NFL Playoffs: Why Brock Purdy is the final piece to the 49ers jigsaw

Throughout his football career, Brock Purdy has proven multiple times that he is the real deal. Despite having proven himself on multiple occasions, the journey to him becoming the San Francisco 49ers all-time season passing yards record holder (which was achieved in his first full season) has been far from easy.

Ahead of 49ers playoff clash against the Green Bay Packers, all eyes are on the quarterback. The beautiful thing about Purdy is, however, he takes it in his stride. He has never been bothered by external factors, he simply kept on taking the opportunity when it has arrived and the inner-confidence he possesses helps the team to excel.

Being an Arizona native, the journey began at the high school Perry, in Gilbert. He was ranked as number 10 prospect in the state. He achieved a 27-13 record and managed to establish a name for himself against the bigger programs in the state and division, and won the 2017 Gatorade’s Football Player of the Year and was named the Arizona Republic’s high school football player of the year.

After receiving 12 offers from colleges, he chose Iowa State University on February 7th, 2018. during his freshman year at the University, he entered the team as third string to Kyle Kempt and Deb Noland. When Kempt developed an injury and Noland was deemed ineffective, Purdy stepped up in week 6 and never lost his place in the team.

With 8 games played that season, he completed 146 passes of 220 for 2250 yards and threw 16 touchdowns in the process. Despite 7 interceptions, a 169.9 passer rating put Purdy inside the top 6 for the best passer ratings in all NCAA football.

Throughout the rest of the time at Iowa State, he broke school records and won the Fiesta Bowl. During his sophomore year, he passed for a touchdown in a 12 game streak and led the big 12 conference in passing yards and was placed third in overall total touchdowns. With 27 of those being passing touchdowns, he broke a 41-year-old record within Iowa State which still remains the highest to this date.

In his junior year, he led the team to a number 9 national ranking, which was their highest in the school’s history dating to 1895. Ridiculously enough, by the time he ended his time at Iowa State, 32 school records were broken. These include career pass attempts, completions, yards, percentage, passing touchdowns with 81 and total touchdowns of 100. The last time his school last had 4 consecutive winning seasons was from 1923-1927.

Despite all these records to his name, he was still doubted when it came to the NFL Draft in 2022. One team passed on him due to him “not being a very good athlete… limited arm, both in strengths and throw repertoire.” He was given a chance by the San Francisco 49ers, who picked him as the final pick of the draft. While being selected as 262nd, he was dubbed the infamous “Mr Irrelevant” title.

The 49ers went into the 2022 season looking to go all the way, but with Purdy once again becoming a third string QB. However, with Lance out in week 2 and Garoppolo out in quarter one in week 13, Purdy had to step up. Despite featuring for a few plays a few weeks previously against the Chiefs, he had no further experience playing in front of the 49ers faithful. He played convincingly enough to get the win over Miami Dolphins.

On December 11th, Purdy showed the world that he was relevant. A first start in the NFL where he was up against the legendary Tom Brady with Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A memorable night in Santa Clara gave the 49ers faithful a feeling of something exciting brewing, where Purdy became the first QB to beat Tom Brady on their first start in a dominant 35-7 win for the red and gold. His parents were in the crowd that day and heard the whole of the Levi’s shouting out Purdy which made the event even more sweeter.

While guiding the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game in a 12-game winning streak, Purdy’s influence was something not to underestimate. He became the first rookie QB to win a play-off game, followed up with a second, and became the first rookie QB since Sammy Baugh in 1937 to have at least 200 yards and two pass scores in a playoff win.

However, the formidable run ended there, as the 49ers lost heavily to the Eagles in what was a 31-7 defeat. Purdy was diagnosed with a complete tear of his ulnar collateral ligament after an injury early on in the game.

The talk of the league coming into the 2023 season was whether Purdy would be ready back in time for the new season, which he was. A successful surgery raised any further questions on the QB1 situation for the 49ers after rumours of Trey Lance being given an opportunity.

Purdy’s first five games this season continued on from his impressive form the previous season, where he had an average QB rating of 118.9. In week 4 Purdy went 20 for 21 over 283 yards which set a new 49ers franchise record for the highest single-game completion rate of 95.2%.

The highest rating from those five games came against their main rivals Dallas Cowboys. Throwing 4 TD’s, 17 completions out of 24 for 252 yards helped the team complete a dominate 42-10 win. After Kurt Warner, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, Purdy joined the ranks to lead a team that scored 30 points or more in at least 8 consecutive regular season games.

The few weeks that followed resulted in a three game losing streak, though Purdy wasn’t as bad as what the scores made out to be. While he was partially responsible, a few key interceptions against the Vikings and Bengals was the stand out which led to the defeats.

With the media on his back regarding his footballing ability, Purdy was at the forefront in 6 game winning streak that followed. With only 2 interceptions in that winning streak, Purdy followed up with 17 TD’s. Having hit 3 against the Jaguars and Buccaneers and 4 against the Eagles and Cardinals, Purdy elevated the team to the number 1 seed and NFC West champions.

Purdy hit his first perfect QB rating of 158.3 against the Buccaneers in a 27-14 win, which marked him the first QB to achieve this at the 49ers since the great Joe Montana in 1989.

The 49ers looked unstoppable in the run up to Christmas, with Purdy and his teammates famously eating turkey against big rivals Seahawks on their turf on Thanksgiving night, in a redemption style win from what happened 10 years previously. The next big game over the Eagles saw Purdy throw another near perfect game in a blow-out win, before defeating the Seahawks and Cardinals to become NFC West champions again.

A Christmas themed nightmare occurred for Purdy, however, where the 49ers halted to the Ravens 33-19. No TD and 4 interceptions put Purdy under the bus again from the media, as the performance was the worst he had done in a 49ers jersey.

A win over the Commanders confirmed the number 1 seed in the NFC and the bye week with them facing the Packers next Saturday night, after they blew out the Cowboys 48-32.

Therefore, with Purdy’s story in mind, it doesn’t go without saying that he knows how to set up when needed too. Countless bounce backs, agendas from the media after breaking record after record should prove he is a capable QB.

With a quality roster around him, he certainly fits the bill for his position. His efficiency as a QB is what makes him stand out and his ability to bounce back better after an off game. His qualities as a team player shows he is only focused on the next game in front of him and doing his job the best he can, his accountability when he admits he had a bad game but he knows he has the game to take the 49ers to Vegas next month.