San Francisco's 40-34 home loss Monday night clinched a cellar-dwelling season in the NFC West, but a breakout game from rookie Ricky Pearsall was the silver lining in the 10th defeat of the season.
Pearsall put up 141 yards and a touchdown on eight catches. It marked the most receiving yards by a 49ers rookie since Jerry Rice (241) in Week 14, 1985 -- also a Monday night game.
"It felt good, but that's what I'm supposed to do," Pearsall said of his performance, per the official transcript. "That's what they brought me here to do, so I'm going to continue to do that. And for me, like I said earlier, it's not a surprise for me. I have all the confidence in the world in myself."
Pearsall nearly doubled his career receiving yards in one night. He entered Monday with 17 catches for 190 yards and a TD in nine games this season.
The rookie reiterated that while Monday was the type of performance he expected, he would have preferred a win.
"It felt good to go out there and make some plays," Pearsall said, "but obviously as a competitor, I want to go out there and come out with a win, so it wasn't as much fun as I thought it was going to be."
Pearsall missed the first six games of the season after suffering a gunshot wound to the chest that stunningly missed all his vital organs. His breakout performance in prime time is what the Niners had in mind when making him a first-round selection back in the spring.
"How many yards did he have? 140? Whew, that's awesome," tight end George Kittle said of the rookie. "Those are the games I've always expected him to have just watching him practice and in OTAs. Every day he went off for 100-plus yards. Just to get that game under his belt will raise his confidence a ton. It is hard to go out there and get not a lot of catches and not get open a lot. Sometimes the ball and the game just doesn't go your way. For him to go out there and do that and stack a bunch of catches and run efficiently and run downhill and do what we needed him to do, that'll raise his confidence a bunch."
Pearsall displayed the entire skill set on Monday night. He burned Lions corners off the line, won at the top of the route, showed off deep speed, made acrobatic catches and displayed nice sideline footwork. His ability to stretch the defense vertically adds another element to the Niners offense. He caught five of seven downfield targets (10-plus air yards) for 122 yards, the third-most downfield receiving yards in a game by a 49ers player this season, per Next Gen Stats.
"He had better stats tonight so that's how it looks for receivers," coach Kyle Shanahan said. "When the ball came his way, he did a good job and had some good catches and had some big plays. It doesn't always work that way for wideouts, but when it came his way, he did a good job of beating man coverage well and caught the ball real well, too."
In a lost game in a lost season, the hope is that young players can show growth in anticipation of next year. Pearsall supplied that silver lining on Monday night. If he continues to improve in the offseason, Brandon Aiyuk returns fully healthy, Deebo Samuel returns to form after a down season and Jauan Jennings continues to improve, the Niners have the makings of a dangerous receiver room in 2025.
