TAMPA, Fla. — Forty-one seconds was plenty for 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy on Sunday afternoon.
On a day when San Francisco missed three field goals and the defense allowed the Bucs to tie the game in the final minute, Purdy had a small window to win in regulation and took full advantage of it. Four passes — two each to Jauan Jennings and rookie Ricky Pearsall — were good enough for 39 yards, setting up a redemption kick as time expired for Jake Moody, allowing the 49ers to escape with a 23-20 road win.
“When the game’s on the line and 13 has the ball in his hands, you’re in a good position,” said running back Christian McCaffrey, who made his season debut after missing two months with Achilles tendinitis. “We had some adversity, and I think we’re all wanting to put together a full-unit game, but it doesn’t always go that way. For him to win it for us at the end … that’s just what Brock does.”
Purdy finished with 353 passing yards — 15 short of his career high — and touchdown passes to Pearsall and tight end George Kittle, and that effort was enough to earn this week’s Tom Brady LFG Player of the Game Award.
“Just for him to think I played a good game, to be able to say I was his MVP, that feels pretty special,” Purdy told FOX Sports after the game. “Growing up watching him compete, and just his mindset, for me, that’s pretty special to watch our game and give me the award. It’s pretty cool.”
Brady grew up in San Mateo, California, watching the 49ers and idolizing Joe Montana, and Sunday was his second time calling a Niners game this season. One throw Brady had specific praise for came in the fourth quarter. With a Bucs player blitzing at him, Purdy lobbed a high pass that McCaffrey was able to get under for a 30-yard gain, setting up the go-ahead touchdown to Kittle with seven minutes left.
“It was a great throw,” McCaffrey said. “He had pressure in his face [but] it was a perfectly thrown ball. That’s not easy to put touch on it to understand where I am on the field and to be able to put that there. That was a big play.”
Big play from #49ers Brock Purdy to Christian McCaffrey pic.twitter.com/I77aj3yWuD
— 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙎𝙁𝙉𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨 (@TheSFNiners) November 10, 2024
The 49ers’ first three wins this season were all by at least 12 points, but now they’ve pulled out back-to-back close victories, first over the Cowboys and against the Bucs on Sunday.
“I told them last night: ‘Don’t expect this game to be fun,'” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said he told his team. “‘It’s going to be grimy out there, sticky, a team that’s playing desperate, a good team that’s lost some games.’ We knew we were going to get their best shot.”
Purdy had played all season without McCaffrey, receiver Brandon Aiyuk is out for the season and Deebo Samuel and Jennings have missed multiple games with injury, and all of that played a role in a 2-3 start for San Francisco. Now they’ve won three of four and are looking closer to the contender they expected to be. There were rough patches on Sunday, but Purdy helped the 49ers finish the game the way they wanted to, even if it wasn’t easy.
“We just tried to stay ahead of the chains and move the ball and keep it simple,” Purdy said. “That was the biggest part, understanding that it’s a four-quarter game for a reason. What happens early on can’t affect you right now in the present, so that was my mindset, and I thought we were all able to finish pretty well as a team.”
San Francisco has a rematch with Seattle next week and then two tough road games at Green Bay and at Buffalo, but being able to win on Sunday is a boost for a 49ers team that came in just 1-2 on the road in 2024.
“That’s the NFL. We’re going to be playing games like this, and for us to be able to pull together as a team, [for the] defense to get a stop, offense to move the ball and special teams to finish, it feels good to finish it out,” Purdy said. “Obviously, there’s some stuff we’d like to clean up, but to come down here off our bye and get a win is huge.”