McCaffrey says NFC Championship feels ‘STOLEN’ after 49ers were forced to play with injured Purdy

Christian McCaffrey has said he feels the NFC Championship was ‘stolen’ from the 49ers after the team was forced to end the game with an injured Brock Purdy under center.

Purdy was replaced by backup Josh Johnson in the first quarter after suffering an elbow injury, but was forced back into the game early in the third quarter when Johnson suffered a concussion.

Purdy played the remainder of the game significantly injured (he was later diagnosed with a torn ACL) as the team limped to a blowout 31-7 loss behind dunks and run plays.

“It’s really tough,” McCaffrey said. Kay Adams on ‘Up & Adams’.

‘Obviously you don’t want to make excuses. It just sucks because we wish we had a healthy quarterback for a complete game.

‘It’s a very good team we played against. But it looks like something was stolen from you.

The full extent of Purdy’s injury was revealed after the game, as Purdy is expected to miss six months after the pitching elbow injury.

The rookie finished the game with just four completions for 23 yards, but it’s his stamina that McCaffrey will remember, rather than his stat line.

“I think it’s a testament to how hard it was to stay in that game and continue to do some things,” the running back said.

“Because it’s a serious injury and a lot of people wouldn’t have done it.”

Meanwhile, Purdy and McCaffrey’s teammate Brandon Aiyuk also expressed the belief that Philadelphia faced an extremely favorable road to the Super Bowl.

I don’t know completely about [Philly’s] defending. They talk about being a good defense. I’m not sure,” Aiyuk said on the “SF Niners Podcast.”

“I think the passing game, this Kansas City passing game will expose what we thought we could expose before some unfortunate circumstances occurred, so we’ll see.

“But like I said, you have to be lucky to win the Super Bowl, and they were very lucky.”

The NFC champion Eagles will take on the Chiefs in the big game on Sunday.