The loss of Brock Purdy’s Vikings led to the loss of Stephen A. Smith confidence in QB – NBC Sports Bay Area & California

The national narrative around sophomore quarterback Brock Purdy did a complete 180 after the 49ers lost their second straight game Monday night.

See Stephen A. ESPN’s Smith, who was a believer in the young quarterback, had enough to lose faith in the final pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

“I lost faith in him because I believed in him,” Smith said on “First Take” Tuesday morning. “Twenty touchdowns, just two interceptions in his first 10 regular season games. That’s what we were looking at with Brock Purdy. Yeah, you look at the system that [49ers coach] Kyle Shanahan was doing the job, but at the end of the day you looked at Brock Purdy and compared him to the other quarterbacks that were there and compared them to what they were doing and you were like, ‘This is the guy, this is the guy and this is the future.’

“I’m not saying that’s not the case yet, but I look at the speed of some of his throws, his arm strength, etc., and to say he doesn’t have the strongest arm in the world, obviously timing factors into the equation. You look at the chemistry he had.” With Deebo Samuel W [Brandon] Aiyuk and obviously Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle. But with Deebo Samuel out, and not having that reliable guy to throw the ball, it seems to have weakened him to that degree.”

Purdy had his first career two-interception game in San Francisco’s 22-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium.

The 23-year-old signal-caller has emerged as a starter for the 49ers in 2022 following season-ending injuries to former San Francisco quarterbacks Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo.

Until San Francisco’s Week 6 loss to the Cleveland Browns, Purdy had yet to lose a game he started and finished. But San Francisco’s dominant 5-0 start to the season came to a harsh reality check in Cleveland and then a second straight humbling in Minneapolis.

The good news for 49ers fans is that Purdy has never been one to reach too high or too low. Although he has experienced nothing but success in the NFL, he has never gotten ahead of himself.

But now he, and the rest of the team, will look forward and try to get back into the win column as the 49ers return home to host Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals. And maybe, just maybe, skeptics will become believers again.

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