Are People Rooting for 49ers QB Brock Purdy to Fail?

Purdy is a great story who has earned all of his success and deserves a contract extension when he's eligible for one. But things have been too easy for him early in his career.

No one ever thought Brock Purdy would win his first 10 regular season starts in the NFL. So when he finally lost one last week, critics pounced. Me included.

Finally he faced real adversity, a real test. A defense that actually could match up with his extremely talented supporting cast of offensive weapons. And he struggled big time. Wasn't much better than P.J. Walker, the Browns third-string quarterback who won the game

For the first time, all of Purdy's flaws were on display in one game. He couldn't grip a wet ball. He couldn't drive it through the wind. He missed a long touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey. He threw his first interception of the season. He looked ordinary at best. And I've been scrutinizing his performance all week.

But that's not because I want him to fail. I doubt many people do.

Purdy is a great story who has earned all of his success and deserves a contract extension when he's eligible for one. But things have been too easy for him early in his career. He's going to face tougher tests, and then we're going to really learn about him.

We learned more about Purdy on Sunday against the Browns than we have in his entire career. Because now we know he's mortal. He's not magical, even though he's still quite good.

But it's just one loss. Every quarterback has a bad game from time to time. It would be silly to write off Purdy simply because he's 10-1 and not 11-0 in his career.

It's just nice to really learn about him for a change.