He is, by far, the most polarizing player remaining in the playoffs.
Is Brock Purdy really that good?
Is he a star or is he merely the product of the great skill-position players surrounding him and a coach with a creative offensive scheme?
Is he one of those special talents who can carry the team on his back the way Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson do, or he is merely a game manager?
The debate about the 49ers’ 24-year-old quarterback rages on, and it’s intensified this week in advance of San Francisco hosting the Lions in the NFC Championship game Sunday in Santa Clara, Calif.
Purdy’s statistics are difficult to ignore.
He’s played in 25 games, starting 21, and has a 17-4 won-loss record. He’s thrown 44 TD passes and only 15 INTs and has a career passer rating of 111.4.
This season, Purdy threw for 4,280 yards, had a 69.4 percent completion rate, threw 33 TDs and only 11 INTs. He led the league in passer rating at 113.0, most yards per attempt at 9.6 and yards per completion at 13.9.
And yet, there are still questions that remain about just how good he is and how far he can carry the 49ers.
The cruel reality is that those questions will persist if Purdy doesn’t lead the 49ers to a victory over the Lions and bring the 49ers to the Super Bowl.
Many questions about Purdy have been raised by national media, comprised of a lot of former NFL players. And they’ve raised the ire of the Purdy supporters, many of whom are his teammates.
ESPN NFL analyst and former defensive back Ryan Clark was among the loudest to diss Purdy this week, saying that Purdy “can operate in Kyle Shanahan’s offense at an extremely efficient level’’ but “doesn’t raise the level of play of anyone around him.’’
That sentiment ruffled the shoulder pads of the Purdy supporters — most notably those he throws the ball to.
“Brock Purdy is fantastic and he’s consistent every single day,’’ tight end George Kittle said on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “Second-year player and his second year in the NFC Championship.”
Indeed, Purdy went 5-0 at the end of last season to lead the 49ers to the NFC Championship game against the Eagles and suffered injury to his throwing elbow in the game, which the 49ers lost.
He’s done nothing but win this season, putting up those gaudy numbers along the way, and still he has more non-believers than any of the four quarterbacks playing on Sunday — by a lot.
“We’re all sitting here because of him, obviously,” 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk told reporters this week. “Steady. A dawg. Just a football player. I love playing football with him. He’s the reason why I’m sitting here today with an opportunity this weekend to play my best football, because of a quarterback like him.”
San Francisco receiver Deebo Samuel wrote on social media that he’s “never seen so much hate for a QB that led the league in almost every category.”
The Purdy doubters had their narrative boosted by Purdy’s uneven performance in the 49ers divisional-playoff win over the Packers last Saturday. He struggled in the rain and was off-target early in the game, completing just 17 of 32 on the Niners’ first eight possessions and had two passes nearly intercepted.
He made up for that, though, on the final possession, completing 6 of 7 for 47 yards before Christian McCaffrey ran in from 6 yards out.
It was Purdy’s first fourth-quarter comeback of the season. He finished the game 23-for-39 for 252 yards and a TD to improve to 3-1 in postseason games — though the one blemish was last year’s NFC title game, in which he was injured.
This, for the last pick in the 2022 draft, and still there are haters.
“He’s an efficient quarterback, who gets his playmakers the ball in space,” Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone told reporters this week in what can be described as lukewarm praise. “Contrary to what the narrative is, he’s able to make some really good throws.”
Purdy will need to make more of them on Sunday to further shift that narrative toward him being viewed as one of the elite quarterbacks in the game.
Sports are cruel that way.
