HENDERSON, Nev. — It was the day Christian McCaffrey made his 49ers debut with just one day of practice and coincided with an obscure seventh-round draft pick named Brock Purdy playing in his first NFL regular season game.
Mostly, it was the day the Kansas City Chiefs came to town and beat up the 49ers in their home stadium.
The good news for the 49ers? McCaffrey and Purdy were just getting started.
For all the talk about the previous Super Bowl played between the teams following the 2019 season, a better comparison for Sunday’s purposes in Super Bowl LVIII was in Week 7 of 2022. Eight current 49ers suited up for the 31-20 loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV in Miami. There are 23 current 49ers who played in the regular season game last season.
“It was kind of a man-check,” linebacker Dre Greenlaw said Wednesday at the Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort. “Sometimes you think you’re doing good and you play good teams and they tell you you’re not as good as you think you are. They got the best of us.
“Everything about that game is relevant. It’s a lot of the same guys, the same scheme.”
The 49ers had yet to find their footing after reverting to Jimmy Garoppolo when Trey Lance was lost for the season in Week 2. They were 3-3 and the Chiefs were 4-2.
The final score was 44-23, the most points the 49ers had given up since a 48-46 win over New Orleans in 2019. Kansas City had six plays of 25 yards or longer with a long of 57 and averaged 9.1 yards per snap.
The 49ers trailed 14-13 at the half and were within 28-23 with 14:16 to play on a 15-yard pass from Garoppolo to George Kittle.
Then the roof caved in. Over the next eight minutes, the Chiefs scored the last 16 points with Patrick Mahomes throwing a 45-yard touchdown pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster with 6:05 to play.
“I remember we were within a touchdown and then a short time later we were down by 21 points,” 49ers cornerback Charvarius “Mooney” Ward said. “I think they humbled us a little bit. They came in our backyard and put 44 points on us.”
Cornerback Deommodore Lenoir said the one-sided nature of the fourth quarter left a lasting impact.
“I felt that was the only game we really lost as far as someone beating us,” Lenoir said. “The other losses weren’t like that. The Chiefs came in and beat us.”
Mahomes finished 25 of 34 for 423 yards and three touchdowns and Kansas City averaged 5.3 yards per carry, victimizing the 49ers on the perimeter on fly sweeps and crack toss plays.
“That was a long day,” inside linebacker Fred Warner said. “We gave up some things and they exposed some holes we had in our defense. From then on we had to shore things up. I’m sure they’re looking at the tape right now, looking for areas to expose as well.”
After that game, the 49ers reeled off 10 consecutive wins to close out the regular season as well as two in the playoffs before falling to Philadelphia in the NFC Championship Game when Purdy’s throwing elbow was injured.
The loss to the Chiefs reminded edge rusher Nick Bosa of the 49ers’ Week 8 game this season, a 31-17 loss to Cincinnati. Following a bye, the 49ers won their next six to take charge in the NFC West.
“I kind of equate it to the Bengals game this year where we didn’t have a good showing and had a reality check and played well the rest of the year,” Bosa said.
Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks was with Carolina last season and DeMeco Ryans was running the 49ers’ defense, but he’s watched that game as well as others involving the Chiefs.
“I can’t even tell you the amount of games I’ve watched in the last week,” Wilks said. “You go back and look at things that created problems, what they did well, any comparison or consistency that you may see that keeps showing up, maybe in the red zone or goal line. You prepare yourself because you know you’re going to see it again.”
Two players who will have a huge impact on Super Bowl LVIII made their debuts on an otherwise forgettable day.
The 49ers acquired McCaffrey for second-, third-, and fourth-round picks in 2023 and a fifth-round pick in 2024 just three days before the Chiefs game. Coach Kyle Shanahan had no intention of playing him, but McCaffrey was insistent and learned a handful of plays and was utilized right away.
McCaffrey played 23 snaps, carried the ball eight times for 38 yards, and caught two passes for 24 yards.
“I remember Christian showed up to the Friday practice, that was the first time I met him,” fullback Kyle Juszczyk said. “He had zero reps, started, and did an incredible job learning what he could. In the fourth quarter, I was on the sidelines and I taught Christian the two-minute drill and he learned it in five minutes with just me speaking to him. The guy’s incredibly gifted, but also very smart, very cerebral.”
When the game got out of hand, Shanahan gave Purdy his first work in a regular-season game. He played the last 10 snaps and completed 4 of 9 passes for 66 yards and an end zone interception over the head of Jauan Jennings that was intercepted by Juan Thornhill.
“I’m not going to lie, it was going pretty fast,” Purdy said. “It’s my first game and I’m dropping back and there’s Chris Jones and Frank Clark. My mind was racing and I was trying to get through reads pretty quickly. There were some plays I was able to get into a rhythm, but I sailed one over Jauan’s head for an interception.”
It wasn’t until six weeks later that Purdy would play again — this time to take over for Garoppolo after a fractured foot ended his season on Dec. 3 against the Miami Dolphins. The 49ers won 33-17 and since then the game manager/system quarterback has won 17 of 21 regular season starts plus four more in the post-season in which he went wire-to-wire.
“I learned from it and when Week 13 came around those reps actually did help me be prepared for my opportunity,” Purdy said.