Two weeks into the 2024 season, and the 49ers are already feeling some of the strain of the high expectations the team is carrying after last year’s Super Bowl run and this offseason’s spending spree. Week 1 went swimmingly, with a drubbing of the Jets on Monday Night Football, but Week 2 saw the 49ers taken down by former backup quarterback Sam Darnold, now with the Vikings, in a 23-17 road loss.
The play of the game was, no doubt, a 97-yard touchdown hurl from Darnold to star receiver Justin Jefferson, a ball that Darnold threw about 50 yards with Jefferson being defended by safeties Ji’Ayir Brown and George Odum. Jefferson got by Brown to make the catch and finish off the play with a lengthy run to the end zone.
And in what might be an ominous sign for a team whose championship window might not be open much longer, there was internal strife over the play after the game.
That’s according to San Francisco Chronicle insider Michael Silver, who quoted an anonymous player taking a shot at the team’s safeties.
As Silver wrote in describing the play, which put the Vikings up, 10-0: “Said one 49ers defender, ‘Sam knew who was in (the game) — from last year.’ His meaning: Darnold knew how to exploit Brown, and possibly Odum. Ouch.”
49ers ‘Loved’ Having Sam Darnold on Board
Certainly, on one level, the game was a validation for Darnold, who is off to a 2-0 start in Minnesota after having rebooted his career with the 49ers. Darnold was signed as a backup last season, and was considered a high-level backup at that—remember, starter Brock Purdy had injured his elbow in the 49ers’ playoff loss to Philadelphia the previous January, and there was an expectation that the 49ers No. 2 might have to start a few games to open the year.
That wound up not being the case, though, as Purdy returned in time for Week 1. Darnold did start one game for the 49ers, in Week 18, a loss to the Rams.
Coach Kyle Shanahan had been complimentary of Darnold heading into Week 2.
“Loved having Sam here, he was an awesome guy,” Shanahan told reporters, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “He’s been that way everywhere he’s been. And we found it out personally here. But always liked Sam before he got here. Just his talent level from college and what you’d seen in NFL and was exactly as good as advertised.
“He’s such a good athlete, so tough, can make any throw. And really enjoyed working with him. I thought he got better throughout the year.
Brock Purdy: ‘It’s as Simple as Executing’
Unfortunately for the 49ers, Darnold seems to have gotten better in the offseason, too, though the ability to work with Jefferson certainly helps. Darnold was 17-for-26 passing with 268 yards—more than a third coming on the one Jefferson throw—as well as two touchdowns and one interception.
Purdy, in fact, had better numbers than Darnold, with 319 yards on 28-for-36 passing. But he threw an interception (which led to a touchdown for Minnesota) and had a lost fumble. Those turnovers, along with a blocked punt and a Vikings goal-line stand in which the 49ers failed to convert a first-and-goal from the 4-yard line, were part of a long line of costly miscues for San Francisco.
After the game, Purdy downplayed concerns over the loss.
“I mean, it’s just coming out and it’s as simple as executing,” Purdy told reporters. “We’ve got the players, we’ve got the scheme, we’ve got what it takes, and it’s dropping back and executing. Knowing where my answers are at and getting the balls into my guys hands and drop stepping and getting first downs, and it’s all of that.
“It’s football, man.”
