What We Learned About Brock Purdy in the 49ers' Loss to the Browns

Ultimately, Brock Purdy played well enough to beat the Browns. But he didn't play well. In fact, he played quite poorly. And now we have to look at him differently, or at least more realistically.

Forget the MVP Award. Purdy won't win that this season -- not after posting a passer rating of 55.3 against Cleveland on Sunday. And forget calling him elite -- he's not there yet. He might never get there.

To be fair, he faced an elite Browns defense, plus he was missing Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey for most of the game. But he still had Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle, Jauan Jennings, Kyle Juszczyk and Jordan Mason. He still had plenty of talent around him. And he still struggled big time.

Purdy threw one interception and at least two other passes that nearly got picked off. He also let the ball slip out of his hands once when he was passing -- he couldn't grip the football in the rain. Maybe he should have worn gloves. He also couldn't drive the ball through the wind. He also missed a couple wide open deep throws. He looked like an ordinary quarterback. Like Mr. Irrelevant.

To his credit, he led what should have been the game-winning field goal drive at the end, but Jake Moody missed a 41-yard field goal that most kickers would make. So despite Purdy playing the worst game of his career, he was clutch against a great defense. That bodes well for him. But he still has a lot to prove. And we still have so much to learn about him. We'll learn a lot more if he has to play more games without McCaffrey and Samuel.