The Eagles Clipped Brock Purdy's Wing, Causing the 49ers Amazing Season to Crash and Burn
It was just the sixth play of the 49ers first drive, that had already gained two first downs, when Brock Purdy faked a handoff to Christian McCaffrey, as well as a reverse to Deebo Samuel. Neither fooled Hassan Reddick, who beat tight end Tyler Kroft badly off the edge and hit Purdy's arm before it came forward with the ball. Nobody realized yet, but the 2022 NFC Championship Game was over, despite 52 minutes remaining on the clock.
It was immediately obvious after seeing the replay that it wasn't a forward pass, making it a fumble which was recovered by the Eagles. This was before it was official:
What wasn't immediately obvious was that Purdy had suffered a completely torn UCL in his throwing elbow, that will likely require Tommy John surgery to repair. That would mean a 9 to 12 month recovery, meaning a return some time between November 2023 to February 2024. There is a slight hope that it can be repaired, with a return in August:
At the watch party that I attended, we all tried to convince ourselves that somehow Josh Johnson could do enough to keep us in the game. And for a brief period of time, Johnson did. More accurately, Christian McCaffrey did. After not even assigning anyone to block Reddick at all, which nearly caused a lost fumble on a sack, Johnson settled in to almost close out the 1st half:
With 11 minutes in the second quarter, the 49ers mounted a touchdown drive that used 2:25 off the clock. It was all McCaffrey catches and runs, including his 23-yard grinding carry through at least four would-be tacklers to pay dirt, to make it 7-7:
A glimmer of hope was infused into our watch party, but the Eagles answered with a touchdown drive, complete with a 13 yard walk-in touchdown run by Miles Sanders, which was his second of the game, making it 7-14:
It was clear that the 49ers offense would need to help their defense. At least by sustaining drives, but also by scoring. Unless the defense could score itself. Johnson couldn't even sustain a drive to to end the second quarter. After a nice 11-yard run by Samuel, the 49ers fourth-string quarterback lost a fumble on a shotgun snap that wasn't off target. It was recovered by Reddick:
Four plays later, Boston Scott scored on a 10-yard touchdown run. He wasn't untouched, but the first contact wasn't until just short of the goal line. It was 7-21:
There was still a little room for optimism, as the 49ers were set to receive the second half kickoff. Unfortunately, they failed to score in the entire second half. Johnson left the game with a concussion and Purdy was forced to return, despite playing with just one good arm. McCaffrey even attempted a pass from under center. The 49ers defense got tired and frustrated, due to the Eagles dominating time of possession by 37:26 to 49ers just 22:34. The final score ended up 49ers 7 - Eagles 31. The worst Conference Championship that I can recall in my more than 45 years of watching football.
The Refs called 11 of penalties on the 49ers. Way more than the season average for John Hussey's crew. I have no doubts that they would've thrown more if the game had been closer, or the Eagles would have been in danger of losing. Jordan Mason was blocked into the Eagles punter on the roughing the kicker penalty and there were many more oddities. Johnson's helmet speakers malfunctioned on a big play, causing a delay of game penalty. The play clock conveniently disappeared from the telecast with four seconds and reset to 23 seconds moments later, on a play where the Eagles would have gotten a delay themselves, when it was 7-28:
Instead of dwelling on the negatives of how it ended, I prefer to celebrate the amazing 2022 season. No team has ever gone 7-3 with backup quarterback, plus 6-0 with the third string quarterback who won every playoff game that he finished --two against the Seahawks and the Cowboys. 12-0 in games that McCaffrey started without his fourth string QB playing. The 49ers won the NFC West and secured the second seed for the NFC Playoffs. They made it to the final four teams in NFL and might've gone further, if not for a fluke injury to the throwing elbow of their third string quarterback. All that after starting the season 3-4
It's not all wine and roses though. Kyle Shanahan certainly deserves some blame. I'm a big Shanafan, so you won't hear me say, "Fire Kyle!" But I can still be critical of his bad decisions. He should've trusted Talanoa Hufanga, who signaled no catch when DeVonta Smith failed to control the big throw, down the left sideline, on the Eagles opening drive. He needed a better plan for blocking Reddick, who had just 1.5 fewer sacks than Nick Bosa in the regular season. You could even say that Shanahan should've found a better backup for Purdy. I believe that Shanahan would have, if he knew at the time that Jimmy Garoppolo broke his foot that neither Garoppolo, nor Trey Lance, would be able to return this season.
The 49ers will likely need to acquire at least 2 quarterbacks, as Purdy may not be back by Week 1 of the 2023 season, or even possibly not by February 2024.
To all of the trade Lance folks: Thank goodness that you didn't get you wish!
The 49ers will have some very tough personnel decisions to make with only roughly $15 million in cap space and more than 30 free agents. Here are some key players that they might lose:
The good news is that their core of super stars is all signed, other than Nick Bosa. I'm confident that he will remain in Red and Gold for many years to come.
As for the Eagles versus the Chiefs Super Bowl, it will be really tough for me to root for either one. As of now, I'm leaning toward the Eagles to win. As always, I will reply to this article with my official score prediction about an hour before kickoff, once we know exactly who will play and who won't.
