McCaffrey, Purdy and the need for healthy D-linemen

The question was whether having two legitimate MVP candidates on the same team, the San Francisco 49ers in this instance, would prove to be a negative. Not in games, but in voting for the award.

Whether the ballots for Brock Purdy would cancel those for Christian McCaffrey or vice versa. That was last week.

Now there’s a larger question. Can the 49ers slow the Baltimore running attack when the teams meet Sunday night in what could be labeled a holiday gift from the schedule makers.

Or after a look at the standings, maybe called a Super Bowl preview.

The Niners, with their 45-29 victory over the sad sack Arizona Cardinals,  have the best record in the NFC, 11-3. And the Ravens, 23-7 winners over the Jacksonville Jaguars, also are at 11-3, best in the AFC. 

So, yes those would seem to be the favorites for Super Bowl LVIII (58 for us uncivilized folk west of the Roman Empire), that game is on Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas.

But not so fast. There are several weeks to go in the regular season when noting what’s been happening too often, injuries might occur, and then playoffs. So nothing is certain.

Other than what transpired, the Niners, although winning, were unable to halt Arizona’s ground game as the Cardinals rushed for 234 yards — marking the most against SF this season.

The Niners were missing starting defensive tackles, Arik Armstead (foot, knee) and Javon Hargrave (hamstring).

And whether they’ll be back against Baltimore, which rushed for 251 yards against Jacksonville, becomes a large issue.

Shanahan on Monday was asked about the possibility of signing a quick fill-in, someone like Ndamukong Suh.

"Not yet," Shanahan said. "I mean, I'm not ruling out anything. We have guys on our practice squad, as you guys see, that we used last week. But that stuff, we also aren't exactly sure when Hargrave and Armstead are coming back. We do know they have chances this week, so there's a lot of variables that are playing together that we'll be discussing here the rest of the day, and tomorrow. And even if we don't make a move in any area, that'll probably be continuing throughout the year."

If the defense is troubling, the offense is reaffirming. The MVP mentions had their usual spectacular games, despite taking hits that forced them to be examined by medical staff or trainers. McCaffrey was out for four plays. Then Purdy, the quarterback phenom, missed two plays.

Some gasp from Niners personnel but that was about all. McCaffrey, who was diagnosed with a stinger in his leg, rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown and caught five passes for 72 yards and two touchdowns.

Purdy, returning to the suburbs of Phoenix where he went to high school, completed 16 of 25 for 242 yards and four touchdowns. 

Magnanimously he also tossed in the thought of McCaffrey as the MVP.

Because of those two, other Niners on offense tend not to be appreciated. One, of course, would be Deebo Samuel who had four receptions for 48 yards, and 2 TDs.

McCaffrey became only the fourth player in NFL history with at least four seasons of 1,000 yards rushing, and 500 yards receiving. His NFL high of  20 touchdowns moved a bit closer to the franchise season record of 23 that was set in 1987 by, who else — Jerry Rice, now occasionally doing TV commercials for a South Bay insurance firm.

First he grabbed footballs. Now he tries to grab clients.

49ers, a new red (jersied) machine

The label was used originally back in the 1970s for the baseball team from Cincinnati. So pardon a bit of plagiarism for choosing to call the 49ers, in their home uniforms, the Big Red Jersied Machine.

We’re talking pro football. We’re talking big gains (the first play of the game was Christian McCaffrey sprinting 72 yards). We’re talking timely defense. We’re talking another five-game win streak. 

We’re talking a 28-16 victory over the Seattle Seahawks Sunday that elevated the Niners into a tie for the best record in the NFL. We’re talking about a coach, Kyle Shanahan, who was pleased but as every coach until the season ends, seeking improvement.

We’re talking a next game against the Arizona Cardinals, who at 3-10, are as bad as the 10-3 Niners are good. We’re talking a roster of  players who on offense remind us of the 1980s, the Montana, Craig, Rice, Clark, Young group about which John Madden in his role as TV an analyst would say again and again, “too many weapons.”

On this 2023 Niners team the offensive weapons include the almost-impossible-to-bring-down Deebo Samuel (two TDs Sunday), McCaffrey (145 yards rushing and one TD), and George Kittle (one TD).

And, oh yeah, we’re talking about the biggest surprise maybe ever, that quarterback guy Brock Purdy, who Sunday completed 19 passes in 27 attempts for 368 yards and two TDs.

The Purdy legend has been told many times but not enough for the 49ers Faithful, the last player picked in the draft — what were those scouts and assistant coaches looking for anyway? — who may be heading from the infamous Mr. Irrelevant to a more classy title, Most Valuable Player.

Another individual of value is Shanahan, whose decisions on personnel and game plans have been virtually unpredictable and eminently successful.

No, not every move works, but he has shown to be adaptable.

If something doesn’t work, then he’s very willing to try something else, although it’s hard to believe he would be willing to try a different quarterback.

“So many guys made big plays out of little plays,” a perfect summation of the reason the Niners kept getting into the end zone and when for a few moments they fell behind early in the second quarter, getting in front once more.

Shanahan’s specialty is offense — like the days of Bill Walsh. You almost can see the wheels turning in his brain, coming up with plays — but he well understands defense triumphs.  

Once more there will be a reference to the late John McKay, who went from a national championship at USC to become the first coach of the expansion Tampa Bay Bucs.  

“You win on defense,” said McKay. “If the other team doesn’t score you’ll never get worse than a 0-0 tie.”

The other team in this case, the Seahawks, did score against the Niners, but just enough to make the game interesting. Seattle had just 324 yards in offense, compared to 527.

And the linebacker Fred Warner had an interception, his fourth of his career, equaling the team record held by Keena Turner.

Big red machine, indeed.

Purdy perfect — like Joe and Steve

He had thrown his first interception. Worse, the 49ers lost.  And lost again. Then lost again.  The skeptics couldn’t be silenced. Maybe, they told us this was the real Brock Purdy, not the kid who unexpectedly captured games and media attention.

Whatever, the Brock Purdy who showed up Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, was as real, effective and efficient a quarterback as anyone ever.  

In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him perfect because that’s what his rating was — perfect, 158.3 out of a possible 158.3. The last time that was accomplished by someone wearing a 49ers uniform —actually, somebodies—was in 1989, and the somebodies were named Joe Montana and Steve Young.

Who would both be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Not bad company.

Of the 25 passes Purdy unleashed only four were not caught. The figures included  333 yards and three touchdowns.

We know football is very much a team sport and that an NFL squad has more than 50 athletes. Yet, isn’t it amazing how the best teams have the best quarterbacks?

Asked about Purdy’s play against the Bucks as San Francisco improved to a 7-3 record, the best in the NFC West, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said merely, “He had a hell of a game.

Halfback Christian McCaffrey was no less enthusiastic. “Brock has been great every game,” said McCaffrey.  

Not quite, but if a player feels compelled to offer a teammate high praise, that’s quite understandable. And acceptable.

“He’s got to be in the MVP conversation with those numbers,” Niners star linebacker Fred Warner said after checking out Purdy’s stats following Sunday’s victory, which left the 49ers (7-3) a game ahead of the Seahawks — their opponent Thursday night in Seattle — in the NFC West. “It’s unbelievable the way he’s playing. He’s having an All-Pro, Pro Bowl-type of year.”

And at the end, of all the numbers on the screen, the only ones that count are those of the final score. Yes, the Niners won Sunday, defeating the semi-good Tampa Bay  27-14.  

On the other side, both symbolically and literally, is the man who played competently at quarterback for the Buccaneers, Baker Mayfield. Mayfield was first pick overall in the 2018 draft, by Cleveland, and now is with his fourth team. Purdy, as we are too well aware, was the last pick in the 2022 draft.

The Niners play at Seattle on Thanksgiving and then play the Philadelphia Eagles, arguably the best team in the NFC. Purdy’s doubters are poised. No less important is the defense for the opening days of the season, the area that was the strength of the team.   

Then, with Purdy, McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, and George Kittle, the 49ers went from a team that stopped others to one that others couldn’t itself be stopped.

Other than three weeks.

Niners can’t stop anything, and that includes losing

They seem unable to stop anything—primarily their losing streak.

The defense that was the heart and soul of the San Francisco 49ers is now clueless and unable to tackle. The season that had people repeating the precious words, “Super Bowl,” suddenly has them mumbling to themselves with phrases that other adults shouldn’t hear. Much less children.

The worst thing for the Niners and their fans, the so-called “Faithful,” may not be the how many, three straight defeats, after the 31-17 debacle against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium. But the how.

They were run over, run past and run through by a team that began the game last in the NFL in offense and third from last in rushing. The Bengals finished with 400 net yards, 134 on the ground. 

The comments from 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and his players were the typical ones you'd expect after a team that is supposed to win, according to the oddsmakers, fails to win: "We've got to play better."

Oh yes, you do. But how does that occur? Sure, some of the answers—or was it all of them?—contained the word “execution.”

That brings to mind the immortal quote from the late John McKay when he was coaching the expansion (and awful Tampa Bay Bucs). Asked after one game what he thought of their execution, McKay remarked, “I’m in favor of it.”

Nothing that severe (or comical) from the Niners postgame, but Shanahan and his crew would be in favor of stepping back to early October when they overwhelmed the Dallas Cowboys, who you may have noticed on Sunday routed the Los Angeles Rams (Lambs?) 43-20.

The NFL is full of surprises, indeed. The Broncos even defeated the Chiefs. But the issue is consistency, to play well—at least to your strength—as often as possible, to be feared by the opponent.  

Nobody fears the 49ers anymore, except maybe the men in charge of the franchise.  

There was so much worry about Brock Purdy coming out of concussion protocol and getting onto the field and into the huddle. He made it. He threw a couple of interceptions and lost a fumble, three turnovers in all.

Far from the magic he appeared to possess for the opening games, yet not being able to get yards wasn’t what doomed the 49ers. It was their inability to keep Cincinnati from getting theirs. 

So much has been written or spoken of Purdy being the last man picked in the draft of 2022. The first man picked in the 2020 draft was Joe Burrow, the Bengals quarterback, and he completed 18 straight passes at one stretch on Sunday.

How much was attributable to Burrow and how much to the 49ers’ ineffective pass defense is a matter to be contemplated. What had to sting was the Fox TV announcer borrowing the line about Joe Montana and calling Burrow “Joe Cool” especially because Montana was in attendance. 

Oh yeah, Christian McCaffrey tied the NFL record by scoring a touchdown (actually two touchdowns) in 17 consecutive games. That pleased Shanahan.

Very little else did.

“We missed a lot of tackles in the first half. “ the coach said. “The bottom line is we have to get better in every aspect.

In other words, they have to execute.

Simple explanation for Niners loss: They were outplayed

The coach said it. The score confirmed it. The 49ers were outplayed

That’s no sin in the NFL, where the words “on any given Sunday” remain more than just a persistent slogan.  

No sin, if it doesn’t happen too frequently.

And for the San Francisco 49ers, it hadn’t happened in any game in the season of 2023 until on this given Sunday when they were defeated, 19-17, on the road by the Cleveland Browns.

That left the Niners with a 5-1 record and reminders that what happened a week earlier, a resounding win over the haughty Dallas Cowboys, becomes inconsequential within days. 

It also for the first time in his Cinderella career left questions about the kid quarterback, Brock Purdy, who admittedly while at a disadvantage, a botched-up running game, looked — awful is probably too violent a word.

He threw the first interception of his year-and-a-half career, was sacked three times and completed 12 of 27 passes for a mere 125 yards. Those numbers in part were attributable to the Niners’ lack of a ground game.  

Christian McCaffrey missed much of the second half because of an injury (he did score, however, to extend his team-record touchdown streak to 15 games) and Deebo Samuel, also injured, barely played at all.

Thus the Browns, with the league’s best defense, could concentrate on getting to Purdy, physically and mentally. And they got to him.

Purdy’s slip into imperfection was matched by the rookie place kicker Jake Moody, who missed two field goals, including one from 41 yards with a few seconds left to play. Yes, that could have been the game-winner. But we don’t deal here in could haves.

Somehow those football gods had decided on this afternoon the way the Browns performed and the 49ers couldn’t perform that no way Cleveland would lose.

It didn’t.

“It was a grinding game,” said Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers coach. “We made way too many mistakes.”

It was a weird day overall. Before kickoff, the two teams got involved in a pushing match that involved an occasional sort of event that has been known to take place at college games where the players are hyped up from bellicose coaching advice but rarely if ever in the pros where energy and anger are saved until the line of scrimmage.

It’s hard to call the Browns-49ers a rivalry because of the current divisional league setup, but they began playing in 1946—as noted by the patch on the Browns uniforms when they were part of the old All-America Football Conference. 

Cleveland had Otto Graham, Marion Motley and Lou Groza and invariably outplayed the Niners. Just as they did Sunday.

Niners up against expectations — theirs and ours

Sure it could have been better. But that shows what the 49ers are up against, their own expectations as well as ours. And, oh yes, the opposing team.

Which Thursday evening in the haze and mirth of Levi’s Stadium was the New York Giants, who were, dare we say, resilient and for a few moments effective.

But they never really had a chance of winning, meaning the Niners, now 3-0 and getting things together if perhaps a trifle slow, never had a chance of losing.

In the end, it was San Francisco, 30-12, and a Sunday after a breather they’ll be 4-0 because next on the list is the semi-hopeless Arizona Cardinals, who several days ago couldn’t even hold a large lead over the Giants.

True, there are upsets in the NFL — that  “any given Sunday concept” —  but no way were the Cardinals going to win at Levi’s. So there you have it, Niners against the Cowboys for the autumn version of the annual NFC title game.

Getting ahead of ourselves? Why not, in the NFC, and maybe the entire NFL the Cowboys, who overwhelmed the very same Giants 40-0 two weeks ago, and the Niners, are both the class and power of pro football. 

Niner quarterback Brock Purdy wasn’t perfect in the game. 

“He missed on a few throws early,” conceded head coach Kyle Shanahan. 

However, Purdy is perfect in regular season games as a starter, 13-0.

Defense won the game for San Francisco, as it usually does. The Niners had the ball 39 minutes out of the allotted 60. Small wonder then the Niners outgained New York, 441 yards to 150.

That’s not competition, that’s a joke.

Yes, D is what makes the Niners go, or more correctly keep the other team from going. But Thursday San Francisco offered plenty of offense. Deebo Samuel was running and catching along with Christian McCaffrey

On the telecast Al Michaels, recalling the line probably first used by the late John Madden about the Team of the ‘80s, Niners champions, told us “Too many weapons.”

Not that the weapons couldn’t be silenced. Three times San Francisco had a drive finish with a field goal by Jake Moody.

Thursday NFL football is on the NFL Network, and with Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit doing their best to keep us attentive there was a prehistoric video of Madden using the Telestrator for the first time.

Electronics have become a massive part of pro football. However, they can’t compete with winning.  Ask the 49ers.

Niners opener good reason for optimism

Caution is recommended. True, any game that leaves us wondering whether the 49er offense might be as good as the defense — arguably the best in football — would have the Faithful overly optimistic.  

Yet one game is not a season’s make. Even an opening game by a San Francisco franchise that a year earlier began with a thud.

We are reminded often that in sports it isn’t how you start but how (and where) you finish. Still, after falling a couple of games short of the only game that means anything to us spoiled citizens in NorCal, the Super Bowl, a proper beginning is not unappreciated.

And in overwhelming the Pittsburgh Steelers, 30-7, Sunday at Acrisure Stadium, the Niners opened not only properly but impressively. These Steelers are hardly reminiscent of those great “win one for the thumb”  teams of the ‘80s. However, some people were looking for an upset.

What we had was a mismatch. The Niners controlled the ball so much in the first half, 22 minutes of the possible 30, and it had the weary SF players looking for a breather.

“At one point,” said veteran offensive tackle Trent Williams, “you just kind of wanted (the Steelers) to get a first down. There were all those three-and-outs and we kind of needed a break.”

What they got presumably was a chewing out from longtime head coach Mike Tomlin.

While Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan was less displeased he, of course, found fault with San Francisco needing to settle for field goals five times in the first half along with two touchdowns. 

Asked what he thought of his team’s first half,  “The first 28 minutes were good,” said Shanahan. “The last two minutes were really bad.”

So many factors in this one. Nick Bosa, having become the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history( $170 million) played a ton. His stats weren’t awesome, two tackles and a hit but without a doubt, his presence made the other defensive linemen even more formidable. Like Drake Jason who had two sacks.

Running back Christian McCaffrey, a midseason acquisition last year, had 152 yards and a touchdown. He also caught 3 passes for 17 yards. Brandon Aiyuk, who had 8 catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns, seems to have become the receiver the Niners have been seeking. He also can block, helping spring McCaffrey free on one run.

And no less significantly was Brock Purdy, again the quarterback after injury and months-long rehab of his right elbow. In Shanahan’s disciplined offense, Purdy was 19 of 29 for 220 yards and two touchdowns.

A running attack, a passing attack and that strong defense. That’s balance and cause for belief. And for some, boastfulness.

 “I mean, we’re the baddest guys on the planet, and that’s our mindset, honestly,” said safety Tahsaun Gipson, speaking of the 49ers’ defense. “Not to be cocky or disrespectful. So tip our hat off to (the Steelers). Their offense has a lot of great young core guys. They’re going to be good for years to come. It’s just that the 49ers defense is a different brand of football. … And our offense is just — I would hate to play our offense, man.”

Said Bosa: “We just have so many players. It’s fun to watch Aiyuk do his thing. And Purdy shut some haters up. It’s nice to be on a really good team.”

How good will be decided when more than one game has been played, not that the one game didn’t get people excited.

Niners' Shanahan: ‘Didn’t enjoy game by any means’

“It’s not all about the quarterback,” said Greg Papa, who after his years previously as the Raiders announcer and now the 49ers announcer, well knows, that it is indeed always about the quarterback, especially in San Francisco.

Where from Frankie Albert to John Brodie through Joe Montana and Steve Young, it’s been about the man who takes the snaps and the criticism. As was the case Sunday when the Niners played their first preseason (exhibition) game of 2023 to find a backup for Brock Purdy, who as promised pre-game, didn’t play a down Sunday against the Raiders in Las Vegas (sadly now the home of the Oakland Raiders as it seemingly will be of the Oakland Athletics as well).

If you care about the score, that’s your problem. 

The Raiders won, 34-7, and although the result means little in the grand scheme of things, Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said, “I didn’t enjoy the game by any means.”

Not that there wasn’t some value for Shanahan and the Niners, who now understand (as if they didn’t before) the importance of the quarterback, primarily Trey Lance, to unload the ball before the D-line unloads on him.

As a point of information, the late John Madden, when he coached the Raiders, said if a preseason game was one-sided, he wanted to be the loser, the better to get his team’s attention in practice. 

Lance, who started, was sacked four times for 18 yards, the main reason the Niners didn’t get a first down until the second quarter.

“Trey held the ball too long,” affirmed Shanahan. Perhaps because even if he was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 draft, he’s barely played, losing the position because of injuries, which enabled first Jimmy Garoppolo, then Purdy to take over.

During the off-season, the Niners signed another first-round QB, Sam Darnold, who as Lance, was a third overall pick by the Jets who kept him until he was booed out of New York, not unusual for any Jets quarterback not named Joe Namath.

Darnold played the second half and after completing his first four pass attempts, finished 5 of 8. He wasn’t sacked once, but situations and lineups change later in play. It also may change after a few weeks and before the regular season begins. 

Is this the way the Niners view their QBs? Will the rotation be Purdy, Lance, and Darnold? Or will Lance or Darnold be waived or traded? And since he’s returning from that season-closing elbow injury, will Purdy be healthy enough to regain his place?

“We’re always hard on quarterbacks,” reminded Shanahan. 

Then, when it appeared he would gripe about what had happened — or considering the lack of offense, what hadn’t — Shanahan softened his attitude. Lance was being protected, in a manner by an O-line lacking numerous starters.

He paid the price for backups playing their roles. Then again, he paid the price of a sub not being completely comfortable with moving up to the level demanded.

It’s not all about the quarterback until it has to be.

Niners' magical season ends in hopelessness

What happens when there isn’t any more? When the season that was so magical becomes so prosaic and sad? When the dream so unexpectedly becomes, if not a nightmare, than a feeling of hopelessness?

What happens when everything that was going so right goes so very wrong? When you lose your quarterback, your cool and most significantly the game that was going to put you into the Super Bowl?

Everybody knew the Philadelphia Eagles were a great team. Didn’t they have the best record in the NFC? Weren’t they playing at home Sunday? Maybe if the 49ers aren’t forced to use a quarterback who in effect was fourth string, Philly still dominates as it did, crushing the 49ers, 31-7.

Or maybe not.

You’ve heard the phrase — part reality, part agony — that one plays the cards he or she is dealt. Your starting quarterback gets pummeled minutes into the game? Your usually disciplined defense starts making one penalty after another? The officials seem biased? (Which they are not).

Kismet, baby. Fate. You do the best you can.

Unfortunately for the Niners, down to a quarterback who virtually had been found in the wilderness, 36-year-old Josh Johnson, getting called for penalties after what might have been a game-deciding sequence, the best wasn’t good enough.

And so it is done, this 2022 season, when a kid who was known as Mr. Irrelevant, quarterback Brock Purdy, had helped win a dozen games in succession, and in the process won plaudits and fame.

It was being billed as a fairy tale, the guy taken at the bottom of the draft, along with a defense that was on top of the league stats, bringing a title to the City by the Bay. But as we learned as kids, not all fairy tales have a happy ending.

And yet, this topsy-turvy Niner season has just concluded — the 3-4 start, the injury to the QB who was the starter; the injury to the steadfast loyal kid who replaced him, Jimmy Garoppolo; then on Sunday the injury to the kid who replaced Jimmy G, the surprisingly skilled Purdy.

If you’re a Niners fan, even a fan of pro football, do you cling only to the results of the final game, the end, or are you able to find at least a small measure of satisfaction in that big picture, a long winning streak and, after yet another victory over the Dallas Cowboys, a place in the conference title game?

Donte Whitner, a onetime defensive back, said in so many words that the only way to judge success is whether a team wins the Super Bowl. Or doesn’t win the Super Bowl.

That’s a bit shortsighted. The Niners didn’t even advance to the Super Bowl, but look at what was accomplished. The man at the most important position, the quarterback, gets knocked out of the game so quickly. It is not Brock Purdy’s fault or coach Kyle Shanahan’s fault.

“I wish we had a little better opportunity,” said Shanahan, understandably emotional.

If wishes were horses … you know the saying. The only place this Niners team will be riding is off into the sunset.

Niners: After win over America’s Team comes Philly

You know the lyric, The road gets tougher, it’s lonelier and rougher. Not about the NFL playoffs, but it should have been.

Just about the time everything’s going splendidly, a divisional playoff win over the erstwhile America’s team, the Dallas Cowboys, the 49ers get the team currently acknowledged to be best in America.

Or least the best in the NFC, which may be one and the same, the Philadelphia Eagles.

They also get one game away from another Super Bowl.

But because that game is against the Eagles, Sunday in the chill at Philly, one mustn’t make future plans.

As Niners coach Kyle Shanahan stood on the field at Levi’s Stadium, where after the 19-12 victory over Dallas he agreed to appear for Bay Area television — people get magnanimous following big wins — the subject of the Eagles was brought up.

Philly may not quite have the magic and the history of Dallas, which always has had the attention of, and occasionally the edge over, the Niners.

They offer no Jerry Jones in egotistical splendor making promises, no memories of Montana to Clark — The Catch — fulfilling promises. They are just a franchise that started the schedule with a victory and a lead over everybody.

Also with a roster that so crushed the New York Giants Saturday night in the other divisional playoff, going in front 28-7 in the first half before winning 38-7, the New York writers were shocked — which seemingly is impossible.

“They’re very good,” or words to that effect, conceded Shanahan about the Eagles, whose quarterback, Jalen Hurts, missed a considerable part of the season with an injury, but were dominant because of, yes, defense.

The same thing that won for the 49ers and the Cowboys, teams that in the long-ago era were known for offense, Montana and Steve Young, Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman. Now their reputation is constructed on defense, as a halftime score of 9-6 would verify.

The Niners scored the game’s only touchdown, a two-yard run by Christian McCaffrey, in the fourth quarter.

Defense and turnovers are the difference in the postseason. San Francisco limited the Cowboys to 282 net yards while gaining 312. Niner quarterback Brock Purdy didn’t throw an interception; Dallas’ revered and reviled Dak Prescott threw two.

Purdy is 7-0 since replacing Jimmy Garoppolo (who of course replaced Trey Lance, who was forced by injuries to sit out). The question is what San Francisco will do with all three quarterbacks next season.

First comes the question of whether this season, Purdy, famous as Mr. Irrelevant, last pick in the draft, can be the first rookie to be a Super Bowl quarterback.

He’s already the third rookie to win two playoff games.

Tight end George Kittle, whose catch of a slapped ball was worthy of the many replays it got on Fox, said of Purdy, “Brock is a good quarterback. He keeps his eyes up when the play is falling apart and gives us a shot at the ball.” 

He certainly has given them a shot at the championship.

A wild win for Niners in wild card

This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. Or then, perusing history, maybe it was. After all, the words “wild card” can be interpreted any way you decide.

And the prevailing wisdom about the 49ers was that their game against Seattle wouldn’t be as wild as it turned out to be.

The Niners had defeated the Seahawks in both regular-season games this fall and winter, but as has been pointed out quite accurately, it’s difficult to beat another team three in a row in the NFL.

Unless they are mismatched. Which, in a second half that began with the heavily favored Niners trailing by a point, ultimately turned out to be the situation.

San Francisco, with its top-ranked defense taking control as it has so often, scored 25 points before the Seahawks got a touchdown, with three minutes remaining, that didn’t matter.

So the 49ers won 41-23 on Saturday and are into the next round of the playoffs, for a game that will be played, as was this wildest of cards, at Levi’s Stadium against a yet undetermined opponent.

And most likely, not in the rain that has been punishing the Bay Area and returned in the third quarter, as seemingly did the Niners.

Yes, for those of a certain age, it brings back memories of 1981, when the weather was inclement and the results were inspiring, San Francisco beating the New York Giants on a Candlestick Park field barely playable — remember the sod squad? — and then on the Montana-to-Clark pass taking down the Cowboys and going to the Super Bowl.

Where this journey concludes is unpredictable, but at least the Niners are still a presence, and head coach Kyle Shanahan is still a happy individual — after being less happy at two quarters into the Seattle game.

The Niners were doing virtually everything they needed to do in the first half, other than getting people into the end zone, a rather significant problem.

“You’ve got to score points,” said Shanahan, and then someone reminded him the Niners gained more yards in this game, 505, than in any this season.

“We only had 13 points until late in the first half,” said the coach.

Rookie quarterback Brock Purdy threw four touchdown passes. Not quite a rookie after playing six games — and winning every one — he was under pressure early. Sure, he was unbeaten and had performed remarkably for a man taken last in the draft (actually for anyone taken anywhere in the draft). But this was his first postseason game. Ever.

Under pressure from a pass rush carefully crafted by Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, Purdy, a righthander, kept running to his left before throwing an incompletion.

Asked if he thought Purdy was nervous, Shanahan said, “No, the deficit made me nervous. I appreciate what he’s doing. I was wishing he could have had a couple of touchdowns.”

They got one quickly after Niners defensive lineman Charles Omenihu knocked the football loose from Seattle QB Geno Smith. The 49ers recovered at their own 19 with some three minutes left in the third quarter. That did it for the Seahawks.

“The ball hit the ground,” said Shanahan. “I saw it bouncing and kept thinking, ‘Grab it.’ He scooped it up.”

And San Francisco was about to scoop up a win that shouldn’t have been as difficult as it became.

Niners: Wrong audible, right quarterback

One play into the game and Brock Purdy was down, sacked. Not quite the way saviors are supposed to begin.

“Wrong audible,” was the brief, unemotional explanation from 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.

But in time, the right quarterback.

No, Purdy, the acclaimed Mr. Irrelevant, did not by himself beat the Bucs and Tom Brady, called the GOAT or greatest of all time. Football is a team sport.

But on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, the rookie Purdy, utilizing his talents and a game plan brilliantly created by Shanahan and his staff, was better.

Because, as has been the situation since the loss to Kansas City, the 49ers’ defense is better.

Sure, much of the pre-game material was about the two QBs — the Niners’ rookie, who took over from the injured Jimmy Garoppolo, and the Bucs’ star, who grew up in San Mateo, some 25 miles from Levi’s.

Yet as we have been instructed over the years, it’s the other people, the linesmen, the defenders, who make the difference. Brady only had thrown two interceptions all season. He threw two alone against San Francisco. Two more than Purdy.

“I was really happy for him,” said Shanahan. “He’s tough. It looked like he would be our No. 2. Then Jimmy signed. He works hard.”

After the game, Purdy was as humble as a man taken last in the draft figured to be.

“He’s very poised, but he plays with energy at the same time,” running back Christian McCaffrey said. “And I think those are two great traits to have as a quarterback.”

If Purdy had game-opening, first-NFL-start jitters, they were probably knocked out of him by safety Keanu Neal on that first play — a sack that was negated by an unnecessary roughness penalty.

Said Purdy, “Honestly it just felt good to get hit and just feel like I was in the game.”

He knows the system and his teammates after weeks of practice. What he didn’t know was that the two men ahead of him would get hurt.

What we don’t know is how he’ll respond in a road game where the crowd is hooting and jeering, but we will learn quickly enough. The Niners play at Seattle on Thursday night.

“We got turnovers in this game,” said Shanahan, about the offense. They also had 404 yards rushing and passing, And the Niners, once 1-2, are 9-4 after a sixth straight win.

Deebo Samuel is injured, a high ankle sprain, which could be a big loss in this run-oriented system. Then again, that’s why the 49ers signed McCaffrey. He is not Deebo, but he is very close.

The theory in the NFL is “next man up.” If the next man is Brock Purdy, the idea would seem to have some merit.

As Niners learned, nobody’s irrelevant in the NFL

The definition of irrelevant is “not connected with or relevant to something.” Unless, of course, it involves the NFL, where everything and everyone is connected. As we learned once more on a Sunday in San Francisco, where a foot was broken but a team’s hopes were not.

We refer to Jimmy Garoppolo, Mr. Hard Luck, and to Brock Purdy, perhaps Mr. Good Luck. And to the screaming unpredictability of sports. Do not try to outguess fate. Or rewrite fables.

Nobody would have believed the Niners’ quarterback progression this season, or the accidents incurred.

But here they are, using a quarterback who in generic terms was little more than third string, but because he was in the right place — or wrong place — at the right time is forever to be labeled Mr. Irrelevant, famous for being infamous. 

Paul Salata, who grew up in L.A., was a receiver for USC and played in the 1945 Rose Bowl. He also was on the Trojan baseball team. Drafted by the 49ers, he played a smattering of NFL games and became enamored by the players, who like himself, were pros but never stars.

“Everyone who is drafted works hard,” Salata once told the New York Times, but some don’t get any recognition. “I wanted to celebrate who gets picked last. The player at the end of the line rarely gets noticed. And their hard work should be noticed.”

Thanks to Salata, who died in October 2021, one day before his 95th birthday, the player at the bottom gets plenty of notice, and so does Salata. He and his friends from Orange County came up with the idea of Mr. Irrelevant and Irrelevant Week, where the man chosen last gets almost the same attention as the man taken first. Almost.

There’s a dinner and TV appearances, a tradition that started when Kelvin Kirk of Dayton was drafted by the Steelers in 1976. Kirk took umbrage, believing he was the punchline of a joke, but later on those designated Mr. Irrelevant have been appreciative. Some end up on rosters. Kicker Ryan Succop (South Carolina, 2009) made it to the Super Bowl with Tampa Bay, winning a ring.

Purdy and the Niners would be thrilled by that possibility, although admittedly there’s a big difference between a player who gets a team into the end zone and someone who gets the ball over the crossbar.

Purdy was projected as not even being drafted, but the Niners made him the 262nd player taken.

In movies, people like Purdy are tossed into a game and toss the winning touchdown pass. But this is real life, and the dreamers are warned not to believe in miracles.

Still, Purdy did throw for a touchdown last weekend. Whatever happens from here, is a tribute of sorts to Paul Salata — and a reminder that nobody who’s good enough to be an NFL draft pick is irrelevant.