San Francisco 49ers' Christian McCaffrey laments QB injury woe in NFC Championship loss
- Harrison Discombe
- 30 January 2023
San Francisco 49ers' injury-plagued regular season turned into an NFC Championship nightmare as both their active quarterbacks were injured in the 31-7 defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Rookie seventh-round pick Brock Purdy was forced to leave the game with an elbow injury following a Haason Reddick sack-fumble on the 49ers' first offensive drive.
Replacement Josh Johnson lasted until just the third quarter before being taken out of the affair with a concussion.
"It sucked," 49ers' running back Christian McCaffrey said of losing Purdy to injury early in the game.
"You never want to see any of your teammates get hurt and it's obviously especially tough with the quarterback position. You're never out of the fight though and we still believed, we just didn't have enough in the end.
"I wish we had another shot at it with everybody available but that's life, that's the way it goes."
Following two interceptions, six penalties and an injury to their starting quarterback, the 49ers were fortunate to find themselves trailing by just 14 points at the break.
Things would only get worse in the third quarter, however, as Purdy's replacement Johnson, who was only signed to the 49ers roster in December following an injury to Jimmy Garoppolo, who himself replaced the injured QB Trey Lance, was forced to leave the game through concussion after a hit by Ndamukong Suh.
"We go into every game confident," McCaffrey said.
"We believe we can win every game and even when guys go down injured, there's still a belief in the huddle we can win. It's just unfortunate when you lose both quarterbacks who have suited up for the day."
McCaffrey, who scored San Francisco's only touchdown on the night with a bruising 23-yard rush, joined the 49ers after week six of this year via a blockbuster trade.
The former Carolina Panther has gone from strength-to-strength in Shanahan's offense, which improved drastically in almost every metric following the arrival of the star running back
"I'm unbelievably grateful for the way this team took me in," McCaffrey continued.
"From the coaches and ownership to the players, it feels like a family. I'm grateful for everyone in that locker room.
"It was a very special year. There's a reason this team has a shot (to win the Super Bowl) every year and I know why now. The fight that's in the locker room is amazing.
"It's unfortunate that it happened the way it did today because I feel like those guys deserved a real shot but this is a tough game and sometimes it doesn't go your way."
