Kyle Shanahan's decision to list Brandon Allen as QB2 will be a nightmare

With San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy set to miss Week 12’s matchup against the Green Bay Packers, head coach Kyle Shanahan’s decision to name Brandon Allen as the backup signal-caller seems like it could be a nightmare.

To be clear, Allen is not a bad quarterback. He is perfectly serviceable in a backup role and will probably play decently against Green Bay, but he does not add anything to the offense. With a team already struggling with scoring in the red zone, it is scary to think how ineffectual it will be inside the 20-yard line without Purdy behind center.

Plus, Allen has very limited experience in regular-season NFL games. He has played in a total of 16 games in his career with nine starts. Sure, his numbers are not terrible. The former backup to the Cincinnati Bengals' Joe Burrow has thrown 10 touchdown passes compared to six interceptions with a 56.7 percent completion rate.

But Allen's lack of experience, especially recent experience, could come back to bite San Francisco. The last meaningful action the No. 2 signal-caller got in a regular-season NFL game was back during the 2021 season.

That is just a long time to go without feeling the heat of battle in a real NFL game with consequences.

Meanwhile, the Niners have third-stringer Joshua Dobbs on the roster who has much more experience as of late. Last season,Dobbs played in 13 games and made 12 starts, with eight of those starts coming as a member of the Arizona Cardinals and four of them as a member of the Minnesota Vikings.

Dobbs' numbers were not incredible as he had 13 touchdown passes compared to 10 interceptions and completed 62.8 percent of his passes, but being more familiar with what it feels like to play in high-pressure games is extremely important and is why Dobbs should have been the primary backup all along. 

Maybe Allen will go out and prove everyone wrong by putting up great numbers and winning the game.

But as things currently stand, it seems like of the two healthy options Shanahan is opting for the worse of the two at quarterback.

The head coach sees both signal-callers compete in practice every week, so he must be seeing things that we are not, but it will have to be seen to be believed before Niners fans accept that Allen is a better option over Dobbs.

The season feels cooked whichever way you grill it, but the decision to start Allen in light of Purdy’s injury feels like the final nail in the coffin of a brutal and disappointing 2024 season. 

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