The magic carpet ride has continued for San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, as he led the team to its 10th straight win on Sunday to close out the regular season with a 13-4 record.
The 38-13 victory over the Arizona Cardinals was Purdy’s fifth in as many starts, making him one of a handful of QBs to ever win each of their first five games as a starter.
In addition, he has put together a very impressive 119.0 passer rating in those five games, which is higher than Patrick Mahomes‘ passer rating in his first five starts and second only to Kurt Warner.
Highest passer rating through first 5 career QB starts in the Super Bowl era:
Kurt Warner (131.4)
Brock Purdy (119.0)
Patrick Mahomes (116.3)Warner did so in 1999 & went on to win NFL & Super Bowl MVP that season
Mahomes also won each within his first 3 seasons#FTTB @49ers
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) January 9, 2023
Ever since he took over for the injured Jimmy Garoppolo in Week 13, Purdy has thrown at least two touchdown passes in each contest, including three on Sunday.
Versus Arizona, he went 15 of 20 and threw no interceptions.
San Francisco’s defense has been outstanding for most of the season, but the Iowa State University product has taken its offense to levels Garoppolo never consistently did.
In the six games Purdy has gotten a significant number of snaps in (he played a bit in Week 7’s blowout loss to the Kansas City Chiefs but attempted only nine passes), the 49ers have scored more than 30 points five times.
They did so only three times in their previous 11 games with either Garoppolo or Trey Lance starting at QB.
Of course, the upcoming playoffs will be the real test of how good Purdy really is, not just skill-wise but also in terms of his mental game and intangibles.
But so far, the final pick in the 2022 NFL Draft has passed every test with flying colors.
