Brandon Allen did nothing in Week 12 to justify being Brock Purdy's backup

The San Francisco 49ers had a long and frustrating Week 12 matchup against the Green Bay Packers and were defeated 38-10 at Lambeau Field, falling to 5-6 on the season.

In a season where the Niners' margin for error was razor-thin, several key players were ruled out due to injury. Quarterback Brock Purdy, defensive end Nick Bosa and left tackle Trent Williams were all inactive ahead of the contest. When any team is down arguably its best player on defense, its best player on offense, and its starting quarterback, it is already playing at a disadvantage.

With Purdy out, the 49ers turned to their backup signal-caller, Brandon Allen, who had not started a game since 2021 with the Cincinnati Bengals. Allen also had a broken finger on his non-throwing hand.

Needless to say, the expectations for San Francisco were not very high, especially considering how the season had gone thus far.

How did Allen fare, though?

After a couple of 3-and-outs to begin the game, Allen led the 49ers down the field for a touchdown drive towards the end of the first half.

Surprisingly, Allen had better first-half numbers than the opposing quarterback for the Packers, Jordan Love.

The second half, however, was a different story. Allen would not have any touchdowns in the second half of the game, nor would he lead the 49ers down the field on another touchdown drive.

Allen also threw an interception and lost a fumble in the second half, although one can fairly point a finger at wide receiver Deebo Samuel for letting the pick go right through his hands and into Green Bay's defense. Still, the No. 2 quarterback finished the day 17-of-29 for 199 yards passing, one touchdown and one interception. He had a final passer rating of 76.7.

He also finished with an overall PFF grade of 47.8, which was a bottom-five grade for the 49ers' offensive players in that game.

Allen gets a D+ for his performance. Although he was without Williams, he still had players like Samuel, tight end George Kittle and running back Christian McCaffrey, yet Allen was unable to create much offense with them.

Outside of Kittle's six receptions for 82 yards receiving and the lone touchdown, no other skill player was able to get much going with Allen at the helm.

McCaffrey and Samuel were held to a combined four receptions for 58 yards receiving. For as dynamic of players as the two of them are, that was a highly disappointing result.

Starting guards Aaron Banks and Dominick Puni are now in jeopardy of being out against the Buffalo Bills in Week 13, due to new injuries.

With that in mind, the 49ers should explore going to No. 3 quarterback, Joshua Dobbs, should Purdy not be available again.

Dobbs would offer some mobility and at least the option of creating some plays with his feet.

We will see how 49ers' head coach Kyle Shanahan addresses his lineups as we get closer to Week 13.