Brock Purdy

Valuable lesson Purdy learned that will help 49ers moving forward

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The 49ers' ugly Week 6 loss to the Cleveland Browns was a learning experience for all involved and perhaps for nobody more than quarterback Brock Purdy.

The 23-year-old had the worst game of his young NFL career, completing 12 of 27 pass attempts for 125 yards and one touchdown while throwing his first interception of the season and posting an abysmal 55.3 passer rating.

Purdy joined Rich Eisen on the latest episode of "The Rich Eisen Show," where he was asked to name his biggest takeaway from the game. Purdy felt he didn't do a good enough job as a leader in the face of adversity.

"I would just say the operation, our offense is complex with stuff," Purdy said. "Just making sure if a couple of our key players go down like Deebo [Samuel] and Christian [McCaffrey], being able to help out guys who come in the huddle who maybe haven't gotten those reps at practice allowing them to be ready for play-calls and stuff like that.

"That's something that I take on me. Ray-Ray [McCloud] came in, Elijah Mitchell, JP Mason backing up Christian and Deebo. I feel like I could have done a better job of helping them out with where we're supposed to line up, the plays we have to run and things like that. Moving forward I've got to be better with that."

Even though Purdy is in his second season and still learning the intricacies of coach Kyle Shanahan's offense, he takes it upon himself as a quarterback and a leader to teach and instill confidence in other young players.

"As a quarterback in general, you know? For us to be on point and move as an offense, I just feel like there's times where we break the huddle I can be like 'Hey, you're over here.' Just remind them, little reminders," Purdy explained. "Especially on the road where the environment is crazy, sometimes tough to hear, but just being ready for those kind of moments I feel like could help them out and help them get into a groove and help build their confidence. For some reason, I feel like I take that on myself."

All three of Samuel, McCaffrey and left tackle Trent Williams are dealing with injuries and their status for San Francisco's "Monday Night Football" matchup with the Minnesota Vikings is up in the air.

If one or multiple of the 49ers' stars are unable to play, Purdy will look to step up as a leader and make sure whichever backups play are set up for success.

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