What Purdy, Bosa heard about 49ers after they missed the playoffs originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Not much has gone right for the 49ers during the 2024 NFL season, and that domino effect resulted in San Francisco being eliminated from the playoffs before the team even played a snap against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
Following their 29-17 loss at Hard Rock Stadium, which dropped the 49ers to 6-9 on the year, quarterback Brock Purdy and defenseman Nick Bosa told reporters what they learned about their team during a rare down year.
“It’s kind of hard,” Purdy said. “We’ll really see after the season, what the theme of each game is and all that kind of stuff, where we need to be better and all that. But off the top of my head, it just wasn’t clean football across the board.” I just feel like we’re hurting ourselves offensively, and then when the defense stops, we have to start capitalizing. Last year we did that really well, the last couple of years we’ve been playing team football quarters and I just felt like we were quite dominant [last year].
“So this year it’s been hit and miss, and the momentum as a whole team and unit has just been good. And that means a lot to me because of our offense. I’ve got to get our guys going and be on top.” But more than anything, it’s like we’ve got a really good team and we’ve got good players and a lot of the core players of what we’ve done over the last few years, and that’s what hurts. is that you have those types of guys and culture here, and we just haven’t been able to get that done in some games.”
It’s been an up and down season for Purdy and the 49ers’ offense, but mostly down. After bursting onto the scene in 2022 and going on to shatter records and earn NFL MVP votes in his first full season as San Francisco’s starting quarterback in 2023, things haven’t been as easy for the 24-year-old in 2024.
Brock Purdy has started 40 games for the #49ers in the regular season and the playoffs (with the exception of the 2022 NFC title game when he hurt his elbow). Here’s a breakdown of the 1st 20 versus the 2nd 20:
Passerby rating: 116.6 to 93.6
Yds/att: 9.6 to 8.1
TD-INT: 39-9 to 26-15
Record: 17-3 to 10-10— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) December 23, 2024
In Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins, which was one of his better performances this year, Purdy completed 65 percent (26-for-40) of his pass attempts for 313 yards and a touchdown with one interception and a 95.1 passer rating. On the season, Purdy has compiled a passer rating of 94.4, which ranks No. 15 in the NFL.
But amid injuries to key offensive weapons including Brandon Aiyuk and Christian McCaffrey, the offense has struggled to reach the same numbers as in 2023, averaging more than 30 fewer yards per game this season (365.1) than last year (396.2). Combine that with San Francisco’s defensive issues in 2024, and it’s a recipe for a postseason-less campaign.
The difficulties of this season have taught Bosa to cherish when the team is fully healthy and doing well, as it has in recent years.
“I learned that this competition is very tough and we have been at the highest level for a long time and sometimes things don’t go the way you want,” Bosa told reporters. “And obviously a lot of it is because of what we did, but we just have to appreciate playing this game. I mean, I don’t think I’ve played a game where we don’t really have a chance.” in the playoffs, so it was a different feeling [today]but it’s always a blessing to be on the field and be part of the Niners.”
The 49ers are still proud to play for their participation in the final two games of the 2024 season. And as we head into the 2025 campaign, there are certainly a lot of lessons from this season that they can use.
