The San Francisco 49ers obviously didn’t want to be 4-4 at the bye week this season.
Coming off a 2023 season in which they went within a play of winning the Super Bowl, the Niners had designs on a much cleaner start to 2024, and certainly didn’t envision being second in the NFC West behind the Arizona Cardinals.
But, at the very least, the 49ers are not in a hole at 3-5 having avoided that fate with a win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, one inspired by an historic third quarter from quarterback Brock Purdy.
San Francisco scored 24 unanswered points after Dallas took a 10-3 lead in the second quarter, 21 of those points coming in the third as the 49ers took command before holding off a late Dallas rally for a 30-24 success.
Purdy was the engine behind that third-quarter performance.
He completed all seven of his third-quarter pass attempts for 103 yards and a touchdown. On top of that, he also rushed for 37 yards and a touchdown in the third quarter to pull of a feat no quarterback had achieved this century.
Indeed, per Opta Stats, Purdy became the only quarterback since 2000 in any regular season or postseason quarter to throw for at least 100 yards on a completion percentage of 100 while also rushing for 30-plus yards.
There have been 26,276 quarters of NFL football played since 2000 (reg & post).
In only one of those did a QB throw for 100+ yards on 100% completions while also rushing for 30+ yards.
That one QB was Brock Purdy in the 3rd quarter tonight. pic.twitter.com/kN4HPeKc9C
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) October 28, 2024
Asked about his third-quarter showing, Purdy told his postgame press conference: “Yeah, it’s four quarters for a reason in the sport. It’s the NFL. You can come out hot and stall or vice versa. And it takes everybody, offense, defense, special teams. I saw the rest of our team was clicking, it’s like, ‘alright, I have to do my job.’ And so, third quarter came out and just like I said, kept it simple but also played aggressive and just tried to do what coach called and hit guys when they were open and keep it simple, move the ball, not try to hurt ourselves.
“The first half, that was the main thing is we had plenty of opportunities, but we just kept hurting ourselves. So that was the mindset and we were able to put up some points.”
With the 49ers in a difficult position down 10-6 at the half, Purdy put the burden on himself and delivered.
He received significant help from the defense, including on an interception from Deommodore Lenoir that put the 49ers inside Dallas territory and will likely have more assistance after the bye with running back Christian McCaffrey set to return.
But his success in leading the team into a precarious spot into one of dominance was a reminder Purdy is a quarterback who can, contrary to a popular narrative, thrive when things are against him, his third-quarter effort against Dallas coming without McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings.
The absences of McCaffrey and Jennings will likely be a thing of the past come the Week 10 matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but Purdy producing that kind of showing when the 49ers absolutely had to have it should give San Francisco a great deal of confidence in the man who will face the most pressure during a daunting stretch run.