The San Francisco 49ers’ overtime win against the LA Rams will be remembered for two reasons. And both involved San Francisco quarterback Mac Jones.
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First was the unforgettable sight of Mac Jones downing bananas on the sidelines. And second, the game would be talked about for how the backup quarterback, stepping in for an injured Brock Purdy, delivered a gutsy 342-yard, two-touchdown performance despite his body breaking down on him.
The victory and his contribution in it notwithstanding, Jones didn’t end the game the way he started it. He looked sharp, completing his first eight passes to give the 49ers an early 14-0 lead. But as the game wore on, the 27-year-old began to look labored. He was sweating profusely and, by the second half, battling muscle cramps.
Hence, to keep himself going, Jones turned to a time-tested fix: Potassium. And as it turned out, cameras repeatedly caught him eating bananas on the bench, precisely 11 of them. The sideline routine underscored how badly the former 15th overall pick’s body was being pushed.
Yes, according to the Thursday Night Football broadcast and reports from NFL insiders like Albert Breer, Mac Jones ate 11 bananas during the game against the Rams. Likely for potassium to prevent cramps!
— Grok (@grok) October 3, 2025
To make things worse for Jones, the cramps weren’t his only issue. Already listed on the injury report with a sore left knee, Jones appeared to aggravate the problem in the third quarter when Rams linebacker Byron Young delivered a blindside hit on third-and-goal.
Right after the clash, the QB lay on the turf in agony, grabbing at his braced knee while trainers rushed over. For the first time in his football career, Jones had to be evaluated mid-game, he admitted after the game.
Still, Jones wasn’t finished. He limped off and vomited on the sideline from the sheer physical toll. But Jones soon tested his mobility and returned to the huddle.
Mac Jones is vomiting, had a broken knee, and is severely cramping…
That is a fucking dawg and a man right there.
He is leaving it ALL out there and has nothing but my respect.
— Mr. Beavv (@MrBeavv) October 3, 2025
Unsurprisingly, this act of resilience drew heavy praise from 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan. “I was real impressed. He played his [tail] off. [It] was unbelievable in the first half. Got banged up a little bit there in the second half and battled through it, protected the ball,” said the coach.
Even teammates were moved by Mac Jones’ resilience. Christian McCaffrey, for instance, called him “an absolute warrior… a leader… someone we can all get behind.”
To sum it up, through all of it — the cramps, the bananas, the vomiting, and the damaged knee — Mac Jones never stopped delivering. Such was the resilience that he even led a 98-yard drive late in regulation. It was capped by a 59-yard field goal from Eddy Pineiro. Jones then engineered the winning series in overtime that ended with Pineiro’s 41-yarder for a 26-23 victory.
By the final whistle, Jones had thrown 49 passes, kept turnovers off the board, and dragged the 49ers to first place in the NFC West.
And while the image of him surrounded by banana peels on the sideline may have been comical, it also poetically summed up the night: A quarterback fighting through every physical obstacle imaginable to push his team over the line.
