The San Francisco 49ers found a way to win without Brock Purdy again on Thursday night, and head coach Kyle Shanahan was apparently angry that oddsmakers did not believe his team could do it.
Mac Jones had another outstanding game while leading the 49ers to a 26-23 overtime win in Week 5 against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Jones, who improved to 3-0 as a starter this season, went 33-of-49 for 342 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Very few people expected the Niners to pull off the win. When it looked like Purdy was in line to start, the Rams were a 3-point favorite over San Francisco with most sportsbooks. The spread moved to around 8.5 points once Jones was named the starter for the game.
In his postgame press conference, Jones revealed that Shanahan was very bothered by the 49ers being huge underdogs.
“Kyle had came up to me and he was pi—d about it. He’s like, ‘Dude, I can’t believe they moved us to underdogs again,’ or whatever, more (underdogs). I’m like, ‘I don’t know what that means really, but yeah let’s go kill them,'” Jones told reporters.
Both the 49ers and Rams were 3-1 entering Thursday night’s game. Jones is the one who really should have been offended by the shift in point spread, as he has played extremely well while filling in for Purdy this season.
The Niners jumped out to a 14-0 lead early on and were up 20-7 midway through the third quarter. L.A. staged a comeback, but Jones then put together a field goal drive at the start of overtime and San Francisco’s defense came up with a big stop. If the point spread helped motivate Shanahan, the Niners should be grateful for it.
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