The San Francisco 49ers have officially clinched a playoff berth and the NFC West. That shouldn't be a surprise under normal circumstances, but they did it after losing both their QB1 and his backup.
Trey Lance could barely play this season, so Jimmy Garoppolo took over. While unimpressive, he did just about enough to keep the ship afloat. Then, he was also done for the season with an injury of his own.
So, it was up to Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy to lead the Niners down the stretch. And, even though it didn't seem like a direct shot at Lance, it seems like HC Kyle Shanahan's words on his new QB should have him worried.
NFL News: Kyle Shanahan Calls Brock Purdy The Most Poised Rookie He's Ever Had
“He’s definitely the most poised rookie I’ve ever had,” Shanahan said, per ProFootballTalk. “He’s been like that since he got here. From what I hear about him in college he was very similar, starting as a freshman. He’s been great. He was poised all week, even being unsure whether he’d be able to go or not. I think that was uneasy for him because he didn’t know what to expect until he got into the game, but under the circumstances we didn’t have any other options.”
Shanahan Says Niners Are Far From Satisfied
The Niners are the most stacked team in the NFL right now, regardless of who's behind center. That's why the Head Coach claims the team is far from done yet, as winning their division wasn't their only goal:
“Right now, I’m so excited to have a few days just to reflect,” the coach said. “That’s the cool thing about Thursday games. We had a real good win on Sunday. You don’t have time to talk about it or think about it at all [as you] get ready for this. A big win tonight to be able to clinch the division and just have a couple of days we can relax a little bit.”
"But there’s no doubt about it; this isn’t our final goal by any means," Shanahan continued. “I’m very proud of our team and what we accomplished throughout the year to get to this. Our goal is to get in the tournament, and we accomplished that today, but now, it’s all trying to set that up to be the best situation we can and hopefully get some of our guys back in the process.”
It's been a while since the Niners last won the Super Bowl, and it would definitely be kind of ironic if they did so with Brock Purdy under center. But hey, maybe this is the start of a legendary career.
