The San Francisco 49ers suffered some bad luck in their 31-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, but they were also beaten pretty soundly.
Quarterback Brock Purdy suffered a serious elbow injury on the team’s first possession of the game. After backup Josh Johnson suffered a concussion on the team’s first possession of the second half, Purdy had to re-enter the game despite hardly being able to throw the ball.
Though Philly beat San Francisco easily after Purdy suffered the injury, an unnamed 49ers player saw things differently.
The San Francisco Chronicle’s Mike Silver published a story on Sunday after the game. He quoted an anonymous 49ers player who felt like the fix was in from the NFL.
“It felt like once Purdy got hurt, someone at the league called down and said, ‘Make sure the Eagles get to the Super Bowl, and not them,'” an anonymous 49ers player told Silver.
That’s the kind of quote we would expect to see from maybe a Bengals player after all the close calls in that game. That’s not what you expect to see after a 31-7 game.
Quarterback or not, the Eagles’ offense rushed for 148 yards and 4 touchdowns. Their defense caused three fumbles.
Sure, it might have been a much different game had Purdy not been hurt. But to suggest some sort of fix was in after Purdy got hurt sounds ignorant. No, it’s just that the 49ers on a 4th-string QB can’t stand up to the No. 1 team in the conference. It’s not any more complicated than that.
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