SEATTLE — This is not a fluke. This is not a team getting lucky with a third-string quarterback. This is a juggernaut.
And this was not as close as the 21-13 scoreline suggested.
But it’s Seattle. So of course a pick-six got called back on a pillow-sack penalty call against Nick Bosa and Robbie Gould missed a 43-yarder, and the 49ers had to sweat a little bit.
At least, it was probably stressful for fans. This team doesn’t seem to be flustered by the moment.
Nor should it be.
With three games left, the 49ers are the first team in the NFL to clinch their division. They are thriving with a third-string quarterback who might’ve been their best option all along, and have eight full days to bask in the glow of their earliest NFC West title since 2011.
They’ve won seven-straight games with a physically imposing running game and the league’s best defense.
That the 49ers have reached this juncture with Brock Purdy at the helm, after the past two years of their quarterback escapades, is perhaps less farcical than it seems on paper.
There are ample monikers and qualifiers for Purdy and too many bad puns to count. Mr. Irrelevant has suddenly become “Mr. Relevant.” It’s far less fitting nickname than the not-PG acronym given to him by his teammates; you know, the one that fits his performances defined by, as George Kittle said — in butchered Spanish — “cojones.”
He’s got a legitimate swagger. He’s corrected players in a confident way that Trent Williams singled out as veteran-like.
It’s all very feel good, and Cinderella-esque from his perspective.
His first touchdown, a double screen pump-fake that went to Kittle, who had to act to get open, was on a play the 49ers call “Hollywood.”
“You’re trying to distract people,” said Kyle Juszczyk when asked why “Hollywood” was the name. “Look over here, look over here, when it’s really over the middle.”
The irony of that play call being part of the Purdy story — certainly with the long-term makings of a movie, at least a made-for-TV movie — is perhaps too nauseatingly on the nose.
He was right there all along.
But we didn’t expect Purdy to play a factor. I didn’t even expect him to make the roster.
Remember Nate Sudfeld? The 49ers guaranteed him $2 million this offseason to be their No. 2.
Purdy beat Sudfeld out, and resoundingly enough that Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch kept him around as a third-stringer even after the shock retention of Jimmy Garoppolo.
But Lance went down. Garoppolo stepped up. All the while, there was Purdy in the background, watching — as Jake Brendel told KNBR last week — more tape than anyone, working diligently to prepare himself if he was called upon.
He also made sure Christian McCaffrey — when he was acquired mid-week before the Kansas City Chiefs game — was up to speed with the offense.
Then Garoppolo went down. The offense hasn’t missed a beat since.
And I’d argue, fairly confidently, that it’s more dangerous now than with Garoppolo.
Look at the way Kyle Shanahan is calling the game for Purdy.
You can argue it’s just that Purdy is making the throws that have always been part of the offense. That’s certainly a component. He’s aggressive and so far, pretty fearless at getting to those throws.
It’s clear that those throws, which force defenses to be less predictable, mean something to Shanahan.
Take that touchdown throw to Christian McCaffrey against the Buccaneers, or even the open throw to George Kittle for the second touchdown on Sunday.
How many times have we seen Garoppolo miss those seeming gimme throws down the sideline, often badly?
This isn’t meant to be a tirade against Garoppolo. He was in the midst of the best season of his career. He hit more of those deep sideline throws in years past and made off-schedule plays with increasing regularity.
But he doesn’t have the speed or athleticism of Purdy, and it felt like a novelty when Garoppolo made those tougher because we’d seen him miss them so many times.
Go back to that double-pump touchdown to Brandon Aiyuk against Tampa.
Shanahan and Purdy put in a play the night before the game. Just them.
They saw something, chatted about it, and Shanahan felt confidence enough in a guy we all keep referring to — albeit factually, but in a way to indicate surprise at his success — as a seventh-round rookie, to put it in the gameplan. It was a spur of the moment call the next day.
It took Aiyuk by surprise. But it worked.
And then Shanahan sat with his new QB1 by his locker after the game, in what looked like an awfully wholesome moment.
Shanahan sure as hell isn’t thinking about Purdy’s draft pedigree.
We invest so much in pedigree, in potential, when the only thing that’s tangible is performance. Purdy has done nothing but perform.
He’s made some woeful throws, and should absolutely have been picked off by Quandre Diggs on an ill-advised throw over the middle on Thursday. But the kid continues to come right back, often immediately after his worst moments, with stunning plays that leave you shaking your head.
And of course he continued doing so while in legitimate pain.
Shanahan said the 49ers had doubts about whether Purdy would play on Thursday. He was clearly limited in warmups, with Josh Johnson throwing the majority of the warmup balls to receivers, and Purdy appearing to take less snaps than a starter usually would.
“In warm ups, sorta had to work through some pain and whatnot, but once the game started, man, I was ready to roll,” Purdy said. “Felt a little something throughout the game on some throws… I was definitely able to play for four quarters.”
Shanahan wasn’t so certain. He said he sincerely wondered if Purdy would be able to finish the game.
Meanwhile, Nick Bosa, who donned shorts and a tank top in warmups, said Purdy hid his pain.
“I couldn’t even tell he was hurting,” Bosa said. “I’ve seen other quarterbacks around the league who have similar things with the ribs. And I’ve dealt with it before. It’s brutal. So for him to not show any pain in his face or mannerisms, it shows a lot about who he is.”
It’s not just Purdy, obviously.
But he’s the story because almost every other component of this team has been so blatantly dominant that the only question has ever been at quarterback.
There’s every weapon you could possibly want on offense, and a line that’s anchored by the best tackle in football, bookended by a group of road graders. The defense, by any statistical margin, is the league’s best. Even Robbie Gould, despite his miss Thursday, is just about reliable as it comes (and Mitch Wishnowsky has been good, too).
Arik Armstead has elevated a group already carried by the league’s sack leader in Bosa (who just tied his career high at 15.5 sacks). Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw are the best linebacker duo in the league. And the secondary has a host of dynamic playmakers and a true No. 1 corner in Mooney Ward.
Even with all that talent, the 49ers made a massive investment in Trey Lance because there wasn’t enough belief that Garoppolo — even when healthy — could do enough for the 49ers to win a championship. There were questions about Lance’s readiness to start. We still don’t know what he’ll be.
After three performances, the questions about Brock Purdy are evaporating.
He is hitting the short, staple throws on time. He’s making pre-snap assessments of defenses and audibling to get to favorable progressions. When plays break down, or he needs to buy time, he does. It’s his consistent off-schedule playmaking, in concert with all those other attributes, that has elevated this offense.
When the 49ers needed him most on Thursday, he came through. On that third-and-1 with 2:42 left, on a play-action pass that the Seahawks read like a book, he got the exact yard required to all but ice the game with a veteran stretch of the ball.
Now the 49ers are heading back to the Bay with three games left and a shot to take the No. 2 seed from the Minnesota Vikings.
Minnesota would have the same record as the 49ers if they lose their next game. A tiebreaker would go to conference record, where the 49ers are 8-2 and the Vikings are currently 6-3, with four more conference games. San Francisco has two more conference games, against the Washington Commanders and Arizona Cardinals.
To (cornily) quote Seattle legend and Thursday night’s halftime performer Sir Mix-A-Lot, on Gold:
“We’re back in San Francisco and we’re looking for the gold rope.”
This is a team that has no glaring flaws. It’s a team which will get Deebo Samuel and Elijah Mitchell back for the playoffs. It will likely get one of Javon Kinlaw or Hassan Ridgeway back, too.
And from what we’ve seen over these last three games, it’s a team that hasn’t just survived it’s third-string quarterback. It’s been elevated by him.