De’Vondre Campbell’s choice to leave his team during the game took attention away from the larger problems for the San Francisco 49ers.
An offense that was one of the most powerful in the NFL during their Super Bowl run last season has been mostly average in 2024 and was particularly poor in a 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night, which nearly ended San Francisco’s playoff chances.
San Francisco (6-8) managed just 191 yards, the fewest in a regular-season game in eight years under coach Kyle Shanahan, and its lowest point total since Shanahan became head coach in 2017. The game, which was played in the rain, will be remembered mainly for Campbell leaving the field in the middle of the game with a towel covering his head.
The game also saw San Francisco go three-and-out on four drives as Brock Purdy struggled to find his receivers. Deebo Samuel dropped a possible touchdown pass after complaining earlier in the week about not getting enough touches.
Purdy then missed Ricky Pearsall on an underthrown deep pass in the fourth quarter, before throwing an interception in the end zone that ended the 49ers’ attempt at a comeback.
“I just feel like I had a lot of plays left out there that I could have made for our team,” Purdy said. “I thought the defense and special teams played so good. That’s what’s hurting me is I just feel like I failed the team. I could have been better for our offense and we could have put up more points.”
Scoring has been a problem for the 49ers this season, especially with key players like Christian McCaffrey and Brandon Aiyuk missing for much of the year. San Francisco is averaging 8.5 fewer points per game than it did after 14 games last season.
