The San Francisco 49ers secured a thrilling 24-21 comeback victory over the Green Bay Packers in Saturday night's Divisional Playoff at Levi's Stadium, propelled by late-game heroics from quarterback Brock Purdy. While Purdy's 12-play, 69-yard game-winning drive showcased his clutch ability, the second-year quarterback struggled leading up to that moment.
Amid a downpour, Purdy initially started the game wearing a glove but opted to play bare-handed after grappling with the wet football.
"Early on, obviously, I put on the glove for the first drive," Purdy explained. "It was coming down, and then it sprinkled, so I took it off. So I was still trying to sort of figure out what I wanted to do, and I was sort of fed up with the glove, so I just obviously was throwing like I normally do.
"Yeah, there were some times where I'm dropping back, ball's a little wet from the grass, and sort of affected some accuracy and stuff. But, dude, that's football, so I got to be better in that area."
Head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke to reporters via a conference call on Monday, addressing whether the rain affected his quarterback's performance.
"I think it did a little bit," Shanahan acknowledged. "Even just watching [Packers QB Jordan] Love, too. I watched the first play of the game that he had on a swing route, the ball slipping, throwing in front of the guy, and there's a couple that got him. So there's definitely a few that got Brock, a few that he probably just missed trying to throw around a guy so it doesn't get tipped, and a couple that he just can't explain.
"That just [happens]. Usually, you have a couple in the game, but then you had a couple more with weather, and a couple more just not being exactly on the throw, and he had a few too many of them. But he also made some hell of a throws, too. I mean, dropping some of those balls over that middle linebacker to get to [WR] Jauan [Jennings] was unbelievable."
Shanahan also highlighted this impressive throw to wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk in pretty tight coverage during the game-winning touchdown drive.
Diving catch from Aiyuk for a first
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"It was a hell of a throw and a hell of a catch that kept us out there after the drop [by tight end George Kittle on the previous play]," Shanahan said. "So he did a lot of good things, too. By no means was he perfect, but it was really cool, when we needed him to be at his best, he was. And so it gave us the best chance to win at the end."
The 49ers advanced to the NFC Championship Game for the third consecutive season. They will host the Detroit Lions at Levi's Stadium on Sunday.
