{"id":8717675,"date":"2023-01-16T15:56:46","date_gmt":"2023-01-16T23:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/?p=8717675&preview=true&preview_id=8717675"},"modified":"2023-01-17T04:00:13","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T12:00:13","slug":"kurtenbach-brock-purdy-the-nfls-most-valuable-player-saved-the-49ers-season-and-their-future-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2023\/01\/16\/kurtenbach-brock-purdy-the-nfls-most-valuable-player-saved-the-49ers-season-and-their-future-too\/","title":{"rendered":"Kurtenbach: Brock Purdy \u2014 the NFL’s true most valuable player \u2014 saved the 49ers season and their future, too"},"content":{"rendered":"

The question I have been asked the most during this incredible Niners run with Brock Purdy as the quarterback isn’t “can they win the Super Bowl?”<\/p>\n

No, it’s “what happens at quarterback next year?”<\/p>\n

Well, Purdy has answered that question for all of us over the last seven games.<\/p>\n

No matter what happens from this point in the playoffs onwards, Purdy has proven himself to be the 49ers’ quarterback of the future. Of course he is. You saw his performance over the Seahawks on Saturday, where he threw for 332 yards and accounted for four touchdowns, right?<\/p>\n

It doesn’t matter if Purdy wins the Super Bowl — the strange, arbitrary barometer suggested by countless fans over the last few weeks. No, Purdy has already passed the test. When he has played, he has made the 49ers better.<\/p>\n

And while no one expected Brock Purdy to be the man in Santa Clara \u2014 save for perhaps Brock Purdy \u2014 the reality of the scenario is inescapable: The Niners’ grand Trey Lance plan is dead. They’re on the Purdy Plan from here on out.<\/p>\n

That leaves the team with a bit of a mess. But the 49ers should feel fortunate. They stumbled into the most enviable quarterback situation in the NFL \u2014 a situation so advantageous that it previously only existed in thought exercises.<\/p>\n

\"San
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) walks off the field after their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023. The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 38-13. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n