The San Francisco 49ers are the best team in football.
This isn’t a one-game overreaction. It’s an affirmation of the obvious.
Their roster is clearly the most talented in the league. They possess arguably the best left tackle, running back, tight end, fullback, linebacker and edge rusher in the league. They have two elite wide receivers and defensive tackles, a top-tier corner, safety and second linebacker. Best coach? He’s up there, and at least a top-five play caller.
But.
But…
What about Brock Purdy?
Myriad people have wrung their hands about the quarterback.
To question his throwing ability after the elbow surgery this offseason was fair, especially to those who hadn’t seen him practice. To those who had, it was obvious that it’s been good as new.
He practiced from the outset of training camp with the first team, as did Christian McCaffrey for the first time with the 49ers. He looked his usual self there and in the preseason.
Now, we’ve seen Purdy’s arm is fine in a proper game.
So why are we selling Purdy and the 49ers short? Because he’s not Mahomes or Allen or Burrow? Because he was drafted last?
Trust your eyes. The kid can play.
He gets it. He delivers the ball where it’s supposed to go, on time. He can make off-schedule plays because he has great last-second instincts and elite short area quickness.
Most of all, for Kyle Shanahan’s purposes, he “rips it.” Shanahan has a quarterback he trusts for the first time since he coached Matt Ryan and Kirk Cousins. When Shanahan trusts his quarterback, he also rips it as a playcaller.
Pair that confidence with their embarrassment of riches on offense, and it makes the 49ers terrifying for defenses. Their own defense, having added Javon Hargrave, has leveled up. Clelin Ferrell also looks reliably good and Drake Jackson had three sacks in a pass rush-first role.
If there’s a problem with this team, it is not Purdy. It’s whether he can stay healthy.
He got sacked from the right side by T.J. Watt against Colton McKivitz three times and stripped twice. He was nearly hit as he threw a few times. Right guard Spencer Burford had three penalties.
That’s the same side the pressure came from in the NFC Championship game against the Philadelphia Eagles, when Haason Reddick snapped Purdy’s ulnar collateral ligament.
While there are also questions at cornerback — with Deommodore Lenoir playing nickel thanks to Isaiah Oliver looking out of his depth in the preseason — the 49ers have shown they can cobble together respectable secondary play through backups, especially with a DB specialist in Steve Wilks.
But if they need to, the 49ers have assets to make a move. If there’s an injury, or McKivitz isn’t doing the job, they have options.
San Francisco made win-now moves this week of restructuring the deals of Arik Armstead, Trent Williams and George Kittle to create north of $41 million in cap space. They own their top draft picks again. If there’s a move to be made at the deadline, they’re primed to make it.
They also, to be fair, added some quarterback insurance with Sam Darnold and Brandon Allen. Both seem capable enough to win with in the regular season, and were impressive in the preseason. But their proposition of winning a Super Bowl with Purdy is a serious one.
Now, there will surely be some stupid losses for the 49ers this season. They are prone to that. And September football is generally very silly.
Other elite teams will also improve. The Chiefs will get Travis Kelce and probably Chris Jones back, and their receivers won’t turn every pass into a pick-six. Joe Burrow’s not going to throw for 82 yards every game. The Eagles lost some pieces but drafted well and remain the most legitimate threat in the NFC.
But the seriousness with which the 49ers took their season opener, on the road, against a team that won six of its last seven games last season, was significant. They walked all over a Steelers team — in a 30-7 smothering — that came into the season with an abundance of hype. That franchise hasn’t had a losing record in the 17 years Mike Tomlin has been at the helm.
San Francisco allowed one yard against them until the final drive of the first half and picked apart their defense.
This is a team in the heart of its window. For the past four years, when they’ve had a (mostly) healthy quarterback, they have been in contention for a Super Bowl. They’ve been knocking on the door, and now have as stacked of a roster as they have ever had.
If Purdy stays healthy, along with most of this roster, they will not just compete again, but finally be successful.
