Is toe injury impacting 49ers’ Brock Purdy? QB sounds off after 3-INT mess

Questions about San Francisco’s quarterback situation only grew louder even in the aftermath of a 20-9 win over the Panthers. Brock Purdy threw three first-half interceptions, then spent the postgame trying to separate bad mechanics from bad health as the 49ers chase another deep playoff run. Even Kyle Shanahan commented on whether he had considered swapping Purdy for McJones, to which he readily replied: No.

“The decision of going to those spots I was fine with,” Purdy said. “It’s just the execution of throwing a better ball. I feel like, really, on all of them, I needed to just drive the ball a little more, and I kept it in the air too long.” That led naturally to the next question: was his injured right toe, the plant foot on his throws, to blame for the wobbles?

“No, toe is fine,” Purdy said, per the San Francisco Chronicle. “Feels good out there. It’s really just seeing the play develop, anticipating it, and letting it rip at the end of the day. So it had nothing to do with the toe.”

Skeptics will note that Kyle Shanahan has already admitted Purdy will not be fully healthy until the offseason. Yet the quarterback has flashed his pre-injury form at times, from last week’s three-touchdown, 133.5-rating outing against Arizona to a slippery nine-yard scramble Monday that hardly looked like a guy protecting his foot.

That is why the Chronicle framed the dilemma this way: which is worse for San Francisco, Purdy being limited physically or being fully healthy and still firing three picks?

Through just four starts, he is already tied for 11th in the NFL with seven interceptions, and he tossed more in an eight-attempt stretch Monday than Matthew Stafford has in 373 throws this year.

Inside the locker room, though, nerves seem steady. Center Jake Brendel called Purdy “super stoic,” saying he has always been level-headed. Christian McCaffrey echoed that confidence, labeling him “as poised as it gets” and a true professional.

Purdy himself admitted the three straight turnovers had him feeling “a little bit of pressure,” but insisted a quarterback cannot “shrivel back” or start checking down just to avoid mistakes.

Tension also spilled over in other ways. Shanahan explained that Jauan Jennings went after Panthers safety Tre’von Moehrig postgame because Moehrig delivered a blatant low blow late in the fourth quarter.

At 8-4, the 49ers still sit firmly in the NFC race, but the margin for error is thin. Suppose Purdy’s toe truly is a non-issue. In that case, the next month becomes a test of decision-making, accuracy, and how quickly he can turn a three-interception mess into a forgettable blip on an otherwise playoff-caliber resume.

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