The 49ers are 3-0, and the reason is staring everybody in the face: Brock Purdy and a rolling offense that keeps finding new ways to pile up points. San Francisco’s 36-30 win over the Cardinals on Sunday pushed the team to 2-0 in the NFC West, but it also left behind a bigger story than the final score. This attack is off to a historic start.
Purdy keeps making it look easy, even when the deck is stacked against him. Against Arizona, he turned in a four-touchdown day and stretched one of the best three-game runs of his career. Sunday was the third time in his career that he has put together a three-game stretch with nine or more passing touchdowns and one or fewer interceptions.
What makes this run jump off the page is the way he’s doing it. Mike Evans went down with an injury in the second quarter, and Purdy was left without his top four receivers - Evans, De’Zhaun Stribling, Ricky Pearsall, and Demarcus Robinson - while not targeting Deebo Samuel once.
None of that slowed him down. He still completed 8-of-12 passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns.
George Kittle obviously helps. So did Purdy working downfield with Jordan Watkins, who was banished to the shadow realm just a week ago.
The jump pass along the sideline was the kind of throw that says a quarterback is feeling himself. Right now, Purdy is.
And the production is showing up in the record book. Through three games, the 49ers have scored 98 points, and Sunday’s 36-point outing gave them the most points they’ve ever scored through three games under Kyle Shanahan. It’s one of the hottest starts in franchise history, too.
There’s even a quirky historical note attached to it: the 49ers have never won a Super Bowl in a season when they scored more than 100 points in their first three games. But they did win two titles - in 1984 and 1994 - after scoring between 95 and 99 points in that opening stretch. San Francisco is right in that range now, sitting at 98.
The names tied to the other big starts tell their own story. John Brodie in 1965, Joe Montana in 1983, Steve Young in 1998 - that’s the company this offense is brushing up against. And now it’s Purdy leading the 2026 offense into the same neighborhood.
For comparison, Shanahan’s 2016 Falcons - the team that went on to score 540 points and featured Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, and Devonta Freeman - had 104 points through their first three games. The 49ers are only one touchdown behind that pace.
That doesn’t mean San Francisco is going to chase 534 points over 17 games, but it does show just how fast this thing is moving right now. Through three weeks, the answer is simple: so far, so good.
The offensive line deserves a big slice of the credit, too. It’s been the most scrutinized unit entering the season, and it has answered every test so far. The 49ers are the only team that hasn’t allowed a sack this season, and they’ve had just four plays from scrimmage go for negative yards, not counting kneels.
That protection has shaped everything Purdy is doing. He’s been pressured on just a quarter of his 90 dropbacks.
When defenders get to him, he’s completed only 43 percent of his passes, but he hasn’t made a mistake. When he’s kept clean on the other 75 percent of those dropbacks, he’s been almost perfect, throwing all nine of his touchdowns with a passer rating of 142.8.
The run game has been just as clean. The only four negative plays allowed by the line this season are a Christian McCaffrey run for a loss of three on Sunday, a Kaelon Black run for a loss of two on Sunday, a McCaffrey reception for a loss of one in Week 1, and a Black run for a loss of one in Week 2. That kind of forward movement is a huge reason the 49ers have scored on nearly 60 percent of their offensive drives.
The one area that still needs real help is the pass rush. Nick Bosa and Mykel Williams should be back within the next few weeks, and the Matt Judon addition helps. But the 49ers need more than that.
Sunday made that clear. Without Bosa, the pass rush pressured Jacoby Brissett 14 times on 54 dropbacks and got to him twice. Even with Bosa available earlier in the season, the rush didn’t exactly overwhelm anybody: zero sacks in Week 1, and four sacks in Week 2 against Malik Willis, with two of those coming on plays where Willis ran himself out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage.
The talent gap behind Bosa still looks too wide. Judon narrows it a bit, but he didn’t record a sack in 368 snaps for the Dolphins and Bills last season and hasn’t had one since Week 17 of the 2024 season.
Maybe there’s another edge rusher out there who can help - someone in the Chase Young skill range, to use one example. John Lynch and company have until Tuesday, November 10, at 1 p.m. to find help on the edges.
In Other News...
49ers Turn To A Familiar Name As Receiver Depth Gets Tested
The 49ers are turning to a familiar face for some added help at wide receiver after Mike Evans went down with a rib injury. Dante Pettis, a former second-round pick by San Francisco in 2018, tried out for the team and is set to rejoin the roster, giving the 49ers a player who already knows the building and the demands that come with it.
Pettis has bounced around the league since his first stint in San Francisco, with stops on multiple NFL teams along the way. For a 49ers group that needs reliable depth, the move brings in a receiver with some history in the system and a chance to fill a needed spot while the wider picture at the position remains in flux. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Injury Report Suddenly Raises A Bigger Week 4 Concern
The first practice report of the week gave the 49ers a familiar mix of caution and concern, with eight players sitting out as San Francisco began turning its attention to Denver. Christian McCaffrey was among the names on the list, though his absence was part of the teams usual rest pattern rather than a new setback, and the 49ers are trying to handle several nagging issues without letting them linger into the rest of the schedule.
Brandon Aiyuk, Dre Greenlaw and Javon White were also among those held out, dealing with injuries that range from rib and quad contusions to hamstring and knee problems. With the Broncos game first on the board and more important matchups waiting beyond it, the real concern for San Francisco is less about one missed practice than how many of these players can be managed safely without creating a bigger problem later in the season. [Read more 🡒]
Jordan Watkins Made His Case But The 49ers Just Complicated It
Jordan Watkins gave the 49ers something to think about in a hurry. After being inactive for the first two games, the rookie came back and made the most of his opportunity, finishing with two catches for 60 yards in a showing that fit neatly with what Kyle Shanahan has said he wants from his receivers. Shanahan praised Watkins for the way he ran routes, secured catches and contributed in the run game, all the little details that can help a young wideout earn trust quickly.
Still, the path forward is not exactly clear. San Francisco recently brought back Dante Pettis, adding another name to a receiver room where every snap can matter for a player trying to stick, and Watkins now has to keep building on a promising outing rather than simply live off it. For a player who just forced his way into the conversation, the next stretch may say a lot about whether this was a breakthrough or just the start of the battle. [Read more 🡒]