Within the Nationwide Soccer League, you may get away with lots.
You will get away with a protection that’s content material to bend till it’s scraping the grass.
You will get away with clock administration that may break a Madden video gamer’s mind.
And apparently, you’ll be able to even get away along with your franchise quarterback getting into a fugue state and tossing three first-half interceptions, all whereas enjoying as if the sport was on fast-forward.
You will get away with all of that — each final little bit of it — and a lot extra, supplied one essential variable is met:
You might be enjoying Bryce Younger’s Carolina Panthers.
As a result of even in Brock Purdy’s worst outing since that Christmas night time catastrophe towards Baltimore again in 2023, he was nonetheless one of the best quarterback on the sector on Monday night time at Levi’s Stadium.
However Younger received’t be enjoying in January.
And if Monday’s woeful Purdy efficiency proves to be something however a one-night dalliance, neither will the 49ers.
Let’s name the 49ers’ 20-9 win what it was:
A present. Maybe even a grift.
Sure, the 49ers’ protection elevated its recreation, however the 5-foot-10 Younger hardly units a excessive bar.
And, completely, everybody else on the 49ers’ offense had an important recreation on Monday. Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, the offensive line — they had been nice. The protection? Excellent.
However the Niners stole one on nationwide tv.
A heist in plain sight.
If the Niners had it their method, this recreation wouldn’t be remembered.
As a result of the legacy of this recreation — the factor that sticks in your craw — is not going to be all the great the Niners did, however somewhat the dangerous: Purdy’s woeful, indefensible efficiency.
There is just one approach to wash the style of this recreation out of everybody’s mouth: Wins. Numerous them.
And no extra ugly ones, both.
Monday night time was a litmus take a look at for the 49ers. A victory towards Carolina was presumed — it’s the baseline requirement for being a severe franchise. That made Monday an opportunity to flex, to create some narrative momentum.
As a substitute, a very powerful participant on the sector sowed some severe doubt in the direction of the Niners’ prospects within the closing six weeks (and past).
The primary two picks? Inexcusable. Late. Underthrown. These are passes that may be intercepted whereas attempting one thing out in 7-on-7 drills in July. They can’t occur throughout a playoff push in November.
And the third decide? Positive, tip your cap to Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn for a superb play. However that play was solely doable as a result of Purdy stared down his receiver, as if he had been studying the wonderful print on a Monroney sticker throughout Toyotathon.
“Just had three throws you’d love to take back,” coach Kyle Shanahan mentioned of Purdy’s interceptions. “All three, good decisions, just a hair late on them. And when you’re a hair late on stuff, you can’t throw behind them, and he threw it behind them, and all three guys made him pay.”
Sure, that’s how interceptions work.
Who cares if the method is sweet if the opposite staff finally ends up with the ball?
The 49ers needed to revert to fundamentals (aka, cease calling cool stuff) on Monday as a result of the quarterback who was presupposed to elevate the offense — the man who, only a week in the past, did elevate the offense — grew to become a legal responsibility.
Purdy is fortunate that Ji’Ayir Brown determined to play security like a linebacker and linebacker like a security. He’s fortunate his teammates had been too gifted to let the Niners lose to a junior varsity operation like Carolina.
However right here is the truth: The nice gamers round Purdy should be luxuries, not requirements.
The period of the “game manager” is useless and buried. However we didn’t change it with an period the place swashbuckling carelessness is appropriate. The usual for quarterbacks proper now’s exceptionally excessive, however Purdy ought to meet it.
He didn’t come shut on Monday.
The optimist — and I do know you’re on the market — will take a look at this recreation and scream about “grit.”
They’ll level to Jauan Jennings shrugging off defenders or the protection bowing up within the crimson zone and say, “That’s the story. They found a way.”
They’ll level to the playoff seeding and say, “We’re in.”
And whereas these issues are factually correct, they’re spiritually hole.
The realist is aware of that Monday must swiftly be confirmed to be a weird anomaly if San Francisco desires to perform something of value this season.
As a result of the Niners performed with fireplace. They didn’t get burned as a result of the Panthers didn’t have any matches.
who has matches?
Playoff groups. Three of which the Niners will see within the closing three video games of the common season.
Even the Browns and Titans — the Niners’ subsequent two opponents — are able to placing a lightweight.
Scores and data can lie. In spite of everything, the Niners received by 11 factors Monday, and it felt like a loss.
The 49ers received away with one.
They used up their quota within the course of.
Strive that once more, and the outcome is not going to be the identical.
And that would imply this season is over earlier than the “real” season — the playoffs — even begin.
