The Heartbreak of Being a Sports Fan

And how it turns out there are good and bad ways of losing a big game.

On Sunday, the 49ers lost to the Eagles in the NFC Championship game, the second consecutive season that the team has gotten that far - and only that far. And yet, the way this game played out couldn’t have been much more different than the prior battle against the Rams.

For those who watched, you know that on the 49ers first possession, QB Brock Purdy - he of the Hollywood storybook, rising from being the last player drafted to winning seven straight starts and taking the team this far - fumbled the ball after getting hit by Eagles DE Haason Reddick, which turned out to be the least bad thing that happened on that play, as Purdy hurt a nerve in his elbow which made it impossible to really throw a football.

Kind of an important part of the job of playing QB. The 49ers were suddenly down to their FOURTH-string QB, Josh Johnson. All you need to know about Johnson is that he was readily available in November 2022 when the 49ers signed him off the street. And Johnson pretty much came into the game and was about as good as folks probably expected Purdy to be when he first game into the game when Jimmy G got hurt. That is to say, he was quite bad.

If it looks like Johnson COULD get this ball, he actually DID scoop it up, and then squirted it away. Just disgraceful shit right here.

Not only was he unable to really command the offense, he fumbled a snap - all on him - and then made an amazingly pathetic attempt to even get the ball back. The Eagles quickly scored, and made what should have been a one-score game into 21-7 at the half.

And then it got worse! Because Johnson hit his head on a tackle and was ruled out with a concussion. (Editors Note: Please let this be the end of Josh Johnson ever playing for the 49ers ever again.)

Folks, teams don’t usually have three QB active for a game, and in fact the 49ers didn’t have another on the roster. There seemed to be some debate about putting RB Christian McCaffrey or WR Juaun Jennings back there, but have you seen Shanahan’s playsheet?

This is from his time with the Browns, but … yeah, that’s a lot.

(There was a sideline shot of CMC looking at the play sheet - which I can’t find online anywhere - and I think his reaction made it clear that there was no way to expect him to truly run a real offense.) Purdy came back into the game and could only attempt two weak passes, and handed the ball off every other play.

I started the day stating to my buddies that I had reached a point where I couldn’t get greedy with what I expected from this season, that any outcome in that game wouldn’t mar what was an amazing season and team, and that the future would be bright regardless. That’s all still true.

But man, to lose like this?

It’s quite possible the Eagles would have beaten the 49ers if Purdy hadn’t gotten hurt. It’s possible the 49ers would have hurt themselves and given the game away. But when you literally can’t compete because you don’t have a quarterback and therefore can’t run an offense? That’s … man, that’s gross.

There are other things to complain about in this game - the Eagles scored their first TD after a fourth-down completion that turned out to clearly be an incomplete pass .. but the replay didn’t show it until the Eagles had run another play. Should the officials have slowed that down to see? Should Kyle Shanahan thrown a challenge flag?

The Eagles got seven first downs off of 49ers penalties, which is an insanely high number - and several of them were completely suspect. None so much as the roughing the punter call where a) Jordan Mason was held (no call) and b) fell into the punter. A running-into-the-punter penalty would have only been five yards (it was 4th-and-6), and much more appropriate. How is THIS a personal foul?

Marc Istook @MarcIstook

So this is a personal foul but not a hold?

The reality is there is no way to blame this game on the officials and yet, the officiating was a disgrace. (The same was true in the AFCC as well, which suggests the NFL has a wee problem.)

Folks have started to suggest that the 49ers have more than their share of heartbreak and loss, and this is one more chapter. As someone who has been a fan of theirs through all five Super Bowl wins, that feels incredibly short-sighted to say when teams like the Vikings and Bills exist, not to mention the Lions, Chargers, Cardinals … the list goes on.

Yes, the team hasn’t won a Super Bowl in 28 years, but it’s still one of the most storied franchises in sports. It will certainly look different next year, especially with DC DeMeco Ryans almost certainly leaving for a head coaching opportunity, likely with the Texans where he played as a LB for years. But they’ll be right back in it. With players like CMC, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk on offense, not to mention Trent Williams on the line, and Nick Bosa, Fred Warner and Mooney Ward on defense not to mention others…this team will be back. It’s sad that it’s the first time I’ve mentioned most of those names in this post, because they had so little to do with the outcome of the game on Sunday.