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The field is clearing. The path is right in front of them. And the 49ers’ main message to their NFC playoff rivals is not so hard to figure out.
We’ve got Brock Purdy. And you don’t.
Are the 49ers the best team in the NFC? That still doesn’t seem most likely, even after their 48-27 bombardment of the Colts in Indianapolis on Monday night for their fifth consecutive victory to get to 11-4.
Yes, the 49ers’ defense has looked shaky for a while and looked shaky again at times against 44-year-old Philip Rivers; also, there were more 49ers injuries in this game.
But for the second consecutive week, Purdy was the game’s essential player from the first snap — he completed 25 of 34 pass attempts for 295 yards (8.7 per attempt), a career-high five touchdowns and one interception, producing a 126.8 passer rating. That’s without Ricky Pearsall this week and, of course, without Brandon Aiyuk at all this season and probably ever again.
Purdy barked out calls. He organized the offense. He channeled Kyle Shanahan. He threw to the right receivers at the right time. He was totally committed to those throws, which made the whole offense feel committed to them. He celebrated the TDs.
Purdy just took command of everything — the offense, the team, the game, and now maybe the entire NFC playoff race.
“When you’re in that huddle, there’s only one voice speaking, right?” Trent Williams said of Purdy. “You’ve got 10 grown men staring at you. And you can’t fool grown men.
“The confidence that he has in that huddle no matter what phase of the game, those long play calls, just getting everybody where they need to be. I mean, from A to Z, he does it at a really high level.”
Of course, Purdy has great players alongside him — Williams, George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey — and he’s riding on one of Shanahan’s traditional late-season play-calling surges. Also, the 49ers went 5-3 with Mac Jones when Purdy was out injured this season, which can’t be forgotten.
4 days ago
Tuesday, Dec. 16
Friday, Dec. 12
But from here, it’s all focused on Purdy carrying the 49ers through the regular-season finish line. After that, the whole league might have to focus on the 49ers in January.
If the 49ers beat the Bears and Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium in the final two weekends of the season, they’ll get the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, a bye week, and home-field advantage the rest of the way, including Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara.
The road to the Lombardi Trophy goes through … Brock Purdy? Well, we’ll see how these next two games go. And again, the 49ers will need Purdy’s offense to keep generating a bucket load of points to help cover up some of the defense’s personnel issues.
The bonus on Monday: After four consecutive victories against lesser foes, Purdy just eviscerated a decent Colts defense. Maybe he can do the same to the Bears and Seahawks. Then on into the postseason.
The 49ers believe it can happen. Because Purdy has made them believe it.
Purdy was able to scramble around the field and buy time for his receivers to get open on Monday in Indianapolis. | Source: Amber Pietz/The Standard
And so far, it doesn’t seem impossible. On Monday, the 49ers put up a season-high 440 yards — their previous high was last weekend’s 430 yards against Tennessee. And since Purdy’s struggling three-interception day against the Panthers back on Nov. 24, he’s thrown eight TDs and the one interception.
The 49ers’ offense has been so efficient that they haven’t had to punt since Nov. 30 — three games ago in their victory in the wind and rain in Cleveland. And on Monday, Purdy was so dominant that Shanahan could mostly only joke about the performance.
“Got on him for a couple he missed,” Shanahan said. “But it was pretty close to a perfect game.”
Which ones did he miss, Kyle?
“Whatever those incompletions were,” Shanahan said with a grin.
This is why there was never a doubt that Purdy was going to get that $265-million deal he signed last offseason and never was a question that he’d get the job back — and succeed — even when Jones looked so good as a replacement this season.
The 49ers clinched a playoff berth after the Lions’ loss to the Steelers on Sunday, and they did it in some significant part without their starting quarterback in full flight. But he’s back. He’s healthy now.
And the 49ers need the very best from him; more than they needed Purdy (even though he was fantastic as rookie) in their Super Bowl run in 2023 and definitely more than they needed Jimmy Garoppolo in the 2019 SB run — both times with an elite defense and more seasoned receivers.
This time, the 49ers probably will lose any or all of their upcoming games unless Purdy gets them into the end zone three or four times.
Purdy threw for a career-high five touchdown passes on Monday Night Football against the Colts. | Source: Amber Pietz/The Standard
In fact, Purdy probably will be the most important QB in the NFC tournament — Matthew Stafford is an incredible past Super Bowl winner, but the Rams have more around him than the 49ers have around Purdy this winter; Sam Darnold is solid, but Seattle wins with its running game and defense; same for Jordan Love in Green Bay, Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia, and Caleb Williams in Chicago.
Each one of those teams could win the NFC and the Super Bowl. Each one of those QBs could play better than Purdy in a matchup. But none of those teams are as dependent on their QB as the 49ers are dependent on Purdy.
That’s not usually the ideal way to go into the playoffs — great defenses almost always beat great offenses in the biggest games. Middling defenses are too vulnerable to a roasting by a high-quality offense.
The 49ers definitely wish they had Fred Warner and Nick Bosa healthy and ready to take over a playoff game or two. But that’s not going to happen (well, at least until the Super Bowl, when there’s an outside chance that Warner could reappear).
The 49ers will take their shot with the best of what they’ve got. That’s Purdy. That’s everybody around him. That’s everybody believing it might be enough, mostly because they have Purdy.
