The issue was that Brock Purdy was busy doing just a little improvisational jazz within the Niners’ backfield. And Pearsall admits he hardly ever sees his 6-foot quarterback again there.
However there was no approach the receiver was lacking absolutely the missile coming his approach.
The NFL tracks practically all the things on a soccer discipline — they’re seemingly making up a brand new stat day-after-day — however they don’t present knowledge on cross velocity. So, I’ll need to guess, and I’m saying Purdy broke Mach 1 with this throw.
For all of the hand-wringing about his turf toe and his means to push the ball downfield, he didn’t simply throw this cross; he might need created a damaged the material of space-time with this absolute ripper.
It hit Pearsall in stride, proper above the numbers. An image-perfect, 37-yard strike. First down.
Two performs later, the Niners have been up 24-10.
“It was humming,” Pearsall informed me of the throw after the sport.
Not not like the 49ers’ offense as an entire.
The Niners’ 37-24 win over the Tennessee Titans wasn’t a masterpiece. It was neither good nor problematic. It was merely sufficient. Once more.
And after 4 straight video games of sufficient, the Niners have successfully punched their ticket to the postseason. The NFL does monitor playoff chances, they usually put the 49ers’ playoff odds at 98 p.c with three weeks to play.
That alone is price a second of appreciation. It has been modern to jot down this staff’s obituary all season, often someplace between the third and fourth damage report of the week. It was simple to say this staff was completed; I feel I’ve urged it about 5 instances.
It’s a lot, a lot tougher to truly tape up the damaged ribs, ignore the noise, and grind your technique to 10-4.
“You’ve got to bring your ‘A’ game when you’re playing a team like [them],” Titans working again Tony Pollard stated. “It’s a veteran team that’s been through the ups and downs. They know how to play together and how to fight back through adversity.”
There isn’t a query about that.
No, the query transferring ahead for the Niners is far easier: How far can this flawed however feisty staff really go?
The reply: So far as the offense can carry them. And never a yard additional.
Fortunately, this staff can put up some yards.
Coming off the bye week, the Niners’ offense seemed contemporary, aggressive, and liable to hold 40, perhaps even 50 factors on anybody. In a league that feels devoid of true juggernauts — everybody seems to be susceptible, save for maybe essentially the most injured staff within the league, San Francisco (you may’t break what’s already damaged) — that may be sufficient to make a run.
Don’t get me mistaken, the Niners aren’t any juggernaut themselves.
The Titans arrived in Santa Clara as a two-win staff and left as a two-win staff, however in between, they made the 49ers’ protection look inept. And Tennessee’s RPO seems to be drove the line of defense and linebackers loopy. The Niners’ secondary dropped three present interceptions besides, all whereas the staff’s run protection was, to be charitable, porous.
Regardless of the lopsided remaining rating, the sport hung in a partial state of steadiness far longer than it ought to have.
Now, the 49ers have been lucky that they might afford to spell Christian McCaffrey — who awakened Saturday with a sore again regardless of not but being 30 — extra usually than normal. They didn’t want each single certainly one of Purdy’s 339 whole yards. They didn’t strictly want all of George Kittle’s 88 yards or Pearsall’s 96.
However they positive wanted quite a lot of it to place away a staff tied for the worst file in soccer.
That is the Niners’ actuality. And a minimum of yet one more difficult check — if not three — are coming within the remaining three regular-season video games, with the playoffs positive to offer much more high quality.
The protection is looking for kind, however time is working out, and, frankly, the search seems to be somewhat feeble.
If the 49ers are going to win in January, there is just one path left:
Shootouts.
Purdy must harken again to his days enjoying within the Massive 12 and win some superb, enjoyable, and exhausting shootouts.
Frankly, it would go well with him and the Niners. Whereas the protection searches for solutions, the offense has seemingly discovered its rhythm on the precise proper second.
Kittle stays the gold customary at tight finish. Pearsall appears inconceivable to cowl. McCaffrey remains to be the league’s most dynamic weapon. Even Demarcus Robinson, largely forgotten since a terrific coaching camp, is rising as a viable, dependable possibility.
After which there’s Jauan Jennings. The person claimed he was enjoying on two unhealthy ankles and 5 damaged ribs, but he seemed like his previous, violent self on Sunday, snagging two touchdowns. Positive sufficient, Niners coach Kyle Shanahan stated that Jennings has been as wholesome as he’s been all 12 months during the last two weeks.
As Purdy’s safety blanket, a healthy-ish Jennings pays huge dividends down the stretch.
And Purdy? He has responded to that three-interception first-half meltdown in opposition to the Panthers in Week 12 by enjoying his finest soccer since 2023. He was glorious in opposition to Cleveland in Week 13 and downright nice on Sunday.
He wasn’t simply managing the sport in opposition to Tennessee; he was channeling Fran Tarkenton, Steve Younger, and prime Russell Wilson.
He’s feeling it, and he can’t conceal it.
And his 26-yard scramble to spark a 95-yard landing drive (which ended with a jump-pass landing, of all issues) was downright audacious. On it, he faked a ahead toss 20 yards previous the road of scrimmage — a transfer of pure yard conceitedness — earlier than doing just a little dance to cap off the run.
If there aren’t any nice groups this 12 months, maybe a singularly nice unit — led by a magician at quarterback — is nice sufficient.
“Our goals we set out at the beginning of the year are still there, no matter who is in or out of the lineup,” Trent Williams stated. “I’m super encouraged… We’ll see how the big dance plays out.”
With the best way Purdy is dancing proper now? You must like their probabilities.
