SANTA CLARA, Calif. — You wish to know who held Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers accountable Saturday, with the clock operating out, the rain coming down, Deebo Samuel out injured and the Inexperienced Bay Packers only a play or two from a monumental playoff upset?
You wish to know who assigned accountability and demanded that the 49ers battle via their game-long struggles? Who laid out all of the potential penalties? That may be Purdy and each different member of the 49ers, who received themselves into this spot with considered one of their most baffling performances of this season.
They received the ball again with 6:13 left within the recreation after a Packers field-goal miss. They 49ers trailed by 4 factors. They wanted a landing. And so they knew this was most likely their final life like likelihood to determine methods to keep away from a horrendous loss on this divisional-round playoff recreation. So as soon as the offense received into the huddle, Trent Williams gave a mini-speech.
“I simply instructed them, hey, man, with six minutes left, this is perhaps the final time we get the ball. And if we don’t do one thing with it, this could possibly be the final time we’re on this huddle collectively,” Williams recalled. “So no matter you’ve received, simply convey it. Deliver it the subsequent play after which convey it the play after that after which let the remainder maintain itself.”
All of them felt it. The 49ers had been at Levi’s Stadium, arrange as NFC favorites to get to the Tremendous Bowl, and so they completely felt it. What occurred subsequent: Purdy broke out of his funk and began finishing passes, Brandon Aiyuk made an enormous diving catch on third down, Purdy scrambled contained in the Packers’ 10-yard line and eventually Christian McCaffrey bolted in for a 6-yard landing that put the 49ers forward eventually. Then Dre Greenlaw completed off the 49ers’ 24-21 victory by intercepting Jordan Love’s ill-advised across-his-body heave within the last minute.
However oh yeah, the 49ers felt it. And no person felt it greater than Purdy. Virtually an hour after the sport, you may inform they nonetheless felt it — all of the adrenaline, all the frustration over enjoying so haphazardly in such an enormous recreation, all the importance and all of the reduction. The 49ers noticed their playoff lives flash earlier than their eyes Saturday … and because of these final handful of performs, they’re nonetheless alive with a berth within the NFC Championship Sport at Levi’s on Jan. 28, going through the winner of Sunday’s Lions-Buccaneers recreation.
Dre Greenlaw runs with the ball after intercepting a Inexperienced Bay cross within the fourth quarter to safe the 49ers’ victory. (Godofredo A. Vásquez / Related Press)
They reside. And so they know a bit of extra about themselves now than they did in any case their straightforward victories this season. (However so do their opponents.)
“At some extent, you’re down and also you’ve gotta discover a manner,” Purdy mentioned. “It’s the fourth quarter, it’s the NFL. Clearly, we’re within the postseason now. We had been all, like, all proper, that is it. That is our season. For us to capitalize on that was enormous. For all of us.
“Clearly for myself as a quarterback, it’s good for confidence and all that. However now we have too many good gamers on this workforce, so many gamers which can be difference-makers. We’ve received a terrific protection. For us to not discover a manner, it’s not proper. So for us to lastly have a recreation like this and pull via it was enormous for all of us.”
Nick Bosa flat-out mentioned that the 49ers wanted a recreation like this and famous that they misplaced all their shut video games this common season and gained all of the blowouts. And greater than anyone, Purdy wanted one thing like this. After all, the 49ers by no means wish to see Purdy wobble for three-plus quarters the best way he did Saturday. The 49ers by no means wish to get outplayed like the best way the Packers outplayed them for many of this recreation.
However the 49ers additionally wanted to see Purdy stand up from a battle and ship. They wanted him to not simply be a terrific front-runner. They wanted him to dig out from a gap and win this dang recreation, and he went 6-of-7 on that final drive, trying fairly calm (“he was Brock, couldn’t inform something,” Williams mentioned of that second) and really very like the man who led the NFL in passer ranking and broke the 49ers’ single-season document for passing yards this season.
So what on this planet was occurring on this recreation for Purdy earlier than that? The rain, for positive, precipitated him some hassle, the identical manner the moist climate in Cleveland early this season appeared to hassle him. At instances Saturday, Purdy wiped his proper hand at the same time as he dropped again to cross.
“Clearly, I placed on a glove for the primary drive,” Purdy mentioned. “It was coming down in sprinkles, so I took it off. I used to be making an attempt to determine what I wished to do. I used to be kind of fed up with the glove. … Yeah, there have been instances I dropped again when the ball was a bit of moist from the grass. Kind of affected some accuracy and stuff. However that’s soccer. I’ve gotta be higher than that.”
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Not a difficulty, although, if it’s dry subsequent Sunday at Levi’s and naturally by no means if the 49ers get to the Tremendous Bowl at Las Vegas’ indoor Allegiant Stadium in February.
Purdy additionally mentioned that the Packers’ protection did an excellent job chopping off his deep choices and forcing him to go to his checkdowns. After which Purdy spent many of the recreation dashing these checkdowns, usually for incompletions. Additionally, whereas the Packers registered just one sack within the recreation, the cross rush appeared to hassle Purdy — altering his throwing lanes and making him transfer his toes as he threw, which led to a few wild passes that the Packers simply might’ve intercepted however dropped.
This is perhaps a problematic difficulty for the 49ers within the subsequent few weeks, since Purdy additionally appeared fairly uncomfortable in opposition to the Ravens on Christmas, and the Ravens very effectively could possibly be the AFC’s consultant within the Tremendous Bowl. However Purdy gave the impression of he solved one thing in his head throughout that final drive; in the event that they’re begging you to take the straightforward cross, and the straightforward cross can march you down the sector, simply take the straightforward cross. Don’t let earlier errors mess you up when it issues most.
“We had what we wished proper in entrance of us, so you need to clear the slate,” Purdy mentioned. “You need to have a clear thoughts and never attempt to power something. Take what the protection provides you. And discover a manner, man.”
On that final drive, Purdy accomplished the brief passes that had been there after which zipped a vital 17-yard out path to Chris Conley. His solely incompletion on the sequence got here when George Kittle — who in any other case was the 49ers’ greatest offensive performer, chipping in a 32-yard TD within the second quarter and 81 receiving yards general — dropped one other brief one, which Purdy adopted up with the dart to Aiyuk on third down.
“The entire day was just a bit off,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan mentioned. “However guys caught with it. Even that second-and-6 proper there on the finish, getting that drop leads us to third-and-6, then BA made a helluva play to maintain us on the sector.”
One other potential trigger for the 49ers’ bumpy offensive play: the two-week layoff, counting Week 18 when Purdy and lots of different frontliners sat out the meaningless loss to the Rams and final weekend’s bye.
“I don’t know, might’ve been that,” Shanahan mentioned. “Might’ve been the rain, could possibly be good protection. However these are stuff you’ve gotta speak about. We dealt with that as greatest we might.”
Purdy, who was 23-for-39 on the day for 252 yards and 1 TD, for a 86.7 passer ranking, wasn’t the one struggling 49er on this recreation, in fact. The protection suffered via a handful of slips and miscues in opposition to Love and his receivers and gave up an enormous 53-yard run to Aaron Jones. The 49ers’ particular groups received hit, too — the protection unit gave up a 73-yard kickoff return to Keisean Nixon and Jake Moody had a 48-yard field-goal try deflected on the line.
However the protection turned in Greenlaw’s game-sealing interception, plus one other one earlier, and stopped Inexperienced Bay within the purple zone a number of instances. And Moody made up for his earlier miss with a clutch 52-yarder early within the fourth quarter that introduced the 49ers to inside 21-17.
“Under no circumstances was it good,” Shanahan mentioned. “I used to be very annoyed. But additionally extraordinarily proud and in addition actually pumped that we’re enjoying one other week.”
Fairly frankly, the 49ers performed the type of playoff recreation that often will get a workforce eradicated. There would’ve been harsh criticism leveled all through the NFL if the 49ers and Purdy had misplaced this recreation. And the 49ers and Purdy knew all that, because the clock ticked down and so they received into that huddle. There was a season to save lots of. And now there is perhaps a pair extra video games left to play.
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(Prime picture of Brock Purdy: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Photographs)