LAS VEGAS — Brock Purdy was as composed as ever as he stepped to the podium to assess the most difficult loss of his life.
There is no shame in getting beat by Patrick Mahomes. He’s a transcendent player headed for the Hall of Fame. That doesn’t make any easier for Purdy and the 49ers to digest a 25-22 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.
What it came down to is this when the 49ers and Chiefs were tied 19-19 at the end of regulation play: Purdy led his team to a field goal. Mahomes used his own brand of special magic to produce a touchdown on a 3-yard pass to Mecole Hardman and give the Chiefs their second consecutive Super Bowl championship.
The drive encompassed 75 yards in 13 plays and there was an air of inevitability. As much as the 49ers like to believe once Jake Moody had given them a 22-19 lead with a 27-yard field goal, once the Chiefs got the ball back with one chance to score, the game was all but over.
“When you have a good offense like the Chiefs do and what Mahomes can do, we have to score touchdowns,” Purdy said. “I’ve got to be better in terms of leading the guys and just how I handle things in the huddle and telling them what to expect. We have to score touchdowns, and I think I failed ot put our team in position to do that.”
When the 49ers had a chance to win the game with the Chiefs facing a fourth-and-1 at their own 34-yard line, Mahomes gutted the 49ers with a read option for an 8-yard run and a first down. On third-and-6 he hit Rashee Rice for 13 yards. He had another 19-yard scramble up the middle to the 13, hit Travis Kelce for seven yards to the three and then won the game with his pass to Hardman.
Mahomes completed 34 of 46 passes for 333 yards and two touchdowns. He was the Chiefs’ leading rusher with 66 yards on 19 carries. He was good enough that it was remarkable the 49ers kept him out of the end zone as often as they did, with Kansas City’s Harrison Butker…
Read the full article here
