Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers are doing exactly what a hot start is supposed to look like: clean, fast, and brutally efficient.
On Sunday, the 49ers rolled past the Miami Dolphins 35-13 and did something they hadn’t done in at least 45 years - score touchdowns on their first five possessions. Purdy was at the center of it all, turning in a near-perfect day that kept San Francisco moving with almost no wasted motion.
He finished 20 of 22 for 287 yards with two touchdown passes, one rushing touchdown and a 149.1 passer rating. The 49ers are 2-0, and both wins have come by at least 20 points, another first in franchise history.
They’ll visit the defending champion Seattle Seahawks, also 2-0, on Oct. 11.
“It was real good. He was almost flawless,” coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday.
“His last play was probably his only miss on the intentional grounding. Besides that he was pretty perfect.
He had an unbelievable game.”
Purdy opened the game by completing his first two passes, then saw his third dropped by Deebo Samuel. After that, he ripped off 18 straight completions, including a couple of plays that came after he extended things with his legs and improvised under pressure. San Francisco answered with five straight touchdown drives to start the afternoon.
His only other incompletion came on the final dropback, when he threw the ball away under unblocked pressure and drew an intentional grounding penalty.
“He’s special. I think that’d be the word I’d use for it,” running back Christian McCaffrey said.
“I think when him and Kyle get on a roll like that, it’s so fun to watch. … I don’t feel like he threw an incompletion the whole day.
I don’t know what the stats are, but it’s unbelievable to watch that and how decisive he is, how good he is at throwing on time, and then also creating when he has to. When he’s at the helm, we feel good.”
Purdy’s touchdowns came in different ways. He found George Kittle and Kyle Juszczyk for scoring passes and also ran one in himself, controlling the game from the opening series through the finish.
“He looked like he was just at practice out there, wheeling and dealing,” left tackle Trent Williams said. “We’re starting to witness Brock’s prime and I think it’s going to be a sight to behold. To me, I’ve always loved Brock, but I think he’s starting to get his respect now.”
The downfield passing game was especially sharp. According to NextGen Stats, Purdy was perfect on all 10 of his throws that traveled at least 10 yards past the line of scrimmage, finishing those attempts for 211 yards and a touchdown. San Francisco also found plenty of space, with a league-high 4.84 yards of separation per target and nearly one-third of its passes classified as “wide open” with at least 5 yards of separation.
Not everything was spotless. The running game never really got going, as the 49ers managed just 67 yards on 22 carries from non-quarterbacks. McCaffrey was held to 23 yards on 10 carries and has 91 rushing yards through two games.
The defensive front has its own issue to clean up. San Francisco has had trouble stopping the run when games are tight, and the defensive tackles were pushed around again. Miami ran for 84 yards on 20 carries in the first half and used that to help control the clock and keep the 49ers’ offense on the sideline.
The injury list also keeps growing. The 49ers lost another receiver when Demarcus Robinson went down with a high ankle sprain.
They were already without Ricky Pearsall, who is out for the season after knee surgery, and rookie De’Zhaun Stribling, who is expected to miss two months with an ankle injury. Defensive tackle James Thompson Jr. also suffered a high ankle sprain, and both he and Robinson could land on injured reserve.
WR Mike Evans (hip) will be managed this week at practice. DE Romello Height will have surgery on a broken hand but could play this week.
The numbers around Purdy’s start are getting hard to ignore. Through two games, the 49ers have thrown only 11 incomplete passes and produced 10 scoring drives. Since 2000, only two teams have managed at least 10 scoring drives in their first two games with fewer incompletions: the 2005 Steelers, who had nine, and the 2024 Saints, who had 10.
San Francisco returns home Sunday against Arizona, with a chance to move to 3-0 for the 10th time in the Super Bowl era. Each of the last eight times the 49ers started 3-0, they made the playoffs, including four seasons that ended with a trip to the Super Bowl.
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