Kyle Shanahan Says Brock Purdy Can Be Too Hard on Himself

"You'd rather someone be a little harder on themselves than take it easy on themselves."

SANTA CLARA -- Brock Purdy is incredibly earnest.

During his meltdown against the Ravens, he struggled the most after he threw those interceptions, which means he got down on himself for playing poorly. Then on Thursday during his weekly press conference, he wore his hat forward and went through all of his mistakes in painful detail, as if he were in confession. 

Here's what head coach Kyle Shanahan said Friday about Purdy's demeanor, courtesy of the 49ers P.R. department.

Q: You mentioned that the biggest issue with QB Brock Purdy in the game against the Ravens was how he responded to the interceptions, not the interceptions themselves necessarily. How do you feel he responded this week?

SHANAHAN: "Awesome. Yeah, he was great. I think, no offense to you, but I'm so exhausted talking about the interceptions from our last game, but it's been like any other week and like any other play. He goes through each play one at a time and tries to do as best he can."

Q: Regarding when Brock on the rare times he's had a bad game or a bad moment, he gets up in front of us and he's not at all defensive and he's very open about what happened and the mistakes he made. Does that to you suggest a level of confidence he has in himself? What do you make of the way he kind of publicly handles his failures?

SHANAHAN: "I just think it's him. That's how he is when I coach him. He says what he thinks. I say what I think. He's a very humble guy, but extremely competitive. That's just Brock. That's how I see him handle talking to people out of here. He's always going to take responsibility. He doesn't just do it because he knows how to talk to the media. That's how he looks at things. He always looks inward first and he genuinely feels that way. Sometimes I think he's too hard on himself in terms of that. Not too hard on himself, that's just how he is. But it's cool that he never shows frustration. I think it's pretty easy for him because I don't think he has a lot of frustration with other people. I think he always looks at what he can do better."

ME: What's it like coaching a quarterback who has a tendency to be a little too hard on himself sometimes?

Q: "Much better than the opposite way. I would say that with everybody. You'd rather someone be a little harder on themselves than take it easy on themselves. But I think especially all football players, you want them that way."