SANTA CLARA - The 49ers keep losing key players. They also keep winning football games.
That’s the part that matters most, and it was on full display Sunday in a 36-30 win over the Cardinals that pushed San Francisco to 3-0. Brock Purdy threw four touchdowns, piled up 331 yards from scrimmage and didn’t turn it over.
George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey looked like their 2023 selves again, combining for three scores. On the surface, that’s a clean story.
It wasn’t clean at all.
The Niners spent much of the afternoon watching bodies disappear into the blue injury tent. Mike Evans went out with a rib injury.
Trent Williams left with a stinger and did not return. Both starting cornerbacks exited for concussion checks, though both came back.
Dre Greenlaw injured his quad, and his replacement then picked up a stinger. There were stretches when the injury tent had a line outside it.
That kind of churn would wreck plenty of teams. For San Francisco, it has become routine.
The 49ers entered the game already missing six of the 10 defensive linemen they had at the start of the season, and then lost another one Sunday to game-ending cramps. Wide receiver Jordan Watkins had his own strange rise through the week: inactive for the first two games, he entered Wednesday practice with a shot at snaps after DeMarcus Robinson’s ankle injury in Week 2, then wound up trusted enough to play, then finished Sunday as the Niners’ top X receiver. He also had two nice first-half catches.
Nothing about this group is normal right now. Even Deebo Samuel turned in one of those box scores that makes you blink twice, finishing with 80 receiving yards and no catches. That came on the 82-yard hook-and-lateral play that produced San Francisco’s first touchdown.
Still, the 49ers kept doing what they do. And the reason is pretty simple: Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy keep them from losing games.
Shanahan said the injuries don’t leave room for reflection.
“You don’t have time to think about anything else,” Shanahan said.
Purdy, meanwhile, has grown into the kind of quarterback who doesn’t let the chaos pull him off course.
“Obviously when I see my guys go down, it sucks,” Purdy said. “As I’ve grown, all I can do is control what I can control… and leave it at that.”
That’s been the through line for San Francisco. Shanahan’s play calling keeps the offense humming, even when the roster is patched together with spare parts. Purdy trusts it completely.
“I think Kyle is the best in the league in terms of calling plays, his system… calling the right plays at the right time,” Purdy said. “That’s the difference between a good play caller and a great play caller.”
“Any time a play call comes in, we’re confident that we have the best in the league at doing this.”
Shanahan said having Purdy gives him the freedom to use the full playbook. He said it’s the third time in his play-calling career - which now spans 19 years - that he’s had a quarterback he can trust that much.
The first was Texans quarterback Matt Schaub, when Shanahan was 29 and in his second year as a play caller. The next was Matt Ryan, who won NFL MVP with Shanahan as Falcons offensive coordinator in 2016.
The third, Shanahan said, is Purdy. “[F]or four years,” he added.
Purdy was seventh in the NFL in passing yards after Sunday, but the bigger numbers tell the story better: 3-0, nine passing touchdowns, one interception and zero sacks taken. Add in the injuries around him, and he has to be part of the conversation for the kind of season Ryan once had.
For now, though, the formula is simpler than all that. The 49ers keep losing stars.
Shanahan keeps adjusting. Purdy keeps delivering.
And the wins keep piling up anyway.
In Other News...
Fred Warner May Have Created A Rivalry Problem For The 49ers
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Tyreek Hill Is Back On The Radar For Banged-Up 49ers
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San Franciscos need at the position has only grown with the recent rib injury to Mike Evans adding to the teams already banged-up receiving group. Hill has naturally become a name to watch, but for now the interest remains just that, with no official contact or deal reported as the 49ers and other teams monitor his recovery. [Read more 🡒]
Brock Purdy's Hot Start Is About To Face A Different Test
Brock Purdys early-season surge has drawn plenty of notice around the league, with Dan Orlovsky and Pat McAfee both publicly praising the 49ers quarterback and putting him in the early MVP conversation. The numbers have backed up the buzz, as Purdy has been near the top of the league in completion rate, touchdowns and touchdown-to-interception ratio while guiding San Francisco through a fast start.
The next step in evaluating just how real this run is may come this week, when the 49ers face the Broncos. Some of Purdys early opponents have not exactly presented elite defenses, so Denver offers a different kind of measuring stick for San Franciscos offense and its quarterback, who will be asked to keep the same rhythm against a sturdier test. [Read more 🡒]