This piece originally appeared in our twice-weekly sports newsletter Section 415. Sign up for the newsletter here and subscribe to the Section 415 podcast wherever you listen.
Mac Jones took a beating Thursday night at SoFi Stadium, but it’s nothing like the beating he took after failed seasons with the New England Patriots.
As the Rams’ pass rush collapsed the pocket and delivered crushing blows on Jones, the 49ers’ backup quarterback found ways to keep standing up. He continued to amble over to the huddle, unfazed by the pressure. And by the end of a 26-23 overtime thriller, Jones was walking away from his third start this season with his third victory in a 49ers’ uniform.
Jones’ balky knee limited his already restricted mobility. Every time he came off the field during the second half and overtime, a member of the 49ers’ training staff was rubbing up Jones’ forearm. But the injuries that Jones dealt with can’t compare to the problem that plagued him by the time he was traded from the Patriots to the Jaguars for a sixth-round draft pick in 2024.
Jones, in the eyes of many, simply wasn’t good enough to win in the NFL.
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After notching 10 victories as a rookie and making the Pro Bowl in 2021, Jones won a combined 10 games over his next three seasons. He wasn’t the right fit in New England, a place where fans had spent the two decades prior to his arrival watching a magic show on a weekly basis.
Jones could survive rough hits and tough tackles. Could he survive being labeled a loser?
When he arrived in Santa Clara, Jones’ reputation as a starting-caliber signal-caller may have been damaged. But as far as the 49ers were concerned, he represented an upgrade as a backup.
Now, like Baker Mayfield, Geno Smith, and Sam Darnold, Jones is the latest NFL quarterback authoring a comeback story. And the fact that he’s doing it just months after Brock Purdy signed a five-year, $265 million contract extension makes it all the more unlikely.
Considering the commitment the franchise made to Purdy, the 49ers would have preferred if Jones didn’t throw a pass this season. But after the former seventh-round draft pick injured his toe in a Week 1 victory over the Seahawks, Jones was pressed into action.
His first duty? Beat the lowly Saints. No, he didn’t have George Kittle or Brandon Aiyuk, but Jones was still expected to lead the 49ers past an overmatched opponent and he delivered.
Jones’ next objective was taking down the Cardinals. It wasn’t pretty, but by the time the 49ers walked off the field against a division foe, Jones had engineered a two-minute drill that set up Eddy Piñeiro’s game-winning field goal as time expired.
The Arizona game was a true toss-up, and the win almost certainly caught the attention of scouts and evaluators who believed Jones wasn’t equipped with the right coach or the right weapons to succeed in New England or Jacksonville.
A midweek matchup with the Rams should have been the end of this feel-good story. Without Ricky Pearsall or Jauan Jennings, Jones was missing the manpower needed to beat a division favorite.
Somehow, Jones made Kendrick Bourne look like a WR1, he made Jake Tonges look like a reliable safety valve, and he made the 49ers’ offense look like a unit capable of giving any defense trouble.
Now, Jones is 3-0, the 49ers are 4-1, and there’s reason to believe that better days are ahead for both the backup quarterback and the team. Maybe not always with each other, but at the moment, the pairing is working out better than either side could have anticipated.