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The San Francisco 49ers took a massive blow to their chances on Sunday, as they were upset by the Minnesota Vikings 23-17. The team was inefficient through most of the afternoon, and with Sam Darnold having a great game, they failed to build on an excellent Monday Night Football game.
This wasn't a loss in the 49ers' plans. The Vikings do have a great roster, but the exhibition was excellent even without Christian McCaffrey. Jordan Mason once again played great, but this was a bad afternoon for Brock Purdy's standards.
NFL fans were not happy to see Purdy playing such a bad game, especially against an opponent they were supposed to beat soundly. Some went even further to call him a copy of Jimmy Garoppolo, the former quarterback who was replaced by the third-year passer
San Francisco had to deal with their second straight game with Christian McCaffrey but that was not the problem. It's not something to create problems, though, as it's natural to see Kyle Shanahan's team starting the season a bit slower than their own standards.
Shanahan and the 49ers' quarterback dilemma
Shahanan's offense has a friendly scheme for quarterbacks, but it's not a case of plug-and-play as some might paint. Yes, it does have easy reads, but the amount of pre-snap motion and the need to understand how outside zone plays and read-option works takes away a lot of options.
It's the kind of offense that, if a quarterback plays well, it can look easy. But it's not like that. But this is a win-now roster mode, and there are a lot of important names in the 49ers' salary cap. Money has become a problem with Trent Williams, Brandon Aiyuk and Christian McCaffrey extending their deals, so Purdy will need to play better and better.
But he has proven he has more than enough quality to lead this team, and that - unlike Garoppolo - he's not a product of Shanahan's system. There's nothing to be concerned about and this was just a bad game, so next week, San Francisco will be fine and running again.
