After trailing 14–13 at halftime, the 49ers used a strong second half paced by rookie quarterback Brock Purdy to roll over the Seahawks 41–23 to advance to the NFC Divisional round.
Purdy, who went from being selected last in the draft to starting for the 49ers at quarterback since mid-December, shook off a rocky first half to lead the offense to multiple second half touchdown drives to pull away from the Seahawks.
His play drew the praise of star linebacker Fred Warner after the game.
“He’s the reason why we have a chance at the whole thing,” Warner told Steve Wyche of NFL Network. “The way that he’s come in…the poise, the confidence, his performance week in and week out is amazing. We need him to play big in the second half. That’s when it counts. It’s going to be tough all the way through, but how are you going to perform in the tough moments? We just gotta keep supporting him.”
When pressed by Wyche to elaborate on the claim that Purdy could be the reason that the team could win a Super Bowl, Warner continued to heap praise on the rookie quarterback.
“As a rookie you can’t talk enough about the way he’s come in and played. I’ve never seen it before in my whole life. I don’t know if anybody’s played like this. Coming in, late in the season and I think he’s the one people should be talking about. Forget everything else. He’s the guy right now. We just need to take it one at a time like we always do and play team football.”
Purdy finished 18-of-30 passing for 332 yards and three touchdowns, and added a one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. While the San Francisco offense had played well most of the season with Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback, the unit has raised their game to another level with Purdy in the lineup.
