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Leave it to backup quarterback Mac Jones, one of the many saviors of this 49ers’ season that’s now reached the brink of the impossible, to share some of the best perspective on Brock Purdy’s Sunday night spectacle.
“Dialed. In.”
Jones, speaking in a freshly quiet 49ers’ locker room after most of his teammates — 42-38 winners over the Chicago Bears — had left for the night, made sure to emphasize both of those words.
Jones had listened via headset to all of coach Kyle Shanahan’s play calls. He’d then watched Purdy execute them, dazzling his way to a second straight five-touchdown performance — against the backdrop of a struggling 49ers defense that provided the offense with next to no margin for error.
Jones knew that Purdy had delivered an odds-defying tightrope act.
The Bears became the first team in NFL history (opens in new tab) to lose a game even after entirely avoiding giveaways, scoring more than 35 points, registering a defensive touchdown, and allowing no sacks.
Translation: Purdy’s offense was asked to do the impossible, and the 49ers somehow accomplished the task.
The quarterback’s 38-yard strike of lightning to Jauan Jennings punctuated an effort for the ages — and bookended a performance that had begun in the worst way possible: On the very first play, Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson jumped Jennings’ route to create a deflected pick-six for linebacker T.J. Edwards. The damage was catastrophic, as star 49ers left tackle Trent Williams strained his hamstring while chasing Edwards.
“For the first play to go the way it did, it wasn’t Brock’s fault,” Jones said. “So for him to bounce back from that, some guys would get all, ‘Yeah, I threw a pick six, but it wasn’t really my fault’ — but he was just so locked in on his job.”
The furious storm of the next 59-plus minutes will go down as some of the most entertaining football that the 49ers have played in their illustrious history. Chicago torched their decimated defense to the tune of 440 yards, but Purdy flamed the Bears with his arm, legs, and brain. The 49ers racked up a staggering 496 yards.
In the end, the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft out-dueled the No. 1 selection of the 2024 NFL Draft, Chicago’s Caleb Williams, in storybook fashion.
“Brock was an assassin out there throughout the whole day,” Shanahan said.
Williams, rolling away from one last desperate gasp of 49ers’ pressure as more than 70,000 hearts in Levi’s Stadium collectively palpitated, saw his throw as time expired barely bounce short.
“I was praying that whole last drive,” Purdy said. “Not only that, but pulling for our guys, because it’s been a crazy year and for all those guys on defense to be able to step up and compete their butt off to finish the game like that, I was so happy for them.”
The 49ers, left for dead after Fred Warner’s injury a couple months ago, will face the Seattle Seahawks at Levi’s on Saturday night with a straightforward chance to secure a division title and the NFC’s No. 1 seed. Imagine a victory preceding a potential Warner return to the lineup in January. It’s all on the table now for the 49ers.
For historical perspective, what happened on Sunday night at Levi’s might be seen as a hybrid of two past epic victories, both of which came under Shanahan in 2019: A 48-46 thriller over the New Orleans Saints — then-QB Jimmy Garoppolo out-dueled Drew Brees in a game in which defenses disappeared — and that season’s 26-21 Week 17 victory at Seattle, which the 49ers won by a single millimeter after linebacker Dre Greenlaw stonewalled the Seahawks at the goal line as time expired.
It’s fitting, then, that Seattle will visit Levi’s to conclude this insane 2025 regular season with stakes identical to those in that Greenlaw 2019 game: The winner will earn the NFC’s No. 1 seed and bye, while the loser will have to trudge on the road through the playoffs, beginning with the wild-card round.
Purdy has accounted for 10 total touchdowns in the 49ers’ last two games. | Source: Amber Pietz/The Standard
And it’s also fitting that the 49ers enter this monumental matchup with a super QB who combines the best of Brees — superb vision and deadly accuracy — with prime attributes of former Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson, who was magnificently elusive as he terrorized the 49ers over the past decade.
“I don’t think he’s sneaky athletic,” 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey said of Purdy. “I think he’s athletic.”
Friday, Dec. 19
Tuesday, Dec. 16
Friday, Dec. 12
There was a fundamental resilience behind all of Purdy’s sizzling highlight reel plays on Sunday. He scorched Chicago even without George Kittle and Trent Williams, two Hall of Fame-caliber players.
Williams’ replacement at left tackle, Austen Pleasants, entered Sunday’s game with only 98 career snaps under his belt. Thankfully for the 49ers, Pleasants had practiced weekly with Purdy on the first team this season because the 37-year-old Williams enjoys regularly scheduled vet days off.
“Brock’s consistency is huge, especially his pocket presence,” Pleasants said in the locker room. “If it’s a 5-step drop or a 7-step drop, I know he’s going to be where they say he’s going to be — which is really helpful when you’re the left tackle.
“I’ve gotten a lot of reps in practice with a very consistent quarterback. I felt comfortable and I felt ready.”
Pleasants provides a great example of how Purdy, whose 23 total touchdowns are the most ever (opens in new tab) for any QB with eight or fewer starts, elevates the 49ers’ system. The 49ers have established a level of interchangeability that’s rare in the NFL during this injury-ravaged campaign. And such a dynamic is only possible when a quarterback melds seamlessly with his play-caller. That’s a prerequisite in this sport.
Joe Montana had Bill Walsh. Steve Young, in his best years with the 49ers, had offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan. Purdy, who successfully hybridized stylistic elements of Montana and Young on Sunday night, has Kyle Shanahan — and the combination has proven to be transcendent ever since its 2022 inception.
“His understanding of not just offensive football but defensive football — when your offensive play-caller knows defensive football just as well as anybody, it allows us to open stuff up in the run game and in the pass game,” McCaffrey said of Shanahan. “He really understands gap integrity and everyone’s responsibility on defense. He sees it better than anybody.
“He plays not just to the structure of the defense, but to the emotions of the defense. If someone is an aggressive guy, he knows that. And I think it’s something he was born to do. When you’re in those meetings, it’s like football heaven for a football nerd. You learn so much every week.”
Said Purdy: “He’s a Hall of Fame coach. We’re grateful to be playing for him, man. Every single week, he gives everything he can for this team and this organization to give us all a chance. To have him as a play caller is an honor, and I don’t take it lightly. I don’t take it for granted.”
Purdy ran for two scores against the Bears on Sunday night. | Source: Amber Pietz/The Standard
Shanahan’s discourse with Purdy following the game-opening pick six marked the first critical inflection point on a night featuring dozens of watershed moments.
The coach didn’t berate Purdy, who’d simply been following the game-opening script. He didn’t seek the QB out on the sideline to offer performative encouragement. He simply reached for his walkie-talkie and broadcast a message into the radio receiver that Purdy wears in his helmet.
“I just told him, ‘Hey, hell of a throw — that was the right read, the guy made a hell of a play,’” Shanahan said. “Let’s start over.’”
And just like that, the slate was clean and the floodgates of 49ers’ offensive domination opened.
There was a point in the fourth quarter, when Purdy scanned back and drilled a pass to receiver Ricky Pearsall — his third read on a third-down play — that helped ensure Jones was an unwavering believer. This particular piece of surgical precision moved the 49ers to 8-of-11 on third- and fourth-down conversions for the night.
“We had that feeling last week, too,” Jones said. “[Purdy] was just unfazed back there. Those plays on third down and fourth down that we’ve been making, it just gives everybody confidence. It’s just crazy.”
It’s high-pressure success that’s reminiscent of the tightrope the 49ers have walked this whole season — going back to the October moment when it seemed the whole football world was counting them out
“When Fred got hurt against Tampa, it was crazy to think that we’d be in this position, a game away from the No. 1 seed,” 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk said in the locker room. “It’s been a special season already and one I don’t take for granted, but we’re not done. And I have all the confidence in the world that we can get this done.”
The primary driver of that faith, of course, is Purdy — who’s playing the NFL’s best football at this sport’s most important position.
