Cowboys vs. 49ers: Kyle Shanahan reportedly has critical words for Brock Purdy

Kyle Shanahan Appeared to Chew Out 49ers QB Brock Purdy After Loss – Grant Cohn, Sports Illustrated
The QB-Coach connection seemed a bit strained after San Francisco’s loss to the Chiefs.

SANTA CLARA — Kyle did something strange after the 49ers lost 28-18 to the Chiefs on Sunday.

After his postgame press conference, he walked straight over to Brock Purdy at his locker and appeared to chew him out quietly for at least five minutes. Shanahan didn’t yell because he clearly didn’t want the media to hear what he was saying, but he waved his arms and pointed his fingers and seemed exasperated. You didn’t have to be a body language expert to see he was upset and talking in a stern way. Purdy stood and faced Shanahan and nodded every few seconds like a good soldier but didn’t speak. Eventually, the two shook hands and Shanahan left.

A few minutes later, Purdy walked to the podium for his postgame press conference. So I asked him what Shanahan said to him at his locker.

“We were just talking about some stuff throughout the game and just some moments throughout it and stuff and how we can get better and going forward,” Purdy said. “It was really just that.”

It’s certainly possible that Shanahan was talking constructively about ways in which both he and Purdy can improve together.

But that’s not what the interaction looked like. The way Shanahan gesticulated as he spoke, he created the appearance that he was singling out Purdy for his mistakes and essentially blaming him for the loss. Coaching him up. And he did this in front of Purdy’s teammates and media members that might have put the responsibility for the terrible loss on Shanahan’s shoulders considering Andy Reid owns him.

Purdy seemed humiliated.

This is why players don’t appreciate getting called out in locker rooms by coaches after losses. Those conversations should be private.

49ers’ Brandon Aiyuk tears ACL, MCL; Deebo Samuel in hospital – Nick Wagoner, ESPN
Injuries are ravaging the 49ers’ star players.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Less than 24 hours after wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk injured his right knee against the Kansas City Chiefs, the San Francisco 49ers got the bad news they were expecting.

Aiyuk tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his right knee, which will require surgery and end his 2024 season after just seven games, coach Kyle Shanahan announced Monday.

What’s more, the illness that limited wideout Deebo Samuel to four snaps against the Chiefs is technically a form of pneumonia, according to Shanahan. Samuel has some fluid buildup in his lungs and remains in a local hospital after checking in Sunday night.

“I think it started acting up in the middle of the night Saturday night or early Sunday morning and then it just kind of evolved as the day went,” Shanahan said of Samuel. “Once we found out he had the fluid in his lungs and stuff after the game, then I believe they sent him over there.”

Shanahan said there’s no timeline yet for when Samuel could return, though that should clarify over the next few days.

Aiyuk, meanwhile, is not expected back at all this season. Further tests confirmed Monday what Shanahan was expecting Sunday night. After a 28-18 home loss to the Chiefs, Shanahan said all signs pointed toward a torn ACL but a closer look was still needed and that the Niners were “praying” they were wrong. They weren’t.

Aiyuk’s injury happened with 48 seconds left in the second quarter. Quarterback Brock Purdy squeezed a pass to Aiyuk between Kansas City defensive backs Chamarri Conner and Trent McDuffie for a gain of 15 yards. As Conner and McDuffie converged on Aiyuk, his knee appeared to hyperextend.

Niners medical personnel immediately ran on the field to tend to Aiyuk, who stayed down for a couple of minutes before slowly limping to the sideline and the blue medical tent. He was soon taken to the locker room on a cart.

NFL exec: 49ers face tough decision on Brock Purdy – David Bonilla, 49ersWebZone.com
A contract extension looming presents a difficult situation for San Francisco.

The San Francisco 49ers are now 3-4 on the season, and quarterback Brock Purdy is coming off one of the worst performances of his career. He threw three interceptions in Sunday’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs—only the second time he’s thrown three or more in a game, the first being last Christmas against the Baltimore Ravens when he tossed four. His 36.7 passer rating was abysmal, marking his lowest as a starter.

The 49ers will need to make a decision on Purdy after this season. Many believe there’s no actual decision to be made—San Francisco should make Purdy one of the highest-paid players in the NFL, if not the highest. Such a move will limit the team’s flexibility at other positions. Until now, the 49ers have benefited from having minimal salary cap impact from their quarterback.

An unnamed NFL executive speculated on the team’s options given their aging core of key players. As Mike Sando of The Athletic points out, the 49ers have the NFL’s third-oldest roster by snap-weighted average age, thanks in part to paying top dollar to retain key veterans. Players like Trent Williams (36) and George Kittle (31) are still highly productive but come at a high cost.

“They need to make a decision about whether they should just be moving on from this older core and building around Purdy, or do they trade Purdy, get stuff for him and go with a cheaper option at quarterback?” the executive told Sando.

Finding a reliable starting quarterback in the NFL is no easy task, and it would seem risky to start the search over, especially after years of fumbling around with Brian Hoyer, C.J. Beathard, Nick Mullens, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Trey Lance.

Speaking of Lance, his acquisition cost the 49ers several first-round picks, a decision that had a lasting impact on their roster-building efforts.

“That is probably San Francisco’s biggest issue,” a different executive told Sando. “They are starting to feel three first-round picks for Trey Lance. They have done a good job drafting with later picks. It is great they got Purdy. He makes up for one of those first-round picks, but not two others.”