How 49ers should tailor offseason approach after Brock Purdy Super Bowl performance

Narratives are fun. They are often wrong.

If your narrative coming out of the 49ers’ spirit-disapparating overtime loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII is that Brock Purdy was the reason the 49ers lost, your narrative is incorrect.

There are countless things that went wrong for the offense, and there were things Purdy could and should have done better. But he was overwhelmingly correct in his decision-making, and let down by other factors.

The nature of criticism in the NFL is such that people take a wide view, without regard for knowledge of scheme or circumstance.

“Purdy didn’t do enough,” is a spicy soundbite that triggers the emotions of 49ers fans aggrieved by the loss and in agreement with the sentiment. But it does not actually assess how he played. And, as any rational person, who watched the game through an objective lens would tell you, Purdy played well.

Take it from Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who had the 49ers’ receivers in hell after altering his gameplan to go after the 49ers’ offensive line.

Per Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated , the Chiefs made changes to their game plan that they had not prepared for in practice because of Purdy.

“Brock Purdy is really good,” Spagnuolo said. “He knew when we were in certain things and found seams.”

If you re-watch the game with the benefit of the All-22 angle, which actually allows you to see how coverages unfold, you see a clear picture: Purdy had a very good game, but the Chiefs’ defense shut down his options and dominated the 49ers’ offensive line. Purdy could have done more, but he was often fighting for his life on plays that collapsed rapidly around him.

What went wrong for the 49ers’ offense

Here are the recurring themes of what went wrong for the 49ers offense:

- Pass protection breakdowns, either the right call, not executed, or the wrong call against what the defense was showing, in key moments
- Deebo Samuel being locked up by Trent McDuffie, the real MVP of the game
- The offensive line, including Trent Williams’ worst game in recent memory, failing to get push in the run game against a physical Chiefs’ front
- Negative plays, either from penalties, run stuffs, or failed screens that got the 49ers in seven third-and-longs to start the game, wasting their early advantage after stopping Mahomes
- The 49ers were taken by surprise by some of the Chiefs’ blitzes (see: protections) and on the whole, Shanahan was out-coached by Spagnuolo, especially by continuing to make Samuel, who was unable to separate, the go-to target in the progressions

I went through every play in the game to dissect how Purdy actually performed. This is extraordinarily lengthy, and is partially to serve for posterity of what actually happened. If you want to skip to the end for what the 49ers should take from this game, feel free to do so.

1st drive

It started excellently for the 49ers on the first drive. Then Christian McCaffrey turned it over.

It opened with a McCaffrey run, then a boot play-action to Kyle Juszczyk to bring them near midfield.

Purdy’s first shotgun pass was an excellent progression throw. The Chiefs, from left to right, bottled up Jauan Jennings, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle and Kyle Juszczyk with Cover-2.

Purdy looked left, and saw Jennings and Aiyuk covered, then Kittle. Then McCaffrey came open on a Texas route out of the backfield and Purdy hit him in stride for a first down. No, no, no, yes.

They ran it twice with McCaffrey after that, and he fumbled on the second one.

Drive tracker: 2-for-2, play-action completion to Jusczyk, great progression and throw to McCaffrey

2nd drive

Purdy opened with a perfect ball to Brandon Aiyuk on an intermediate crosser, just past Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton. It’s a quick play-action where he looks left at the start to track the post-snap safety rotation, then gets his eyes back to Aiyuk and hits him in stride for 18 yards.

The next play was an outside run to Deebo Samuel that got swallowed up by Bolton for a loss of two. Then Trent Williams had a false start.

On that 2nd-and-17, Purdy bought time, escaped pressure, and completed an 18-yard pass to George Kittle. It came back for a hold on Williams.

On that play, Purdy looked right to find Kittle, McCaffrey and Jennings locked up. He loaded up to fire to McCaffrey, but held up.

There is a split second in which he theoretically could have stepped up and fired to Brandon Aiyuk on the left side, but at that point, he had just finished his windup to McCaffrey, and George Karlaftis was bearing down on him from the right. He scrambled left, Williams held, and he turned back and found Kittle over the middle.

2nd-and-27. The 49ers ran a screen to McCaffrey for 8 yards.

3rd-and-19. Shanahan dialed up a unique screen the 49ers ran against the Lions in which Deebo Samuel ran a shallow crosser, and every eligible receiver released like they’re running a route. They immediately blocked as soon as the ball hit Samuel’s hands. It was a smart play that got 12 yards, but didn’t work because Aiyuk actually blocked too early (not called) and his defender, Justin Reid, disengaged before Samuel could get far enough upfield. It’s tough to have that go perfectly on 3rd-and-19.

Drive tracker: 3-for-3 with an 18-yarder that stood, an 18-yarder that got called back, and two effective screens

3rd drive

It began with a defensive offsides to make it 1st-and-5.

McCaffrey ran for 3 and then 4 to get the first down. The opening play of the next series was a one-yard gain on a McCaffrey swing screen.

The next play was the first objectively bad play of the game from Purdy. He got good protection, then stepped up to throw to Samuel cutting across and slightly back towards the ball. The ball was low and incomplete.

Purdy looked for the deep shot to Aiyuk, who was bracketed. While he could have taken either checkdown to Kittle in the middle, or Kyle Juszczyk (far right, and not really part of the progression), Samuel was the right choice.

He came open, and Purdy stepped up to throw it in space. It was just low and out of the reach of Samuel, who had a very poor game, and who didn’t look like he had the full gas tank to go after the throw. But that throw was on Purdy.

The next play, Purdy redeemed himself with an excellent ball on 3rd-and-9 to Chris Conley down the left sideline while under pressure up the middle from Karlaftis against Jon Feliciano. It went for 18 yards. It should be noted that the first seven third downs of the game were all 3rd-and-9 or longer for the 49ers.

Purdy kept firing with a great ball over the middle to Ray-Ray McCloud on a variation of what appears to be a fire zone blitz, something Steve Spagnuolo is well-known for . He turned down the checkdown to McCaffrey, then ripped it to McCloud, underneath the safeties.

The next one? This is a play many people criticized Aiyuk for, but which seems like a split-second play he and Purdy needed to be on the same page to get right.

It was a fake bubble screen to the left for Samuel that is designed to get Aiyuk open on a seam. It got safety Justin Reid to bite on the action to Samuel, but the remaining deep safety, Chamarri Conner read it well, getting leverage over the top on Aiyuk

Purdy launched it deep, almost like a throwaway, or at least – like in the Lions game – like he expected Aiyuk to keep going and that he liked his chances with Aiyuk one-on-one, even out-leveraged, against Conner.

The problem was that Aiyuk saw Conner pull towards him with leverage, and looked back to Purdy, trying to get on the same page. He could have broken outside towards the pylon, or, more likely, to the right and over the middle. It appears like Aiyuk was hoping to look back and see Purdy directing him to run right.

Ironically, once Aiyuk slowed down, it got Conner to stop, and Aiyuk ended up winning over the top, but the ball was thrown without expecting Aiyuk to slow down. With the benefit of hindsight, you could argue Purdy should have stepped up and directed Aiyuk right. But he was in his throwing motion right when Aiyuk slowed down, and took the shot. It’s a wash.

On the ensuing run, Colton McKivitz got demolished inside by Felix Anudike-Uzomah, who stuffed McCaffrey for a loss of 4 yards. That run would go for at least 6 yards if McKivitz made his block.

On the 3rd-and-14, Purdy deftly avoided pressure from Chris Jones up the middle after Jones went right by Aaron Banks, before being stopped by McCaffrey. Purdy stepped up, and took a shot to Samuel on the rail route. It was a dime, and a touchdown if not for a breakup by McDuffie. Samuel was identified as being one-on-one with an edge on McDuffie, and got a great ball. It was just better defense.

Jake Moody nailed the 55-yard field goal.

Drive tracker: 3-for-6, one bad throw to Samuel, then made up for it with a third-down conversion. Had two deep shots that didn’t come off because of great defense, the first of which Purdy and Aiyuk probably could have made an off-schedule play on if they were on the same page. They weren’t. The other deep ball to Samuel was perfect coverage versus a perfect ball.

4th drive
After Pacheco’s lost fumble, Purdy opened with a deft scramble that got a horse collar penalty tacked on. Everyone was covered.

The ensuing run to McCaffrey got stuffed for a 1-yard gain because Spencer Burford failed to hand off his assignment quickly, and McKivitz overran him, leaving Mike Pennel waiting to swallow up McCaffrey. Pennel’s size and physicality was a problem the 49ers didn’t have an answer for in the run game.

The next run went for nothing because L’Jarius Sneed pushed Trent Williams into the backfield (you’re reading that right), and Jones was waiting for McCaffrey, because he discarded McKivitz. Don’t worry, Jake Brendel got discarded by Pennel, too.

People criticizing Shanahan for not continuing to run the ball ignore the reality that the Chiefs were far more physical at the line of scrimmage. While the 49ers have been able to run successfully against stacked boxes, they struggled to do so for long periods on Sunday.

Immediately after, Purdy was sacked for a three-and-out.

The Chiefs brought five, and there would have been a deep shot available to Brandon Aiyuk, had he not been held successfully by corner Joshua Williams.

Purdy was immediately pressured on the right side against Colton McKivitz. He could have probably unleashed to Aiyuk in a one-on-one if he stepped up and launched, but the pocket collapsed around him. Purdy’s helmet was aligned right, like he was looking for Samuel or Jennings, the former of whom was locked up, outstandingly, by McDuffie.

There was a lane to escape to the right, but Purdy wanted to hit Aiyuk, so he scrambled left and got sacked. The main criticism here is that if Purdy ran to the right, he probably would have been able to run for a first down.

But, Samuel didn’t separate, and Purdy didn’t have time to take shots to either Jennings or Aiyuk, the former of whom had safety help on a deep route, and less speed than the latter. This is one of those plays where you wonder, does Mahomes make something happen, and scramble for 15? Probably.

Drive tracker: No throws, scrambled once for a first down plus a horse collar, then tried to scramble/buy time to make a throw and chose the wrong direction while trying to make the right read.

5th drive
After another three-and-out, the 49ers got the ball back on their own 33-yard line.

Purdy looked for Aiyuk and Kittle deep, but both were bracketed. He threw a low ball to Samuel while being hit by Karlaftis, that Samuel should have caught.

He had pressure on his right from Karlaftis against McKivitz, and a whiffed attempt at helping from Burford. While there was a checkdown to the right for McCaffrey, Purdy didn’t have time to progress there. The ball was low, but Purdy was hit as he threw, and Samuel needed to catch it.

Again, it was a protection issue, and Samuel underperforming

The next play was another five-man pressure from Kansas City. This time, the 49ers avoided the bracket and sent Samuel on an intermediate crosser. Purdy hit him in stride for the first down and Samuel made a nice catch to redeem the last play.

Despite the Chiefs bringing six on the following play, the 49ers’ protection held up well from every offensive lineman. The problem was that no one separated.

Samuel got clamped, again, by McDuffie. There was a shot available over the deep middle to Jennings that Purdy didn’t get to in time (it appeared to be his fourth read), as pressure started to get him. He took a checkdown to McCaffrey. You could argue that he should get his head up for the deep ball, but Mahomes, in this case, would take the checkdown, too. He did that all season.

It went for 6 yards and was followed up by a 5-yard, first-down run.

Elijah Mitchell jumped in for a 7-yard run, then a 1-yard run, which benefited from a Sneed unnecessary roughness penalty on Aiyuk.

Purdy was hot on the next play because Kansas City brought six on a Cover-0 blitz and got home with an unblocked pressure of the left side. Once again, Samuel is… you guessed it, locked up by McDuffie. Incomplete over the middle.

This is a situation where Aiyuk won, just barely, on an intermediate crosser against Reid. Could the 49ers have adapted and made Aiyuk the hot throw in one-on-ones as the game progressed? That’s more a question for Shanahan than Purdy, who was hit as he threw to Samuel.

You would love for the next stage of the development between Shanahan and Purdy to be Purdy telling Aiyuk to shorten his route to give him two hot reads in the same field of vision, especially given that Samuel had no success separating against McDuffie. This is something that showed up on the defining 3rd-and-5 incompletion of the day, in the fourth quarter.

The drive, however, ended with a brilliant trick play screen to screen from Purdy to Jennings to McCaffrey.

Drive tracker: 2-for-4, one incompletion on a low ball that Samuel should have caught, and another on a hot throw Samuel got locked up by McDuffie. Two completions were a nice wrap-in route to Samuel and a smart checkdown to McCaffrey.

6th drive
Six-yard run, then kneeldown to end the first half.

Drive tracker: Just an elite kneeldown. Truly riveting.

7th drive
This is where the 49ers lost the game in my opinion. Mahomes turned it over inside of his half, after the third-longest streak in NFL postseason history of not throwing an interception. San Francisco starts with the ball at the Kansas City 44-yard line.

People criticized Shanahan for not opening with a run here, but it’s a 10-man box. The Chiefs had four down linemen, a press corner against Aiyuk, then four other defenders directly behind the line, with one high safety.

The criticism is fair in the sense that the 49ers got a man coverage indicator, and Samuel ran a jet motion to the right.

It would’ve been a great look for a touch pass to Samuel with Aiyuk blocking down on Sneed and Juszczyk taking Willie Gay. Samuel would’ve been one-on-one with Justin Reid, a very fast safety, who covered ground well. It would be a 50-50 matchup, but one you would feel good about Samuel, who seems to break the first tackle most of the time, at least getting positive yardage.

Instead, they ran play action and Samuel jogged, then stopped, and Reid closed space so that checkdown option, or off-schedule throw option isn’t there. The play was meant to be a deep shot to either Aiyuk, running a corner route, or Kittle, running an in. Purdy would attack whichever route the safety gave more leverage to. Sneed covered Aiyuk’s route well, but that would’ve been a decent 50-50 opportunity.

The problem, again, was protection. Aaron Banks was too late on the well-timed blitz from Leo Chenal, who covered a ton of ground to get to Purdy. Purdy had to throw it away.

This one was on protection, and a play call that, in hindsight, could have been audibled to a touch pass to Samuel once it was clear it was man coverage (we don’t know if that check is available to Purdy). It’s unclear if Purdy had the ability to check to a call like that. If pass protection held up, it would have been a 50-50 ball to your best receiver, which is not a bad option.

Then, Banks had a false start. 2nd-and-15 at the 49-yard line.

On 2nd-and-15, both Kittle and Jennings ran outside go routes to take their corners out of the play, indicating it was meant to be a screen left to McCaffrey, with Samuel as a secondary option on the shallow crosser.

The problem was that Willie Gay covered McCaffrey perfectly, as did McDuffie on Samuel. Aiyuk didn’t separate, either, on the intermediate crosser. Purdy tried to hit Samuel, but the coverage was too tight. McDuffie got up after that play and shrugged as if to say, “You’re really going to keep trying me?”

The 3rd-and-15 was a 4-yard scramble left from Purdy. This one was tough, but probably a play Mahomes turns into magic.

He initially had a look at Kittle over the middle that was tightly covered, then took off. Gay bluffed a blitz, but was actually in a quarterback spy, a perfect call in that situation. If Gay had not been tracking him, it would’ve been a great decision to run, but Gay followed him.

The damning part of the decision was that Purdy didn’t check to see if he was being followed, and started running. He clearly picked up that Gay was tailing him just before getting tackled, at which point, he should have pump-faked, spun around and bought a half second to throw back across the field.

That might sound like an insane criticism, but he has done exactly that this season, and Mahomes does it frequently. In the space of arguing about off-schedule play-making in the biggest game of the year, this is one that shows up as a missed chance.

If Purdy had peeked back before committing to the scramble, he would have seen Gay, been able to buy time, and find any one of McCaffrey, Aiyuk, or Kittle coming wide open and back to the ball. It would have been very challenging, but one he’ll want back.

Drive tracker: 0-for-2, got pressured immediately and had to throw the ball away, then had nothing open on the next one. His scramble would have been smart if a linebacker wasn’t tracking him, but he failed to check when he took off, and missed potential first-down throws in doing so.

8th drive
This drive opened with a loss of eight yards on a screen to Jauan Jennings. Purdy was immediately pressured and Jennings got blasted by Karlaftis. He wanted to throw to McCaffrey, who was open, but could not with Chris Jones bearing down on him. He threw to Jennings, who got crunched immediately by Chenal for a loss of eight yards. It was a split-second decision that he should have just thrown away.

On 2nd-and-18, Purdy took the only throw available, a checkdown to McCaffrey for a gain of 7 yards.

3rd-and-11 was another quick pressure. Karlaftis beat McKivitz badly, even with McCaffrey’s help. Feliciano got beat one-on-one by Bolton. There were a lot of longer-developing routes, some which were open to the right. Purdy didn’t have time to get to any of them, so he threw a deep shot to Kittle, who didn’t separate. A back shoulder throw might have worked, but Karlaftis was in Purdy’s lap.

Purdy drive tracker : 2-for-3, should’ve thrown the first pass away, then hit a checkdown, then a prayer throw, incomplete, under pressure.

9th drive

Ok, so just run the ball, right? Sure. No gain. McCaffrey got stuffed against a nine-man box. Pennel demolished Williams and single-handedly destroyed the play. Williams, again, had his worst game in recent memory.

The next play was a mistake by Purdy. Take the checkdown to Samuel. It’s the first wide-open throw you’ve seen in an hour. Take it. Instead, he tried to hit Aiyuk. It’s a solid throw, but it’s not thrown quick enough, and Purdy’s limited arm strength allows safety Mike Edwards to close on the ball and break it up.

The only logical reason he didn’t take it was because he started to feel pressure and thought his pass would get swatted at the line of scrimmage if he took Samuel’s checkdown over the middle. It may well have gotten swatted, but if it didn’t, it would’ve been a guaranteed gain of at least 5 yards. Purdy’s lack of height and arm strength are factors here, but he should’ve taken Samuel immediately, when it was there.

On 3rd-and-10, Purdy took a shot to Samuel that was nearly intercepted because McDuffie ran the route for him on a wrap-in. Regardless of what the progression was in that situation, he should have looked immediately to Aiyuk on the far side of the field. Samuel had zero ability to separate against McDuffie on Sunday. Aiyuk had a one-on-one against the Chiefs’ worst corner, Williams, running the same route on the other side.

The throw was fine, and theoretically, it’s great anticipation. But Samuel couldn’t get ANYTHING going against McDuffie, especially in press man. Aiyuk came open on the other side and should have been the look, but only if it was decided pre-snap that Purdy would go there. Clearly, he was instructed to read left to right, which makes this criticism fall on Shanahan.

This comes back to the greater theme of how to develop this offense next season. Shanahan probably needs to allow Purdy more flexibility pre-snap, and adjust when someone like Samuel isn’t winning their one-on-ones versus consistent man coverage.

Drive tracker: 0-for-2, one clear mistake, one in which he should either change his progression, or get through the first quicker. Should have taken the checkdown to Samuel, then the wrap-in to Aiyuk, not Samuel.

10th drive

After the ankle punt deflection and a Chiefs touchdown, the 49ers decided to put a drive together.

The first play was a play-action. It would be a completion to Aiyuk but Neil Farrell swatted it at the line of scrimmage. It was the correct read, the ball just got swatted. Feliciano got injured on this play, which showed up later.

After a 5-yard McCaffrey run, the 49ers burned their first timeout. Purdy came out and found Jennings for a 17-yard completion on a quick out that Jennings won on well, and broke off another dozen yards. Good throw, great route.

A successful, 9-yard screen to Samuel followed, then a fullback dive.

Next up, a 20-yard completion to Aiyuk on a short post. My main criticism of Purdy is that he should have stopped looking at Samuel any time McDuffie was on him, and instead start with Aiyuk as the first read, whether or not that was the correct progression, or at least ignore Samuel as the primary read. But he may not have had the flexibility to decide that.

The ensuing would have been a touchdown to Samuel if Spencer Burford had not gotten blown up by Jones. It was a sprint right look that got Samuel wide open. But Jones hit Purdy right as he threw, right after Burford replaced the injured Feliciano. Many, many, many things went wrong in this game.

After an eight-yard run, McCaffrey got stuffed for a loss of one by Pennel and Chenal, who destroyed Brendel and Charlie Woerner, respectively.

Then came the ballsiest call of Shanahan’s career on 4th-and-3, which he admitted he would normally not go for. Because of how this game played out, the credit for that decision won’t come his way. I’ll give him that credit here.

It was an out route to Kittle, who won just enough, on his first catch of the day. Ball on the money from Purdy, when it had to be. First down.

The next McCaffrey run got blown up by Malik Herring against Williams. Again, not a good day from the Hall of Famer.

But Jennings came through on the next play. It was a quick slant, with almost no separation, and he still managed to make the catch and beat two tacklers for the touchdown. He was the 49ers’ MVP.  The ball from Purdy, with unblocked blitz off the right, from Bolton, was perfect.

Drive tracker: 5-for-7, converted a key fourth down and threw a touchdown with unblocked pressure. His only incompletions came from a swatted ball on a good read, and a Chris Jones Pressure versus Burford on a would-be touchdown. Purdy’s best drive of the game to that point.

11th drive
The Chiefs tied the game. How did the 49ers and Purdy respond?

With an absolute dart to Jennings. Purdy threaded the needle with a seed to Jennings for a 23-yard gain.

That was followed up with a deceptive, outside handoff to Samuel for a 9-yard gain. If a few blocks from Kittle, Brendel and McKivitz had been handled better, it may have been a touchdown. Then a couple McCaffrey runs to set up a 2nd-and-5.

Purdy got pressured immediately by Bolton on the boot action and had to hit Kittle out of stride. It was a difficult throw, and maybe not the right play against the stacked front the Chiefs were showing. That, by the way, was the second, and final catch for Kittle. 2 catches, 4 yards on the day.

The next play is tough to evaluate, and it was the most consequential of the day. I broke it down here after talking to Purdy, Brendel and Burford.

Purdy is not in charge of setting protections in the offense. One thing to consider for Shanahan next season is whether he should be given more of a role in that, or at least be part of the discussion in the offseason of how to set protections more effectively.

McDuffie blitzed off the left side and was unaccounted for. You can see before the snap that Brendel was identifying potential rushers, but McDuffie wasn’t viewed as one. It was a perfectly-timed blitz, and he swatted the ball in doing so.

Purdy was hot, and his hot read was Jennings. But that’s a mistake. With McDuffie blitzing, that meant Aiyuk would be open, with a deep safety covering his short route. Purdy should have taken Aiyuk.

I asked Purdy whether he should have taken Aiyuk. He said that was correct, though he had made the throw to Jennings a “million times in practice,” and trusted him to win in that situation.

That play was monumental. If it was converted, the 49ers basically end the game. They would have a first down inside the Chiefs’ 30-yard line with less than a minute to go. A first down would’ve set up a game-winning field goal opportunity. Kansas City burned their first timeout early on in the second half.

The clock would have ticked down to around 1:05-1:10 if Kansas City used its second timeout. Call that a run. If they used their final timeout, that would leave a little more than a minute left. If the 49ers ran again, and took a field goal without getting a first down, the Chiefs would have had about 20-25 seconds with no timeouts.

Maybe that’s still enough for Mahomes, but even for him, that’s daunting.

Drive tracker: 2-for-3, should have hit Aiyuk instead of Jennings on the key third down, but trusted his hot read on an immediate blitz in his face. Issue was a protection breakdown.

12th drive
Six-yard run from McCaffrey, then a kneeldown to set off overtime.

Drive tracker: Fun fact: Brock Purdy ended the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl with a kneeldown.

13th drive (OT)
The opening play was an incompletion that was the right read and a great throw from Purdy, despite the drop and near interception. It was a bad play call from Shanahan. It used a variation of “bump” motion to avoid Samuel getting pressed by McDuffie, before an in route. Samuel got clamped, as did every other option on the field.

The next play was an Aiyuk false start. 2nd-and-15. They ran a brilliant design after that. It was meant to look like a screen to Samuel, but then became a shovel to McCaffrey. It went nowhere because Jones shrugged off Burford, for a 2-yard gain.

San Francisco finally got a bit of luck on the next play, with a clear hold from McDuffie on Jennings, for an automatic first down.

They then ran twice with McCaffrey for 3 and 5 yards.

On 3rd-and-2, Purdy found Aiyuk on a glance route. It was a perfectly-timed throw and perfect route against safety Mike Edwards for an 11-yard gain.

After a 4-yard McCaffrey run, a screen to McCaffrey followed. He ripped off 24 yards.

An 8-yard McCaffrey run followed. Then, what would have been a first down from Elijah Mitchell came back on a hold from Brayden Willis, who was replaced on the next play by George Kittle.

It didn’t matter, because Purdy’s best bit of playmaking followed.

Every single option he had was covered. Samuel couldn’t separate against Bolton. Aiyuk was bracketed deep, as was Kittle. McCaffrey wasn’t open as the checkdown on the far left side of the field, nor was Juszczyk.

The pocket collapsed, Purdy saw nothing and scrambled right. Karlaftis chased him. Purdy stopped, Karlaftis slipped, and Juszczyk pulled away from Sneed. Purdy found him for a 13-yard gain and the first down. It was outstanding, when nothing else was there, in the biggest moment possible, on a disadvantageous down.

A 6-yard run from McCaffrey followed that was ALL Trent Williams. As much as I criticized him, he was excellent here, moving Pennel out of the play, sealing off Gay with his back, and getting a slight tug on Bolton, which was never going to get called in that moment.

The next play, though, was a run stuff. The main problem was that Burford got thrown aside by Tershawn Wharton, and Kittle couldn’t close off Mike Danna. Banks also can’t move Pennel. If Burford had at least made his block, it might’ve been 3rd-and-3 or 3rd-and-2, giving the 49ers other options. But it goes nowhere.

Then, there’s the infamous 3rd-and-4 at the Kansas City 9-yard line. There’s a protection breakdown on the right side by Burford, who slid left, instead of right, and took a blitzing Reid instead of Jones. Jones got to Purdy in a flash, and he had to essentially throw the ball away to Jennings.

There was nothing Purdy could have done. The fact that Aiyuk got open in the end zone was also irrelevant, because Jennings separated and would have gotten the first down, and probably scored. It probably wasn’t a great protection call in that moment, anyway. The fact that Brendel pulls to set up the potential play-action is a bit silly.

If the 49ers had run a “5-0” protection (described here) , or had a 60 series jet protection (half-man, half-zone, six players protecting) with the left side of the offensive line taking the three obvious defenders in their way, and the right side, plus Kittle, sorting through the other three, they at least would have gotten hands on Jones, and been able to slow down Reid long enough to get to Jennings.

The point is, if they left Kittle in to block, it would be six on six, with the Chiefs very, very clearly showing Cover-0. Purdy would get to Jennings or Aiyuk either way.

Drive tracker: 3-for-5, a couple great reads and throws from Purdy, and an outstanding bit of playmaking to Juszczyk when nothing was there.

If you got this far, here’s what the 49ers should take away

Here is my view of Purdy's good, bad, and not-quite-Mahomesian plays:
Good plays: 14
Bad plays: 3
Plays he could have done more/maybe Mahomes makes: 5

If your criticism is that Purdy doesn't elevate the offense to the level of Mahomes, well, yes, that was obvious coming in. But he very clearly proved he has more than enough to lead this offense. The answers for the 49ers going forward are to put more on his shoulders, not less.

Protections, and the offensive line personnel are something that the 49ers will have to look into this offseason. There were some fundamental examples of not executing protections, and some other cases where the protections were over-complicated for the offensive line, in situations they should have been simplified.

My takeaways from the game were that the 49ers should probably take their first-round pick and invest it in a new right tackle. Take that first-round pick and swing for the fences. If it doesn’t work out immediately, that’s fine, but McKivitz is unspectacular, and had a very hard time against Karlaftis’ physicality.

Double down on the interior of the offensive line, too, because the combo of Brendel and Burford did not cut it. Brendel is fine, but he needs someone better next to him. Maybe Burford takes that leap, but it didn’t look like it in the Super Bowl. While it’s a tough task for a young player who has to alternate with a veteran, you don’t get to make excuses as a team competing for a championship.

Samuel could not separate. His route running and effort on plays in which he is not a part of the progression is a major concern, though he certainly looked like he was dealing with a hamstring issue. I’m not sure what the answer is there, but if it’s him versus McDuffie in this same game next year, the 49ers cannot just keep trying to feed him.

Lastly, Shanahan may have to consider how rigid or adaptable he is in game, and put more on Purdy’s shoulders. While you could say, “just switch the routes for Aiyuk and Samuel,” the X and Z positions are different in the 49ers’ offense. The real answer was to look to Aiyuk quicker, or first, in man-to-man coverage situations, even if the play call does not identify him as the hot or primary read.

There were multiple situations in which it seemed like Purdy did not have the ability to change the route a receiver was running, or check to another play he liked. Maybe that’s an overstated assessment, but his talent is in seeing the field and dicing up coverages based on what he sees. Allowing him to do more of that is the natural progression of the offense.