SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Brock Purdy's second full season as an NFL starting quarterback came to a disappointing finish for the San Francisco 49ers.
Purdy threw two interceptions in the second half of a 40-34 loss to Detroit on Monday night before leaving the game with a right elbow injury that will likely sideline him for a meaningless season finale.
Coach Kyle Shanahan said Tuesday that Purdy had a bruise and nerve inflammation, but no long-term issues in his surgically repaired right elbow. Purdy tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow in the 2022 NFC title game and underwent a lengthy rehabilitation.
The good news for the 49ers (6-10) is that the injury shouldn't impact Purdy this offseason.
“I’m relieved, but I wasn’t too concerned,” Shanahan said. “I wasn’t too worried about it with the information we had last night. So it was good to just hear the same thing today.”
After finishing fourth in MVP voting in 2023 when he had one of the most prolific passing seasons in franchise history, Purdy's performance on an injury-riddled offense took a step back this season.
That showed up again against Detroit when he followed up a near-flawless first half with the two costly mistakes that led to turnovers in the second half of another loss.
“I think he’s handled this year head on," Shanahan said. “He hasn’t ran from anything. He’s attacked everything, plays as hard as he can and works as hard as he can. ... He comes in and always on Mondays and Tuesdays and faces the truth of everything and comes back and grinds and tries to get better each week. ... I thought last night, he was disappointed in the turnovers and he was disappointed in the loss.”
With Purdy likely out for the finale, Shanahan said he hasn't decided whether Brandon Allen or Joshua Dobbs would start at Arizona on Sunday. Allen started a Week 12 loss at Green Bay when Purdy was out with a shoulder injury, but Dobbs was the backup on Monday night and led a late touchdown drive.
First-half offense. San Francisco started fast by scoring TDs on the first three drives of the game, getting two TD throws and a TD run from Purdy. It marked just the third time this season that the Niners scored a touchdown on their first possession and the third time since 2000 that they scored TDs on each of their first three drives.
Generating takeaways. The 49ers were unable to take the ball away and have struggled mightily in that regard in the second half of the season. San Francisco has a league-low two takeaways in eight games since returning from the bye week.
WR Ricky Pearsall. The first-round rookie had a breakthrough game near the end of a difficult season. Pearsall had eight catches for 141 yards and a TD, recording the most yards receiving for a Niners rookie since Jerry Rice had 241 against the Rams in 1985. Pearsall, who missed the first half of the season after being shot in the chest about a week before the season opener, had six catches for 68 yards the previous six games.
K Jake Moody. The second-year kicker missed two long field goals and an extra point. His nine missed FGs are the most for a Niners kicker since David Akers had 13 in 2012. Moody is 4 for 12 on FGs from at least 40 yards since returning from a high ankle sprain in Week 10.
DE Leonard Floyd (shoulder) and LB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (calf) are both day to day. ... OL Spencer Burford (calf) is not expected to return this week, meaning newcomers Charlie Heck and Austen Pleasants will likely split the snaps at left tackle again on Sunday. ... CB Charvarius Ward is expected back this week after missing the game for personal reasons.
52.9 — Purdy has struggled when down a score in the fourth quarter or overtime game over his career with his 52.9 rating in the regular season or playoffs in that situation ranking 151st out of 160 QBs with at least 50 attempts in that situation since 2000.
The 49ers visit Arizona on Sunday.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy answers questions after an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the first half of an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) walks off the field after a loss to the Detroit Lions in an NFL football game Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) is tackled by Detroit Lions safety Brian Branch (32) during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
An Army soldier who died in an explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck at the Trump hote l in Las Vegas left a note saying it was stunt to serve as “wakeup call” for the country’s ills, investigators said Friday.
Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old Green Beret from Colorado Springs, Colorado, also wrote in the note that he needed to “cleanse my mind” of the lives lost of people he knew and “the burden of the lives I took.”
Livelsberger apparently harbored no ill will toward President-elect Donald Trump, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officials said.
“Although this incident is more public and more sensational than usual, it ultimately appears to be a tragic case of suicide involving a heavily decorated combat veteran who was struggling with PTSD and other issues,” FBI Special Agent In Charge Spencer Evans said at a news conference.
The explosion caused minor injuries to seven people but virtually no damage to the hotel. Authorities said Friday that Livelsberger acted alone.
“This was not a terrorist attack, it was a wakeup call. Americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence. What better way to get my point across than a stunt with fireworks and explosives,” Livelsberger wrote in a letter found by authorities who released only excerpts of it.
Investigators identified the Tesla driver — who was burned beyond recognition — as Livelsberger by a tattoo and by comparing DNA from relatives. The cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, according to coroners officials.
Pentagon officials have declined to say whether Livelsberger may have been suffering from mental health issues but say they have turned over his medical records to police.
Authorities excerpted the messages from two letters Livelsberger wrote using a cellphone note application, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said.
The letters covered a range of topics including political grievances, domestic issues and societal issues, Koren said.
Tesla engineers, meanwhile, helped extract data from the Cybertruck for investigators, including Livelsberger’s path between charging stations from Colorado through New Mexico and Arizona and on to Las Vegas, Koren said.
“We still have a large volume of data to go through,” Koren said. “There’s thousands if not millions of videos and photos and documents and web history and all of those things that need to be analyzed.”
The new details came as investigators sought to determine Livelsberger’s motive, including whether he sought to make a political point with the Tesla and the hotel bearing the president-elect’s name.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has recently become a member of Trump’s inner circle. Neither Trump nor Musk was in Las Vegas early Wednesday, the day of the explosion. Both had attended Trump’s New Year’s Eve party at his South Florida estate.
Musk spent an estimated $250 million during the presidential campaign to support Trump, who has named Musk, the world’s richest man, to co-lead a new effort to find ways to cut the government’s size and spending.
Investigators suspect Livelsberger may have been planning a more damaging attack but the steel-sided vehicle absorbed much of the force from the crudely built explosive.
Investigators said previously that Livelsberger shot himself inside the Tesla Cybertruck packed with fireworks just before it exploded outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year's Day.
“It’s not lost on us that it’s in front of the Trump building, that it’s a Tesla vehicle, but we don’t have information at this point that definitively tells us or suggests it was because of this particular ideology,” Spencer Evans, the Las Vegas FBI’s special agent in charge, said Thursday.
Asked Friday about whether Livelsberger had been struggling with any mental health issues that may have prompted his suicide, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters that “the department has turned over all medical records to local law enforcement.”
A law enforcement official said investigators learned through interviews that he may have gotten into a fight with his wife about relationship issues shortly before he rented the Tesla in Colorado on Saturday and bought the guns. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Among the charred items found inside the truck were a handgun at Livelsberger’s feet, another firearm, fireworks, a passport, a military ID, credit cards, an iPhone and a smartwatch, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Sheriff Kevin McMahill said. Authorities said both guns were purchased legally.
Livelsberger served in the Green Berets, highly trained special forces who work to counter terrorism abroad and train partners. He had served in the Army since 2006, rising through the ranks with a long career of overseas assignments, deploying twice to Afghanistan and serving in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo, the Army said. He had recently returned from an overseas assignment in Germany and was on approved leave when he died, according to a U.S. official.
He was awarded a total of five Bronze Stars, including one with a valor device for courage under fire, a combat infantry badge and an Army Commendation Medal with valor.
Authorities searched a townhouse in Livelsberger's hometown of Colorado Springs Thursday as part of the investigation. Neighbors said the man who lived there had a wife and a baby.
Cindy Helwig, who lives diagonally across a narrow street separating the homes, said she last saw the man she knew as Matthew about two weeks ago when he asked her if he could borrow a tool he needed to fix an SUV he was working on.
“He was a normal guy,” said Helwig, who said she last saw the wife and baby earlier this week.
The explosion of the truck, packed with firework mortars and camp fuel canisters, came hours after 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter early on New Year’s Day, killing at least 14 people before being shot to death by police. The FBI says they believe Jabbar acted alone and that it is being investigated as a terrorist attack.
Copp, Richer and Long reported from Washington. Contributing were Associated Press journalists Rio Yamat, Ken Ritter and Ty ONeil in Las Vegas; Colleen Slevin in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren speaks during a press conference regarding developments of a New Year's Eve truck explosion Friday, Jan. 3, 2025 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill speaks during a press conference regarding developments of a New Year's Eve truck explosion Friday, Jan. 3, 2025 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Rio Yamat)
A car drives out of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
Investigators search a townhouse in northeastern Colorado Springs, Colo., Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, as the investigation connected to the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside President-elect Donald Trump's Las Vegas hotel continues. (Parker Seibold /The Gazette via AP)
Investigators search the garbage outside of a townhouse in northeastern Colorado Springs, Colo., Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, as the investigation connected to the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside President-elect Donald Trump's Las Vegas hotel continues. (Parker Seibold /The Gazette via AP)
This undated photo, provided by the Las Vegas Police Department shows a passport belonging to Matthew Livelsberger, found inside a Tesla Cybertruck involved in an explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Police Department via AP)
A Tesla Cybertruck pulls into Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
This undated photo, provided by the Las Vegas Police Department shows items found inside a Tesla Cybertruck involved in an explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Police Department via AP)
This undated photo, provided by the Las Vegas Police Department shows a weapon found inside a Tesla Cybertruck involved in an explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Police Department via AP)
This undated photo, provided by the Las Vegas Police Department shows the Tesla Cybertruck involved in an explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Police Department via AP)
This undated photo, provided by the Las Vegas Police Department shows an ID belonging to Matthew Livelsberger, found inside a Tesla Cybertruck involved in an explosion outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Police Department via AP)
