The playoffs in the National Football League force each losing team to ask themselves tough questions. What if? Oftentimes, it takes months for teams to answer this question in the off-season, and except for a select few teams, this question isn’t easily answered. The what-if question the San Fransico 49ers had to answer is quite simple. What if their quarterback finished the National Football Conference Championship game last season?
Against the Philadelphia Eagles, who would be the eventual NFC Champion and NFC representative in the NFL’s Super Bowl last season, Brock Purdy tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow on the sixth play of the game. The 49ers were forced to resort to playing their backup quarterback, who would complete seven of thirteen passes before he would get hurt. Leaving the 49ers no choice but to play they’re All-Pro running back at quarterback before putting the wounded Purdy back into the game, whom they drafted with their final pick of the 2022 draft.
“My arm, felt like it stretched out. It felt like shocks all over. From my elbow to my wrist front and back. Just pain really, all over,” Purdy said about what the injury felt like. “I was throwing, after the hit occurred, on the sideline just to see where I was at. Even those throws, it was painful. I couldn’t throw anything over five or ten yards.”
As Mr. Irrelevant, which is the name given to the last player drafted in the NFL draft, Purdy, the Perry, AZ., native, took the NFL by storm after he replaced the often-injured veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo mid-season for the 49ers last season. Purdy, the Iowa St. graduate, stepped in seamlessly and won seven games as a starter for the 49ers before getting injured in their playoff loss to the Eagles in last season’s NFC Championship game. Leaving the 49ers to resort to playing their fourth-string quarterback as the 49ers would miss a prime opportunity to return to the Superbowl and avenge their 2020 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Purdy is in rare company by winning seven of his initial eight games in his rookie season, but he still could not shake the Mr. Irrelevant label. Leading the 49ers to one game away from the Super Bowl as a rookie quarterback wasn’t enough for many fans and NFL pundits. Leaving the NFL world to ask what if, and the 49ers would wonder if Purdy would be healthy enough to start the season.
“I thought he did real good, all the plays that he had, he made, and I don’t think he had a bad one,” head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters after his initial preseason game before the start this season.
Because he hadn’t played a whole season, pundits and fans around the NFL were still unsure about Purdy’s long-term potential. Is he a flash in the pan? Were those initial wins a fluke? Could he even play a complete season? Or would he be another injury-prone quarterback that the 49ers would be saddled with? These are just a few of the questions Purdy would have to answer during his first full season as a starter in the NFL.
After the team suffered three consecutive losses, Purdy led them to three straight wins, giving them a 9-3 record, which would set up a rematch of the 2023 NFC Championship game. En route to their matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles, the 49ers scored 30 points in seven of their nine wins. This time against those Eagles, Purdy was nothing less than spectacular, posting 314 yards passing, four touchdowns, and a passer rating of 148.8, which happens to be less than ten points shy of a perfect passer rating (158.3).
“For me, it was Week 13,” Purdy said. “It’s a hostile environment. We needed this game, and obviously, we have some really important games coming up too, so that’s where I was at with that.”
Unbothered by the criticism and second-guessing, Purdy would only lead the 49ers to a division-best 12-5 record, the 1st seed in the NFC and the coveted playoff bye. Purdy also finished the season with 4280 yards passing, 5th best in the NFL. His 69.4 completion percentage ranked him 4th in the NFL. Purdy also threw 31 touchdowns, which ranked him 3rd in the NFL this season. Additionally, Purdy finished with a 7.0% passing touchdown ratio that led all NFL quarterbacks this past season. Additionally, Purdy led the NFL in passer rating (113.0), yards per attempt (9.6), and yards per completion (13.9).
Yet many still want to refer to the guy as a game manager, alluding to the team carrying him to this success. No doubt having good talent around him has aided Purdy’s early accomplishments. However, more respect should be put on Purdy’s name for his consistent play and his contribution to wins in his short career as the 49ers’ starting quarterback.
In the 2024 NFC Championship game, Purdy should’ve silenced any doubters he has left by leading the 49ers to a comeback win from being in a 17-point deficit against the Cinderella Detroit Lions and giving them a birth in this season’s February 11th Super Bowl in Las Vegas. Purdy finished the game with a modest 267 yards passing, one touchdown, one interception, and a surprising 9.6 yards per carry that surprised the Lions and most of the fans watching the game at home and in Levi’s Stadium.
“Heck of a game manager, wow! He managed the heck out of that game,” said Fred Warner, the 49ers three-time All-Pro linebacker, after their comeback win over the Lions. “He’s the reason we’re going to have a chance to win a (Super Bowl) ring.”
Should the 49ers win the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, Purdy would become the fifth quarterback to win a Super Bowl in his first two seasons in the history of the NFL. Russell Wilson was the last quarterback to do this as a member of the Seattle Seahawks.
“Brock Purdy did what we would’ve expected Lamar Jackson to do. Brock Purdy won the football game, down 17,” said Ryan Clark, former NFL Super Bowl winner and now ESPN Football Analyst, after the 49ers NFC Championship win. “We always ask our best players to show up in the most important times. We can’t continue to knock the Josh Allen’s, to knock the Lamar Jackson’s, to knock the Dak Prescott’s and not praise Brock Purdy for doing the very thing we ask all of them to do.”
