The San Francisco 49ers once again have Super Bowl aspirations.
After coming up short in the last two NFC Championship games and losing defensive guru DeMeco Ryans, there’s still a strong belief that this is the year the 49ers return to the Super Bowl for the first time since Colin Kaepernick was behind center.
Last season the team lost 2021 No. 3 overall pick Trey Lance to a season-ending injury, and then his backup Jimmy Garoppolo was also lost for the season.
Here Comes Brock Purdy
That thrust 2022 seventh-round pick Brock Purdy, aka “Mr Irrelevant,” into the limelight as the team’s signal-caller.
Purdy played great and led the Niners to the brink of the Super Bowl before tearing his UCL on his first pass attempts.
On Saturday, five months after surgery, Purdy returned to the field and received glowing reviews from his head coach Kyle Shanahan. In fact, Purdy’s play pretty much locked up the starting QB position for the 2023 season, a welcome sight for Niners coaches, players and fans.
Purdy Was Nearly Perfect In Return
Facing most of the Denver Broncos starters on defense, Purdy went 4-for-5 for 65 yards and even had an 8-yard scramble that set up a field goal. In all, it was what Shanahan needed to see from his breakout star of 2022.
“I thought he did real good, all the plays that he had he made, and I don’t think he had a bad one,” Shanahan told reporters following the game.
Last week, following Trey Lance’s not-so-strong start, Shanahan spoke pretty strongly when asked about who his starter was. The offensive genius didn’t bold back when talking to reporters about the former Iowa State star.
“He would have to melt in practice to lose it,” Shanahan said. “And Brock’s too good of a player to melt in practice — and so are the other guys.”
Purdy Was Great In 2022
With the 2022 starter (Lance) and his backup (Garoppolo) both out with injuries in 2022, Purdy stepped in and played well.
He went 7-1, with two playoff wins, while passing for over 1,300 yards, 13 touchdowns and just four interceptions. His 67 percent completion percentage would’ve ranked seventh in the league if he had thrown enough passes.
But even without that Purdy was a godsend for the QB-needy Niners, and once again he’s the man that barring injury will be under center in 2023.
