49ers teammates stand behind QB Brock Purdy as he owns up to his mistakes vs. Bengals

The shine has worn off San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy a bit after his performances over the past three games, but his teammates don't seem to be concerned in any way about his ability to lead the team where it wants to go.

After beginning his NFL career with a 12-0 record in games he started and finished, Purdy has lost his last three outings, due in part to the costly turnovers he committed along the way. Purdy has had a number of strong moments during that three-game stretch, throwing for 762 yards on 55-of-88 passing with three touchdowns and 83 yards rushing. But he's also made six total turnovers (five interceptions, one fumble), each of which came during the second half. Over the course of last week's 22-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings and Sunday's 31-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, Purdy committed five turnovers at key moments while the 49ers were attempting to come from behind late in games.

Purdy has understandably received his share of criticism from fans after what's happened in recent games. But after the loss to the Bengals, Purdy's teammates made it clear they didn't think he was a big part of the problem.

"He took ownership for his mistakes," defensive end Nick Bosa said after the loss Sunday. "He played awesome, I thought, except for a couple plays. And I think a lot of people on this team feel exactly the same way."

Bosa's assessment of Purdy's performance against the Bengals wasn't too far off. Purdy played well early, made his share of big plays during the game and finished with 365 yards and one touchdown on 22-of-31 passing with 57 yards rushing. But Purdy's bad moments overshadowed his good ones, and he took that on his shoulders afterwards.

"Obviously I want to be better for this team, for this organization, just taking care of the ball in some crucial parts of the games," Purdy said. "That's the NFL, man. (When) it comes down to it, you're not going to just blow teams out every week. You have to take care of the ball and you've got to play good team football, and that's where I'm at with that. But in terms of, yeah, you have three losses, and as a quarterback, you take a lot. I take that on myself where I could be better for this team and helping us win."

Purdy's two costliest moments against the Bengals came midway through the second half with the 49ers trailing 17-10. His first turnover came on the penultimate play of the third quarter when he missed a handoff to Elijah Mitchell on a 1st-and-Goal at the 8, which resulted in him improvising and throwing an interception to linebacker Germaine Pratt. The 49ers defense forced a punt after that interception, but then Purdy threw another one on his next offensive play, this one to linebacker Logan Wilson. The Bengals turned Wilson's interception in a touchdown and a 24-10 lead.

Those two moments factored heavily into 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan's evaluation of Purdy's performance on the day.

"He made some bad picks there at the end," Shanahan said. "I thought he was one of the reasons we were in the game today. Some of those throws he made out there were unbelievable. The mistake in the red zone missing the handoff was the biggest part. And then once you do that, you can't throw it or you're going to get the penalty, but (it's) worse that he got the pick. He was aggressive.

"Thought the Mike (linebacker) (Wilson) was going to pass on that second pick, and the Mike fell off right with Jauan (wide receiver Jauan Jennings). So you've just got to see it."

With the first interception, Purdy admitted he made a big mistake in not handing the ball off, which then put him in a situation where there likely weren't any good outcomes.

"Man, I should have handed it off," Purdy said. "Simple as that. It was an option play with George (Kittle) coming backside to toss it to him. Once I pulled it to go toss it to him, it wasn't there. So I tried making something up and just scrambling to the right. At that point, I've got to know that the linemen are downfield and I just got to try to get what I can get. But to throw the ball itself would be a penalty, and I got to be better. So I saw Elijah in the corner of the end zone, tried making something happen there, but regardless, it would have been a penalty, so that's on me."

On the second interception, which was intended for wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, Purdy learned that he needs to better walk the line between trying to make a splash play late in games and trying to make the right play.

"There's definitely got to be a fine balance to that," Purdy said. "Trust in the play. Trust in what we're trying to do -- boys trying to get open, the offensive line, the protection, the play call. Trust in that. And then if it's not there, try to make something happen, but don't force it. Towards the end of the game, that's what I was doing was starting to force things and not see things clearly. With the second pick to Aiyuk, it's like, man, don't force things and let the game come to you.

"And if it's not there, then try to make something happen. But even when you're trying to make something happen, be smart with it as well. So, definitely a fine line to it, and I had to learn the hard way today."

Still, there didn't seem to be any loss of confidence in Purdy coming from the 49ers locker room. Just the opposite in fact, based on linebacker Fred Warner's ringing endorsement of his starting quarterback.

"You want me to say no? I mean, come on now," Warner said when asked if he still had confidence in Purdy. "The thing is the quarterback is always going to receive the brunt of the criticism, but Brock is like the least of my worries. Brock is made of the right stuff. Yeah, can he protect the ball better? Sure. But he's the reason why we have a chance to win games and every single game that we're in."

Safety Talanoa Hufanga said of Purdy, "This dude's got all the confidence in the world. He's got to keep going. He's a great player and he's leading this locker room. I'm very grateful to have him here, and whatever he does, we have his back."

It'll be a long bye week ahead for the 49ers and Purdy, both of whom will have plenty to ponder after losing their last three games. But it doesn't seem like anything will shift in terms of the team's trust in Purdy, nor does it seem like Purdy is about to lose any belief in himself. Purdy says he's always leaned on his faith to get him to where he is now, and he'll continue to do so through his current stretch of adversity.

"Who I am and what I stand for, that doesn't change," Purdy said. "Everyone can say what they want, but I know who I am as a person, and my faith, my relationship with God is the most important, and I'm going to continue to rely on that. It's gotten me to this point in my life, and I'll always be with God and stand firm with God. So I know he'll take care of me regardless."

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