The 49ers' injury woes, specifically at quarterback, have been discussed ad nauseam by pundits and fans alike, with the blame shifting from coach Kyle Shanahan to the Philadelphia Eagles' Haason Reddick.
However, NBC Sports' Peter King believes no one person, in particular, should be blamed for Trey Lance, Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy's injuries in the 2022 NFL season.
"Total fluke," King told NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco and Jennifer Lee Chan from Super Bowl LVII's Radio Row in Phoenix on the latest episode of "49ers Talk." "The whole thing is a fluke -- it's just damn rotten luck, in my opinion, it's just the way football is sometimes."
King says that aside from Garoppolo's history with the 49ers, Lance and Purdy's injury history with San Francisco can be chalked up to being a coincidence.
Speaking on Purdy specifically, King believes the 23-year-old will not be an "injury-prone" quarterback because of his history at Iowa State of being a durable signal caller and how that carried over to the NFL.
"When you start 48 games in a place you are less talented probably 70 percent of the time than your opposition and you take that and you never go down with an injury -- of any substance anyway -- that, to me, says a lot more than a fluky elbow injury in the championship game," King concluded.
In Week 2, Lance broke his ankle against the Seattle Seahawks, which pushed Garoppolo to be the starter. Then, against the Miami Dolphins in Week 13, Garoppolo broke his foot, thus thrusting Purdy to be the primary signal-caller for the 49ers.
San Francisco 49ers
Against the Eagles in the 2023 NFC Championship Game, Purdy was hit by Reddick in what King calls "the perfect spot, in the absolute right time" and subsequently tore his UCL in his right elbow.
San Francisco then was forced to rely on Josh Johnson and even he had to leave the game after sustaining a concussion in the third quarter of the NFC title game, forcing the 49ers to send out a clearly diminished Purdy.
With so many quarterback injuries in just one season of play, it makes sense why pundits and fans might wonder what or who could be causing these injuries. Regardless, King knows that injuries happen in football and often occur at the most inopportune moments.
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As the 49ers move on from Garoppolo and look ahead to a future with either Purdy or Lance under center to start the 2023 NFL season, last season's injury woes certainly will be on fans and Shanahan's minds.
But if King is to be believed, the 49ers' quarterback injury issues are simply bad luck in a sport where one moment can spell disaster for any team.