While the San Francisco 49ers are alive in the race for the NFL’s No. 1 seed after beating the Chicago Bears 42-38, there is one narrative that can die: Brock Purdy not being worth that huge contract he signed in the offseason.
If you watched this and last week’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, you would know that the argument is ridiculous. We’ve talked about how Purdy has won without George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk. Against the Bears, he didn’t have Kittle, and he also didn’t have elite left tackle Trent Williams for almost the entirety of the game. He also threw a pick-six as his first play, and it didn’t rattle him as he went on to go full Al Bundy and have five touchdowns. Two rushing, three in the air.
Final numbers: 24-33 (72 percent completions), 305 yards, five touchdowns, one interception returned for a touchdown, and a 118.6 passer rating.
Are the Bears a great defense? No, not even close. Neither are the Indianapolis Colts. And you can add the 49ers to that group of underwhelming defenses as well, because the Bears pretty much had their way until the final play of the game.
Well, that’s a good time to show up.
So, without a defense to fall back on, Purdy has to run an offense on Sunday without his left tackle and his tight end. And he puts up the numbers listed above. That is more impressive than a perfect passer rating against a beaten-up Arizona Cardinals team in 2023. Purdy doesn’t have the defense he had in the 2023 season, and he also hasn’t had much consistency with pass catchers for the season.
And before you say, “Mac Jones looked real good too,” tell me if Jones would have done this Sunday:
Or this:
Or any of the other plays we’ve seen Purdy have to maneuver around to make something happen. Jones is a great quarterback, but Purdy is the better quarterback. We saw that on Sunday. We also saw why he got paid all that money.
Another thing that was proven was Purdy’s mental game. This was how Purdy’s day started:
That could do a number between the ears. So could the interception that wasn’t, where Purdy threw a second pick that was (luckily) nullified by a penalty. Besides those two throws, Purdy was unstoppable. He turned in the 118 passer rating AFTER that.
“He made me extremely nervous, and then he made me extremely happy,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said when recalling Purdy’s fourth touchdown: a mobile throw that Shanahan expected three yards and a few more downs. Purdy instead ran around and hit Juszczyk for the score.
The 49ers don’t have much of a defense. It’s no one’s fault; injuries have just leveled the unit. But when you have efficiency, as you’ve seen from Purdy, a dominant defense the 49ers have had the last few years isn’t needed—Brock Purdy is needed. Despite the razor-thin margin for error, the offense still pulls out a win after the aforementioned pick-six.
What we do know is Purdy is worth all that money, because if it were Mac Jones, Jimmy Garoppolo, or anyone else under center, can you confidently say the 49ers win? Could you say the 49ers are on a tear this season, missing a majority of their stars on defense?
Now, we don’t know where the 49ers will go in the postseason. They could run into a more well-rounded team and make an early exit.
Purdy doesn’t know either, and he’s just looking to the next week.
“You just have to focus on the next day, next man up.”
Next is the Seattle Seahawks. And Purdy will be called upon once more to get the win and the 49ers a much-needed bye in the NFL playoffs.
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