Brock Purdy Says You Can Blame Niners' Lousy Season On Fatigue

One of the bigger letdown teams of the 2024 NFL season was the San Francisco 49ers. 

After a trip to the Super Bowl to cap off the 2023 season and a trip to the NFC Championship the year before that, the Niners failed to make it to playoffs for the first time since 2020.

But what was with the extreme drop-off?

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According to starting quarterback Brock Purdy, during an appearance on the Built 4 More podcast, fatigue was to blame.

"And then last year, man, guys were tired," Purdy said on the podcast, per 49ers Webzone. "That season is no joke, and when you go from July of training and everything, all the way to the end of February, and then you really get five weeks off or so [until] you've got to report back, and then you're going again, guys are tired. They're still beat up, their bodies."

Brock Purdy explained that a major reason for the San Francisco 49ers struggles in 2024 was fatigue. (Photo by Brooke Sutton/Getty Images)

I feel like this gets overlooked a lot. Good teams that make deep runs into the postseason a few years in a row can sometimes find themselves playing nearly an entire extra season's worth of games within about four or five years.

It happens in every sport, but that's the price you pay for success, I suppose.

Still, knowing that the extra mileage is the byproduct of success doesn't make it any easier to deal with.

"For these guys that are getting older, it's not easy," Purdy said. "And then last year, we just had a lot of things go crazy, like with injuries and whatnot."

We'll see if the Niners can turn it around this coming season, but it sounds like a full offseason of rest will do well for them.