To be a man of God in Sin City is to inhabit a lonely place, but it was here that fate brought Brock Purdy in search of liberation. It was there, in Las Vegas, on the Strip, where the neon lights flashed and the roulette wheels spun, that he sent it.
It was here that he brought the young San Francisco 49ers quarterback to free him from being known as Mr Irrelevant. It was here that he was asked to prove that he could follow in the footsteps of Joe Montana and Steve Young, the only 49ers quarterbacks to win the NFL’s highest award.
Purdy, who spent much of the last week seeking solitude amid the madness of Las Vegas’ first Super Bowl, beginning each day by reading Psalm 23, came so close, so desperately close, to forever banishing the idea that he He is a ‘game director’. ‘, a quarterback less than the greats, an opponent inferior to his counterpart of the Kansas City Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes.
He came so close to banishing the idea that he was somehow a naïve destined to take second place to men like Mahomes and Travis Kelce, the Chiefs tight end who is dating Taylor Swift and is the epitome of worldliness. and the king of popular culture.
But in the end, even though he played well, even though he ran his offense magnificently, even though he brought the 49ers to the brink of winning their first Super Bowl in 29 years, liberation eluded him and the 49ers fell to a crushing figure of 25. -22 defeat in overtime.
Brock Purdy came agonizingly close to winning his first Super Bowl with the 49ers on Sunday.
The 24-year-old QB went from last year’s Mr. Irrelevant to Super Bowl runner-up in one year
Purdy, a devout Christian, was an unlikely protagonist in the first Super Bowl played in Las Vegas.
Purdy didn’t fail, but Mahomes, Kelce and the rest of the Chiefs were too good. Mahomes had an x-factor, which puts him among the current crop of NFL quarterbacks and neither Purdy nor anyone else can match him. This performance, under the most extreme pressure, elevated Mahomes to one of the greatest quarterbacks in history.
And so it was the Chiefs who won Super Bowl LVIII and Mahomes who joined a select group of starting quarterbacks who have won this trophy three times. Montana is one. The rest are Tom Brady, Terry Bradshaw and Troy Aikman. It’s a select band.
Purdy doesn’t belong there and most likely never will, but this is a man known as Mr Irrelevant because he was selected by the 49ers with the 262nd and final pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. He may not have found release in Las Vegas, but no one should call him Mr. Irrelevant anymore. He’s too good for that.
Purdy spoke at length last week about how true value comes from serving friends and family. He will be better equipped than many to deal with this heartbreaking loss. Far from disappointing anyone, he will have made his friends and family proud. For him there are other things more important than winning and losing football games.
As I sat in the 49ers locker room, trying to process the loss, the sound of the Beastie Boys singing ‘You Gotta Fight for Your Right to Party’ echoed throughout Allegiant Stadium. Purdy is a stranger in this environment.
Purdy, a committed Christian who spent much of his week in Sin City quoting Psalm 23 and embracing the virtues of selflessness, could hardly have been a more unlikely protagonist in a Super Bowl that set new standards for glamour, glitz and obsession. by celebrities. .
For anyone who had grown tired of the obsession with Kelce and Swift, their larger-than-life personalities and their ubiquity throughout the media, the 24-year-old Purdy, who until recently was the 49ers’ No. 3 quarterback , was the antidote. .
“I think there is more purpose and meaning in life if you invest in serving your family, your friends and your community,” Purdy said at one of his news conferences at the 49ers team hotel in the hills outside of Las Vegas last week.
‘That’s where you find the true purpose in life. Not wanting to be glorified and put on a pedestal above anyone. That’s when you become relevant, when you serve others and love everyone and don’t worry about yourself. It’s not about you.’
Purdy, who believes life is much more fulfilling when it serves others, and his longtime fiancée, Jenna Brandt, before Sunday’s kickoff.
Purdy completed 23 of his 28 passes (60.5% completion rate) for a touchdown against Kansas City.
Purdy came close to throwing a second touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, but settled for a field goal.
Everything about Purdy screamed helpless. Even Kelce admitted earlier in the week that she would support him if it weren’t for him being on the opposing team. He was, for starters, the third-youngest quarterback to start a Super Bowl, after Dan Marino of the Dolphins and Ben Roethlisberger of the Steelers.
Then there is your salary. He may not exactly be on the breadline, but a four-year contract paying him a total of $3.7 million doesn’t elevate him particularly high on the NFL food chain. Compare that to Mahomes’ 10-year contract worth $450 million and you get an idea of ​​the differences in thinking between Purdy and the game’s established superstars.
The contrast with Mahomes did not stop there. Mahomes is revered as a dynamic passer, a leader who can get out of trouble, who can innovate and improvise, a maverick but a maverick who gets the job done.
Purdy is not considered any of those things. Firstly, he only became a starter due to injuries to Trey Lance and Jimmy Garappolo and, although he grabbed his opportunity with both hands, he has still been patronized as a ‘game manager’, a player who is there to do make the system work. and give stage to the team’s star players.
Could I really do it? Could he really follow in Montana and Young’s footsteps? When legendary 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice addressed fans before the game and talked about how they had “superstars all over the field,” he may not have been thinking of Purdy as one of them.
Purdy took control of the game’s first possession and orchestrated the drive brilliantly, pulling away under pressure and finding Kyle Juszczyk, who overcame an attempted tackle for the first down. The drive came to an abrupt end when Christian McCaffrey, one of the superstars Rice was talking about, fumbled.
Purdy was playing magnificently, passing with precision and ambition. It wasn’t until two minutes left in the first quarter that he made his first incomplete pass. After a scoreless quarter, he got the 49ers into field goal range early in the second quarter and they finally put the first points on the board with a field goal 12 seconds into the quarter.
The 49ers were dealing with the pressure of the game better than the Chiefs. In notable scenes on the Kansas City sideline, Kelce raged at 65-year-old Chiefs coach Andy Reid because he had been benched for a play that resulted in a fumble.
It was an ugly, very ugly reaction. Maybe Kelce should have heeded Purdy’s mantra of “it’s not about you.” Frustration was pervading the Chiefs’ game.
Purdy and the 49ers were victims of Patrick Mahomes’ magic in overtime and ultimately fell short (22-25)
Purdy certainly has a lot to be proud of despite experiencing his first Super Bowl loss.
Then, with 4 minutes and 23 seconds left in the half, Purdy orchestrated a brilliant play, throwing the ball to his Jauan Jennings, who then threw it back across the field to McCaffrey, who broke through the Chiefs’ defense and He rushed towards the End Zone. Purdy left the field. The 49ers were up 10-0.
The Chiefs finally claimed their first points with a field goal in the final seconds of the half, but if Purdy had set a cool, calm and collected example, Mahomes was unusually wild, careless and nervous. Early in the third quarter, he threw a pass over Kelce’s head that was intercepted by the Chiefs and another attempt to create momentum disappeared.
But Harrison Butker kicked the longest field goal in a Super Bowl to bring the Chiefs within four points of the 49ers and now Purdy began to have difficulty finding his receivers. Mahomes knows how to step up at this stage of a Super Bowl. Purdy doesn’t.
The Chiefs took the lead for the first time late in the third quarter when the 49ers made a horrible mess on a punt return and Mahomes found Márquez Valdés-Scantling in the end zone.
Purdy made a clutch throw on fourth down and three in the fourth quarter to try to restore the 49ers’ momentum and two plays later, he threw his first touchdown of the game to Jennings to put the 49ers ahead 16-13.
Another Chiefs field goal tied the score with just under six minutes left in the game, but after Purdy drove the 49ers back onto the field, they responded with a field goal of their own to take a 19-16 lead with less than two minutes left to play. . When Kansas City scored another three points in the final seconds, the game went to overtime.
Purdy failed to move the ball on the first possession, but was reprieved with a penalty against the Chiefs defense and worked the ball patiently upfield with the help of an explosive run by McCaffery. The 49ers got close enough to kick a field goal.
Now it was Mahomes’ turn and Mahomes was too good.