49ers Lose Preseason Finale to Chargers With Sam Darnold in the Spotlight

A preseason finale game usually doesn't carry any buzz entering it.

The only real excitement with them is that the starters get their most playing time. It's meant as a warmup for Week 1 of the regular season. But today generated chaos for the San Francisco 49ers going into their preseason matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers.

Earlier in the day, the 49ers traded Trey Lance to the Dallas Cowboys. Sam Darnold had officially won the backup job to starting quarterback Brock Purdy on Wednesday. Whatever Kyle Shanahan saw from Darnold over the course of training camp, or even beyond that, was enough for him to be done with Lance in favor of Darnold. That put Darnold's performance tonight against the Chargers under a brighter spotlight. And boy, did he put up a dud in the 49ers' 23-12 preseason finale loss to the Chargers.

It all started with Brock Purdy who took the first two series of the game. Purdy still looks natural and doesn't look scared playing, which is a great sign coming back from his injury. However, he didn't look too clean today throwing the football in this game. A few throws got away from him that were head scratching. That's gonna have to be limited in a couple weeks when the 49ers visit the Pittsburgh Steelers. He finished the day completing 5-of-9 for 73 yards and one rushing touchdown. All in all, it's still a good sign that he isn't playing timid through three drives of football.

As for Darnold, he didn't look any better. There was hardly anything positive about his performance versus the Chargers. He was throwing behind receivers, he sailed a ball over an open guy, and had multiple near interceptions. Now, he did have a sweet touchdown throw and one decent deep ball to receiver Chris Conley, but that was it for him in terms of a highlight.

Darnold had the worst performance of his preseason. He would finish the day completing 6-of-11 passes for 89 yards and a touchdown. Another example of the stats not telling the whole story. He chose an incredible time to look mediocre on the same day that the 49ers sent Lance packing. Lance likely looks the same as Darnold, if not better. In the middle of the game, general manager John Lynch joined the broadcast with Greg Papa and Tim Ryan to give his thoughts on trading Lance.

49ers’ GM John Lynch on trading QB Trey Lance to the Cowboys: pic.twitter.com/t6IL07FC55
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 26, 2023

"Really hard day, " Lynch said. "Such a wonderful young man. We took a shot and it didn't work out. We own that. We take accountability for it but I think, as I think you guys do, his story is very much still unwritten. I’m excited for Trey. Dallas stepped up and really wanted him and they came after him and I think it’s going to be a great landing spot for him.

"I can tell everybody, it wasn’t for lack of effort on Trey’s part or on our part that it didn’t work. Circumstances took hold and he struggled through injuries and this team’s ready to win and we like our quarterback room. We like Brock Purdy, we like Sam Darnold and we like Brandon Allen. So we wish Trey all the best in Dallas. We’ll always care about that young man and admire his work ethic and the person that he is.”

For the sake of Lynch and Shanahan, they better hope they know what they are doing. Darnold did not look better than average in all three preseason games and never once significantly separated himself from Lance. The health of Purdy is going to be crucial for the 49ers this year, or they could find themselves in a world of a regret when the 2023 season is over with.