The San Francisco 49ers were coming into their matchup with the New Orleans Saints without their franchise quarterback, Brock Purdy. His absence was supposed to cause some issues, as a player of his caliber usually does. Yet, the 49ers' offense hummed along well. It wasn't a great outing for the offense. Jones missed some easy throws, got sacked too many times, and had a few fumbles, but he did enough to win the game.
A low bar, after all, the New Orleans Saints are in a rebuilding year, even if they won't admit it. The offense was expected to struggle, and scoring 27 points on the Saints would normally be enough to clear a pretty big win. Instead, on Sunday, the Saints did everything they could to beat the 49ers and fell just one position short, falling 27-21.
Mac Jones Was Nowhere Near 49ers' Biggest Problem on Sunday
The Saints nearly pulled off the upset thanks in part to second-year quarterback Spencer Rattler, who threw for three touchdowns and nearly pulled off the upset of the very early season. Rattler, who pundits don't expect to be the team's quarterback of the future, sure looked every bit the part on Sunday, handing this vaunted Niners team their rear on multiple occasions.
The Saints have some talent still, namely Alvin Kamara and Chris Olave, but they don't have so much talent that they can elevate a quarterback with the perceived limitations of Rattler. Either Rattler is that good, or the 49ers defense is suspect. Considering how bad Rattler has looked over his last nine games, it's very likely the answer is the latter.
The 49ers' defense allowed Rattler and the Saints to not only stay in the game but nearly take it from the Niners in the waning moments. The Niners gave up six-straight completions from Rattler, setting up a third-down that broke the Niners' way. Still, the Saints are marching and one good throw away from defeat. That's unacceptable for a team with Super Bowl aspirations to nearly lose to a team that's in the hunt for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
The 49ers' defense has got to be better as a whole if they hope to make the big game.