For the second year in a row, the 49ers are knocking on the door of the Super Bowl. Last season, their dreams of a title slipped through their fingers as they couldn’t hang on to their fourth-quarter lead over the eventual-champion Rams.
Fast forward to this year’s campaign, and you’ll find a lot of the same stars like Nick Bosa, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and head coach Kyle Shanahan manning the sideline. However, the quarterback position has gone through the wringer as Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo both have been put on the shelf due to injury. That thrust Mr. Irrelevant, Brock Purdy, into the limelight, and the rookie has not only kept San Francisco above water but has them on the doorstep of a Super Bowl berth.
So, how do the Niners avoid coming up just short of the big game like they did a year ago? Below, we’ll highlight three things that need to happen to ensure that San Francisco not only gets to Super Bowl LVII, but is hoisting the Lombardi Trophy by the end of it.
Brock Purdy continues his Cinderella run
As the pressure builds with each passing game, there is the thought in the back of folks’ minds about whether or not the next game will be the one where Brock Purdy turns into a pumpkin. After all, no rookie quarterback has ever brought his team to the Super Bowl before, and each of the four previous rookie signal-callers to reach the conference title game have lost while collectively throwing more interceptions than touchdowns. That freefall is what Purdy and the Niners will need to avoid for the young quarterback to make history and have the franchise win its sixth title.
Fortunately for San Francisco, Purdy has yet to show us that the moment is too big for him. Since stepping in as the starter following Garoppolo’s foot injury, he has played at an elite level. Since his first career start for the club in Week 14, Purdy has an NFL-best 116.0 passer rating. That’s the highest passer rating by a 49ers player over a seven-game stretch since Steve Young in 1996-97. The 49ers are also averaging 32.6 points per game and 8.98 yards per attempt since Purdy took over as the starter, which are both tops in the NFL. Purdy has also been smart with the football, totaling just two turnovers in his seven starts, which includes zero in the postseason.
With many young quarterbacks, you’ll oftentimes see a “deer in the headlines” look from them at some point or another,…
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