Second-year San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is coming off the worst performance of his young career in a loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
He threw two late interceptions with the game on the line Monday night. It led to San Francisco losing its second consecutive game after a 5-0 start to the season.
Purdy’s status for Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals is now firmly up in the air. According to 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, the former seventh-round pick started showing concussion symptoms during the flight back to the Bay Area from Minneapolis earlier this week. He’s in the concussion protocol and did not practice on Wednesday.
Brock Purdy stats (2023): 68% completion, 1,668 yards, 13 total TD, 3 INT, 107.2 QB rating
If Purdy is unable to pass through the NFL concussion protocol in time for Sunday afternoon’s game against the Bengals, veteran journeyman Sam Darnold would get the start for San Francisco.
It would be a less-than-ideal scenario for a team that has relied a great deal on Purdy to manage games and do his thing under center.
Darnold, 26, signed with San Francisco this past offseason as a free agent. He ultimately beat out Trey Lance for the QB2 job behind Purdy. The former No. 3 pick from USC has thrown 61 touchdowns against 55 interceptions throughout his career.