Brock Purdy admits some plays from Super Bowl LVIII still haunt him

It’s been moire than five months since Super Bowl LVIII took place, but the feeling of defeat still weighs heavy on Brock Purdy.

The San Francisco 49ers quarterback was open and honest about the sour taste left from their recent Super Bowl heartbreak against the Kansas City Chiefs in February. Despite taking it to overtime, Purdy is haunted by what could have been in his first Super Bowl appearance. And he has the plays of missed opportunity still roaming around in his mind, and they are select few.

The biggest one (obviously) is the third-down incompletion at the goal-line late in the forth quarter. 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk got free in the endzone with a slant. But due to poor blocking, Purdy was gang-rushed almost instantaneously, forcing him to throw the ball away. SF had to settle for three points, and the rest as they say is history.

Despite being put in a losing situation, the moment still haunts the third-year gunslinger, replaying it over and over again this offseason.

“Aiyuk in the slot,” Brock Purdy stated this week while recalling The Big Game. “I think if I was quick enough with my feet and got the ball out, because that play we’re thinking read it inside out and I’m thinking [WR Jauan Jennings] third down, like J.J.’s had a great game and then Aiyuk actually popped with a guy blitzing free. So it’s in those moments right before it happens, how can I see it clearly still stick to my fundamentals of reading that play inside out, not just getting to the outside read. So it’s those plays and those moments that’s situational football. That’s where I can grow. And so that’s what I mean by like, there’s certain plays like that where I’m like, ‘dang.’

There are two plays from the Super Bowl that still bother Purdy to this day 😬 pic.twitter.com/iemLLyNXMQ

— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) July 24, 2024

It stems beyond one play though for Purdy, seeing all the success of the day broken down into microcosms of failure sprinkled throughout. Sure, SF’s offense sputtered after the first half, but if the team had held on to win their first Lombardi Trophy since the 1996, all would be forgotten.

In the end, that’s not the case, with the young QB obsessive over going into 2024 with the wherewithal to correct those errors in real time.

“There’s a couple plays I’d say that I look back on,” Purdy said. “That third down that got tipped, we ran the double slants, that’s one of them that comes up towards the end of the game. Earlier on there was a second down play that I could have hit Aiyuk on a window pretty quick that closed quickly… Those are the kind of plays that run through my mind when I think about the Super Bowl, and like how I can take my game to the next level with those kind of plays, capitalizing on those plays.”

Wins and losses are the name of the game in sports; And that’s all that matters to Brock Purdy as well. But while nobody (or team) is perfect by any means, the QB tries to be at all times.

That hyper-OCD mentality suits both the player and the organization to a tee, with coach Kyle Shanahan in there same boat. During the 49ers’ 12-5 regular-season run, a lot of success occurred for the Red & Gold. But even in the games that were blowouts, both QB and coach would find areas of weakness to nitpick.

That’s who they are though, always being ways to improve even in the face of massive success. What’s been the biggest challenge for them both, including Brock Purdy, has been accepting defeat and growing from it to bounce back even better.

“Yeah, that’s a sport and that’s the world that we live in just in terms of playing a professional sport. We’re not going to be perfect. You’re not going to make every single play. You get to the highest stage playing in the Super Bowl and there’s a crucial play like that. You’re hard on yourself,” he explained. “We’re professional, like we want to compete and be the best and we want to be perfect, but that’s just the nature of it. Man, you’re going to come up short sometimes. But I think the best separate themselves by going and experiencing those things and then being able to learn from them and make change not do those same mistakes over, but actually make change and be ready for the moment that comes again.”

Now entering Year 3 after having his first normal offseason in the NFL, Purdy is hungry as ever to get back to the promise land. As is the rest of the 49ers. Because despite a five-year run of multiple deep playoff runs, nothing lasts forever. 2024 could be the final year of this core.

And everyone, from Brock Purdy to the training staff, is looking to make it count.

“We’ve all just been there,” he said. “We’ve tasted it. Obviously, the Super Bowl, it’s a couple plays away from literally being Super Bowl champions. The year before that, NFC Championship. The year before that, NFC Championship. So we have guys in this locker room that tasted it and they want it. And coming back, it was a heartbreak. Losing that Super Bowl and the way we did it, the overtime, all that. How badly we want it for this fan base and this organization, we want it. But coming back from OTAs, and then obviously now with camp, with having all the guys back, just the way [LB] Fred [Warner] is acting, George, [FB Kyle Juszczyk] Juice, these guys that have been in the league for a while, they’re back ready, hungry. And I’m going into my year three, so I’m hungry. But I did the same thing. I walked in, I’m like, ‘How are these guys gonna, seem or feel?’ You can feel it, they’re hungry for it and we’re ready to do it for this organization and the fan base.”

Brock Purdy tossing dimes at training camp 🔥 pic.twitter.com/rdNkYrvwV4

— OurSF49ers (@OurSf49ers) July 24, 2024

San Francisco 49ers 2024 Public Training Camp Schedule:

• Thursday, July 25th – Friday, July 26th
• Monday July 29th – Wednesday, July 31st
• Friday, Aug. 2nd – Sunday, August 4th
• Tuesday, Aug. 6th – Wednesday, Aug. 7th

* All open practice times are approximately 10:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. and subject to change

San Francisco 49ers 2024 Schedule:

Preseason

• Saturday, August 10th @ Tennessee Titans – 4 pm PDT
• Sunday, August 18th vs. New Orleans Saints – 5 pm PDT
• Friday, August 23rd @ Las Vegas Raiders – 7 pm PDT

Regular Season

• Monday, September 9th vs. New York Jets – 5:15 pm PDT
• Sunday, September 15th @ Minnesota Vikings – 10 am PDT
• Sunday, September 22nd – @ Los Angeles Rams – 1:25 pm PDT
• Sunday, September 29th vs. New England Patriots – 1:05 pm PDT
• Sunday, October 6th vs. Arizona Cardinals – 1:05 PM PDT

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