We’re only midway through the first quarter of today’s NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles, but San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is already feeling the heat from fans.
On the Eagles’ first possession, they marched right now the field for a relatively easy touchdown. But there appeared to be at least one or two plays that Shanahan could have challenged that might have been overturned and at least stalled the Eagles’ momentum if he had bothered to throw the flag.
Things went from bad to worse on the 49ers’ opening drive as two Eagles pass rushers easily got to quarterback Brock Purdy, forcing a fumble that the Eagles easily recovered and injuring Purdy in the process. The 49ers didn’t even have offensive linemen blocking those two pass rushers.
As a result, 49ers fans are already ripping Shanahan for “choking” the game away early on:
That poor blocking in the first quarter led to an elbow injury to Purdy that he has yet to come back into the game from.
If Purdy doesn’t wind up playing the rest of this game, Shanahan will have a pretty good excuse for potentially losing. But one way or another, Shanahan is going to get roasted for how this game got started.
The game is being played on FOX.