions, were underthrown enough to prevent touchdowns, slowing the receiver down and allowing the defender to catch up. Three of his interceptions were bad reads. On the one intended for Ronnie Bell in the third quarter, Purdy and Shanahan said it was the quarterback’s fault, not the receiver who’s been known to err. Even the final interception when Purdy was hit as he threw — the replay showed he was forcing that into double coverage.
A HAT TRICK OF PICKS 🪄 pic.twitter.com/rp3Nq7Q4N2
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) October 20, 2024
This season is shaping up to be a crash course on pushing Purdy to an even higher level. Where he can win games with his will and ingenuity and not just because he’s embedded in talent.
Sunday, he was throwing to receivers who needed him to be immaculate, against a defense that preys on imprecision and predictability, against an opposing quarterback who lives for close games.
If Aiyuk is out for the season as feared, if McCaffrey never returns, if Deebo gets hurt again, if the offensive line struggles, if defenses stack the box against the run, Purdy must find a way to win. And his coach, the great schemer, must help him to that end.
Perhaps that’s why Shanahan spent several minutes talking to Purdy at his locker after the game, a rare visible visit from the coach in the postgame setting.
The quarterback is too vital in this era to be just a cog. Purdy can be more. He has been more. It’s clear, for this season, he must be.
“I think I’ve just got to play better for sure,” Purdy said, “just with my throws and some decisions. That’s pretty simple.”
The Chiefs have their own rash of injuries. They haven’t played their best football, especially their quarterback. But the Chiefs are 6-0 because Mahomes — and his Hall of Fame-bound coach Andy Reid — simply know how to win. To a degree only matched by legends.
“You can’t play like that if you want to beat a team that knows how to win,” Kittle said. “It wasn’t the prettiest game for them. Patrick had a couple turnovers himself. But they win those gritty games.”
The 49ers’ laundry list of injuries grew on Sunday. They again failed to live up to their own all-three-phases cliche. But the 49ers are 3-4 because they’ve lost their finishing touch. Purdy — and his highly regarded coach — can’t find the clutchness that highlighted the previous two seasons. They’ve blown leads to the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals, losses that look even worse now, plus two uninspiring performances against the Minnesota Vikings and Chiefs, two of the NFL’s best teams.
No shame in losing to Mahomes. He could have the ’72 Dolphins sweating pretty soon. But the concerning part about the 49ers’ second consecutive home loss was their absent mojo. Nothing says unclutch like converting just one of their first 10 third downs.
Shanahan’s club during this run, and especially with Purdy at quarterback, has been marked by its penchant for the moment. They entered this season 29-11 combined over 2022 and 2023, including the playoffs. They won 72.5 percent of their games because they most often shined when the stakes elevated. They brought their best in the biggest games. They sensed the high-leverage situations and turned up.
But these 49ers, back down to second in their division, have been unreliable when it’s time to win.
When the game calls for a critical drive, a three-and-out feels more likely. When a big kick is needed, or momentum is in the hands of special teams coverage, poor execution can be expected. Even when the defense is playing well, getting to the quarterback and stopping the run on a vital third down tends to be a beat away.
These 49ers blow leads. These 49ers can have opportunity in their grasp and it somehow falls out the bottom of the cheap liquor store bag. They are unrecognizable in this way.
In Purdy’s tenure, it’s been rare for the 49ers to look mediocre. But this season, it’s been more the norm. And it’s much too late in the season to write it off as a slow start. Camp rust should’ve worn off long ago. Hangovers, not even the Super Bowl kind, don’t last for seven weeks.
No, this is a metamorphosis to mediocrity, happening live under the microscope of Super Bowl expectations. Proven excellence regressing to unremarkable.
It’s going to take special play at quarterback to get them out of this. The 49ers on Sunday, with Mahomes strumming their pain with his fingers, saw such a quarterback. Perhaps the best-ever at it. Purdy is no Mahomes, but the smart money says Purdy can be special enough to be who the 49ers need. This season, and their championship hopes, are riding on if and how fast he can get there.
(Top photo of Brock Purdy and Patrick Mahomes meeting after Sunday’s game: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
