San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan called it "crushing" to lose starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo for the rest of the season after he broke his foot in Sunday's 33-17 win against the Miami Dolphins.
Garoppolo's injury came on the 49ers' eighth offensive play of the game, when he was sacked by both Jaelan Phillips and Jerome Baker to end their first drive. He stayed down, and ended up being carted off the field and promptly ruled out.
After the game it was revealed he had sustained broken bones in his foot, requiring season-ending surgery.
Starting the campaign as the third-string quarterback, Brock Purdy came in and threw two touchdown passes, managing the game efficiently before the 49ers' defense snagged a fumble-return touchdown to pull away.
Shanahan said it hurts to lose Garoppolo, but gave plenty of respect to Purdy for the performance.
"Just hearing it, it was pretty crushing," he told reporters. "We know what Jimmy has been through, how hard he's worked at this. He'll be out. He'll need surgery, broke a few things in there.
"Brock came in and made some big plays. We've got to clean some stuff up, obviously, but just throwing him in there in the heat of battle like that, [with] how much [all-out pressure] that team did, too, which you guys can see.
"We were having to change a lot of stuff on the fly, so putting a lot of pressure on [Purdy] in that way. I thought he did a hell of a job doing it. Protected the ball well, didn't have any turnovers and made some big plays too that I thought weren't there always."
The 49ers ruled out any possibility for Week 1 starter Trey Lance returning in time for a playoff run, meaning it will be Purdy the rest of the way, and he will make his first career start next week when Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers come to town.
"It’s gonna be pretty cool," Purdy said. "[Brady] has been playing football longer than I’ve been alive."
In fact, Brady played his final college game at Michigan four days after 22-year-old Purdy was born.
Defensive captain Fred Warner showed no signs of panic after he heard the news of Purdy's rise to the top of the depth chart, saying all his repetitions against this incredible 49ers defense in practice should have him ready.
"He's played against the best defense in the league for the past 13 weeks," he said. "He'll be fine."