The Write Zone

It frustrates me beyond words when I see the 49ers getting criticized and downplayed because of them being prone to injuries. When Brock Purdy is deemed, “only good because Shanahan is his coach”. Now, I’m not going to call out names or anything, but I do want to make some points on the topics that most get criticized regarding the 49ers. (Just a note, I’m not going to use direct quotes. These headlines are simply the best way to combine all the articles I’ve read)

“The 49ers won’t do well because they are so injury prone.”

Yeah, this is probably the biggest one. Let me just put something into perspective. Last year, they permanently lost Nick Bosa week 3, Fred Warner week 6, Brock Purdy was out for 8 games, Brandon Aiyuk ghosted them and was never there, Ricky Pearsall was out for 6 weeks, Trent Williams was out for week 18 against Seattle, Kittle tore his hamstring in the Wild Card round and was also out for a while early in the season, and Jauan Jennings was out for 2 games.

And what team was fighting for the No. 1 NFC seed? What team took down the defending Super Bowl Champions? Which defense, albeit not being wonderful, held together without arguably the best LB in the league and their star DE?

And they say the 49ers won’t do well.

Now, I understand that last year won’t define this one. But to me, the 49ers are ready for a solid comeback season, seeing as they will have all of their players back and did so well last year without them, I believe that they are going to come in hot and shock all the haters into silence.

Also, before I move on, people argue that the 49ers keep signing the older players and that’s why they get hurt. Yeah, one thing- if we want to look at the older players in the league, let’s start talking about Myles Garrett, Travis Kelce, Matthew Stafford, etc. Sorry, I don’t see these teams getting hated on because they have older players. Honestly, that means the 49ers have more experience than most because they have these veterans.

“If they lose players, A, B, and C, they will go down.”

This is similar to the last section, but there is a strong point I want to make here. Critics are going with the, “If Christian McCaffery, Mike Evans, Fred Warner, etc. etc. go down, the 49ers have no chance.”

Let’s look at this scenario- which by the way, is mostly targeted towards the 49ers because I read a lot of football stuff and I don’t see anyone else using this against other teams- and make something clear.

What would the Bills look like without Josh Allen?

Cowboys without CeeDee Lamb and Prescott?

Ravens without Lamar Jackson?

And, to prove my point further, Bengals lost Joe Burrow and were most certainly not the strong team they have been.

Once again, I have to point out exactly how far the 49ers made it missing so many of their key players. Maybe it’s Shanahan. Maybe it was Robert Saleh. Or maybe it was the fact the 49ers backups stepped up and played some incredible football, stars or not.

“Brock Purdy is just good cause he’s under Shanahan’s coaching.”

This one is an incredibly popular one. Mr. Irrelevant taking his team to the Super Bowl in his first full season as a starter? Surely that’s impossible.

Yeah, fact is it’s not. And Purdy played an incredible Super Bowl as well, just with some overtime complications (cough cough Jake Moody missing the field goal in OT) But all that aside, I simply cannot believe that Purdy is just a product of Shanahan’s system.

You know how Brock was out for 8 weeks? Despite that, guess who had number 8 in CAY/Comp. (Completed Air Yards per Pass Completion. It basically just is how many yards the ball traveled from the line of scrimmage before it’s caught)

Yeah, it was Purdy. He was placed in front of Caleb Williams- who also made it to the divisional and wasn’t out of any games- and Jordan Love.

And my favorite point is his QBR (quarter back rating) Guess who was No. 1 in 2023? Purdy. Number 7 in 2024? Purdy. And Number 2 last year. You guessed it- Brock Purdy.

Also, he completely dominated Super Bowl Champion Sam Darnold’s QBR as the Seahawk quarterback landed at number 19.

So if I need to put more stats out there about this, I will. But in my opinion, if everyone worked so fabulously in Shanahan’s system, then Aiyuk wouldn’t have dropped out, right?

My point is, Brock Purdy is elite. Maybe not everyone agrees, but just watching his game, his determination, and his skill shows he is among the best going into 2026.

Closing

I don’t want this to be overly long, so I won’t go any further. But here’s my final thing:

Don’t disrespect the 49ers because they are a strong team who can win a Super Bowl.

Maybe not 2026. Maybe not 2027. But it’s coming.

See you at the next snap,

Tatum