Tom Brady explains how the 49ers had ‘no chance to compete’ after Brock Purdy’s injury

Jan 31, 2023 - 5:30 PM

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It’s impressive how durability has avoided the 49ers quarterback position since Kyle Shanahan took over as head coach. San Francisco has been the unluckiest team in the league when you look at the team’s injury history since 2017.

Injuries had bitten the Niners so bad this season that they were finished to play the second half of the NFC Championship with a quarterback that completely tore his UCL.

Tom Brady was always going to find his way into the 49ers offseason discussion, no matter had Brock Purdy stayed healthy or not. We’ll skip the conjecture today on whether he’ll be under center in the Bay Area for the 2023 season.

But Brady shared his thoughts about the team he grew up rooting for on his Let’s Go! podcast:

“Injuries play a role in every game and your margin of error changes quite a bit. Obviously San Fran had, you know, really no chance to compete. That was tough just to see that happen, but at the same time, it’s the reality of the sport. Philly deserved it. They had an incredible season. They played well on defense. They forced that pass and the injury to Brock there on his wrist or his elbow.”

While it would have been reasonable to assume the 49ers margin for error changed when they were forced to transition from Jimmy Garoppolo to Brock Purdy, the drop-off was steeper going from Purdy to Josh Johnson.

Brady continued while highlighting the injuries each quarterback in the Super Bowl is dealing with:

“It’s truly part of the sport. It’s a contact sport, and that’s why it’s a demolition derby. And that’s why, you know, all these games are somewhat unpredictable. You go to the Super Bowl, Patrick had a sprained ankle, Jalen had a hurt shoulder. Anything can happen in the first quarter of the game, and of course it’s going to affect the outcome. So if you’re relegated to handing the ball off down 28 points or whatever it was there in the fourth quarter, there’s no chance of coming back at that point.”

Give the 49ers defense all the credit in the world. They came to play and bought the offense multiple series to score. But, as Brady pointed out, there wasn’t much of a chance for the 49ers to come back given the circumstances.