The 49ers got Brock Purdy back after a two-week absence, but turnovers and missed opportunities were too much to overcome in losing to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
Now the 49ers are 3-1 and headed to Los Angeles on a short week for Thursday night’s showdown against the Rams, who also are 3-1 after rallying past the Colts on Sunday.
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) runs with the ball while looking for an open receiver in the second quarter of their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
It was the first game without star defensive end Nick Bosa, who suffered a knee injury in last Sunday’s 16-15 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
Purdy passed for 309 yards and two touchdowns, but completed 22 of 38 attempts and was intercepted twice. He also fumbled once. Christian McCaffrey caught six passes for 92 yards and rushed 17 times for 49 yards. Rickey Pearsall had four catches for 46 yards before leaving the game after aggravating a knee injury.
Here’s what the Niners had to say about the loss:
Kyle Shanahan
On the team’s energy level:
I thought our energy was fine. I think rhythm was tough, probably with the four turnovers, and I think we had one punt in each half. It’s tough to overcome those four turnovers, and then you give up a punt return for a touchdown, and then we didn’t get any. (But) still had a chance to win that, had the ball with two and a half minutes left, down five, I believe, around the 50 yard-line. But then had another turnover.
On Purdy’s play:
We’ve all got to do better. He had some good plays today, but we all got to do better today.
On Purdy being rusty after missing two weeks:
I saw some inconsistency with our whole offense. We moved the ball, but really killed ourself on four different turnovers. Two were fumbles and two were picks. One was off a tip. One was just out of reach of Christian (McCaffrey), is what it looked like.
On challenging a 3rd and 15 call in the first half:
I thought it had a chance to be reversible. So we took our shot on it. It was a huge momentum change there. And thought it was worth taking it.
On 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and Jags head coach Liam Coen exchanging words after the game, presumably about Saleh suggesting Jacksonville steals signs:
(Saleh) tried it up, but I don’t see what happened, so I’m not sure. Don’t think you should be that sensitive about it. But is what it is . I’m not to worry about it.
On the severity of Rickey Pearsall’s knee injury:
We’re not sure yet.
On if there is anything the special teams can do better:
Yeah, tackle the guy.
On Upton Stout’s interception, which was wiped out when he was called for defensive pass interference:
It looked like a hell of a play.
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan talks to NFL referee Clete Blakeman (34) in the second quarter of their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
On the defense’s first game without injured Nick Bosa:
I have to watch the tape, and I know we didn’t get any sacks and stuff, but, you know, I thought their main thing was they ran the ball. They got some explosives in the run game, especially, I think they got a 50 yard or something like that. So I think that is tough to generate pass rush whey (they) are depending on the run like that. And it looked like they had way too many quick throws that that we need to be more competitive on. The quarterback got the ball out of his hands fast, and when you do that, there’s not many opportunities for sacks.
On the Jaguars being a trap game with the game against the Rams on Thursday:
We didn’t think it was a trap game at all. We knew they were a good team, and we knew we’d have to play really well, and regardless of what we did playing-wise, when you have four turnovers and get zero, that’s kind of obsolete, but you can’t let one become two. We got a game here in four days. Guys got to get home, get to sleep, start recovering right away, and we’ll get the players in on Tuesday.
On 11 games without an interception dating to last season:
We got to catch one. We’ve had our hands on, to me, at least one each game. When we get an opportunity to do it, we got to make sure to come down with it.
On the not scoring in the red zone:
We had two chances in the red zone that I believe we should have scored on. We didn’t get it done, but I believe it was there.
On Purdy’s five turnovers in two games:
It’s two games, so there’s no absolute to what the problem is. Turnovers happen.
On if it was a strategy to suggest the Jaguars steal signs and get their coaching staff angry:
Yeah, really, we don’t totally care if coaches are pissed off. I mean, that’s has no effect on a game. So I think Saleh was paying him a big compliment what they’re good at doing. It’s not illegal. Said nothing is illegal about it. I think when you use the word sign stealing and what headlines get with those type of words, I think then the perception of that becomes wrong and I don’t think that was the goal.
On any updates to try and trade or sign another defensive lineman to replace Bosa:
Yeah, you don’t replace Bosa.
Brock Purdy
On the four offensive turnovers:
I mean, we can’t do it, it’s the NFL, and it starts with me. Throwing better balls and being smart with the ball … and I just got to be better. But outside of that, like, as an offense, like, it’s something that we harp on every single day, and our team knows it: offense needs to protect the ball, defense needs to go take it. That’s our thing. And so today, the offense we just, we didn’t succeed in that area. It hurts. It’s the NFL man. If you give the ball away like that, teams are going to capitalize on it, and Jaguars did so.
On how he felt physically:
I felt good. Thought I was able to go out and play quarterback and give our team a chance. So that’s that.
On his mechanics possibly being a little off because of his toe injury:
I’m not really sure. I think just getting back out there and throwing and getting into a rhythm, you know, being down two weeks, coming back and feeling out my body and everything, obviously, how my toe feels. And so honestly, I don’t know the answer to that, but I’m gonna watch this film, look at my mechanics and be real with myself and try to fix that.
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) walks off the field after fumbling the ball in the fourth quarter of their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025. The Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the San Francisco 49ers 26-21. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
On pounding the grass in frustration after his fourth quarter fumble:
(It was) just the whole thing, you know, for us to turn the ball over like that throughout the game, and then have a chance to win the game at the end, our defense just played their butt off and gave us a chance. And then, you know, we get the ball rolling, and then we had an (opportunity) to possibly take a shot and go deep and and then obviously, the ball goes on the ground. And I just, I was mad over everything, the opportunity we had right there to get back in the game, what we had done all day, for myself with the ball. Just frustrated in the moment, for sure
On not scoring touchdowns in red zone situations:
It’s tight windows. And, you know, you’ve got to capitalize when there’s an opportunity down there in the red zone. Those are crucial plays and drives. And, you know, obviously we can settle for a field goal and be smart with the ball, but at the same time, like, if there’s an opportunity to score, we’ve got to do that. Especially pull away and to put pressure on the other team, so that’s the stuff that we have to be better at as an offense, and start with quarterback, with myself. We’ve got to be better.
Speaker 5 3:14
So voting question, when it comes to how you felt getting back out there, did you feel that you were kind of settling back into being in game time action, and maybe that contributed at all to, like, the mistakes that were made, and then you had some new faces out there that have become what you know that are now wide receivers with you guys that weren’t out there when you were healthy. Did that at all? I know Kendrick talked about the fact that he kind of blamed himself for dropping the ball. Do you think either of those things kind of contributed
On chemistry with a largely new group of receivers:
We’re in the NFL, you can go out, practice, get our reps in and go out in the game and get ready to roll. There’s no other excuse. We’ve just got to keep moving together, and, you know, making sure the operation, the plays, we’re playing together, those are things that we’re just going to have to continue to grow together with. It’s nothing really more than that, but we’ll be just fine. I know it’s early in the season, and this one sucks, but we’re going to learn from our mistakes. We got a quick turnaround, and we’ll be ready to roll.
On a short week to prepare for the Rams:
Any Thursday night game is always a little tough when you only have, you know, three days, really, to get ready and let your body get back into it and try to heal up quick and then go out and perform and win an NFL game. It’s not easy, but I know we can do it. We’ve done before, and we’re all hungry. The vibe in that locker room is we just want to get out and play again and clean clean things up. So we’re gonna take it one day at a time.
Fred Warner
On the play of the defense:
We took too long to get going. That first half was, was not good enough. You know, the explosive runs, leaky yardage. I think in the second half it was, it was better, but still not up to our standard. You know, guys need to know where they’re fitting, getting on and off, blocks, making tackles, wrapping (up). We obviously need to be better on that going into this week.
On the potential of it being a trap game:
No, not at all. I think, you know, that’s a great football team right there. And we didn’t play good enough to win that game at all. You know, the fact that we were even still in that game, you know, down five, with an opportunity to win it. Having been down 4-0 at that point in the turnover battle (and allowing) the special teams touchdown, you would have thought that we’d be getting blown out by 20 to 30 at that point, right?
On bouncing back:
We gotta find ways on defense to take the ball away. We gotta play way better run defense. And luckily, it’s a short week, so we get to correct that right away.
On playing without Bosa:
Obviously we knew the challenges without having Nick out there. But I wouldn’t say there was a certain feel out there that was noticeable. I mean, of course you want one of your best players to be out there, but, I don’t know if they game planned us any different. … If we play together, all 11 on the field, we’ll get exactly what we need.
Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Travis Hunter (12) leaps to catch a pass against the San Francisco 49ers in the second quarter of their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group
On how the team should react to the loss:
Short term memory. You’ve got to put it behind you, but you need to learn from ‘why did we lose this game?’ … We’ve got to clean things up on all three phases, and we’ll give ourselves plenty of chances to win going forward.
This is the first game The team played without Nick. How do you feel like the team came from generating pressure without him?
Christian McCaffrey
On what’s next for the offense:
I think just move on, you know? We lost today. We didn’t play good enough. We made a bunch of mistakes all over the field and still had a chance to win, you know? With an early (week) game coming up, you just correct the mistakes. And a lot of these mistakes are super uncharacteristic, and we gotta, just look ourselves in the mirror and move on, because it’s a quick turnaround. It was just a bad game all around and exited to move on from it.
On red zone struggles:
I think overall, we’re close. We got to gel a little bit better together, but we are close. This is a tight, tight league, and the room for error is very slim. All the mistakes are correctable. There’s little things here and there that once we start rolling, we can start getting going again. I’m excited for that.
On how the team will handle its first loss of the season:
I’ve never been a part of an undefeated team. I think one team has. You lose in this league, and when you lose, it’s about how you respond. Everybody in that locker room has lost before. Everyone in the locker room’s maybe not played their best, and as a team, we’ve not played our best, but the beauty is we play in four days. With quick turnarounds, you just flush it and move on and get better. … You can’t hang your head. You got to just learn from the tape. Whether you’re young or old, you learn from the tape and keep moving and get better and come out ready to roll on Thursday.
San Francisco 49ers fans cheer for their team in the first quarter of their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
On the struggles of the run game:
We’re close. It’s not good on paper, and I put a lot of that on me. It takes all 11 to run the ball. But we are close, and I feel really confident in our guys, and we just got to keep truckin’.
On the turnovers:
It happens. At the end of the day, we turned the ball over four times and still had a chance to win at the end there. So you can’t harp on anything that’s happened in the past, whether it’s good or bad. From a player’s mindset, it’s next play. You’re fight or flight in a game and so your emotions can’t get too high and can’t get too down, because you never know what play could be the one that changes it. You’ve just got to keep your head in.
On if Purdy was still not fully healthy
I didn’t get the sense at all. We, myself included, had a lot of drops for him too. You know, when you have those kind of plays it can get put on the quarterback. But I thought he did a great job out there.