Over the last five years, the San Francisco 49ers have consistently been one of the NFL’s truly elite teams.
Other than the 2020 season, when they were ravaged by injuries, they have at least reached the NFC Championship Game every year during that span and have gotten to the Super Bowl twice.
They started out as a ground-and-pound team that won mostly with defense, but their offense has gradually improved over the last few years, and one stat illustrates an aspect of that improvement.
Per Coach Yac, the number of dropped passes by 49ers receivers fell from 37 in 2022 to just nine last season.
49ers dropped passes the past 5 seasons (as a team):
• 2019: 28
• 2020: 34
• 2021: 26
• 2022: 37
• 2023: 9The 49ers also had the fewest dropped passes in the league last season. Brock Purdy sure does throw a catchable ball
via: @pfref pic.twitter.com/e2nlaMmN6V
— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) June 7, 2024
A lot of this, as Coach Yac pointed out, could be attributed to the changing of the guard that took place at quarterback late in 2022.
When Jimmy Garoppolo, who had been their starter almost entirely since midway through the 2017 season, suffered a season-ending injury in Week 13, Brock Purdy, then a rookie, took over under center, and he quickly took the league by storm.
Although plenty still don’t want to admit how excellent he is, he has proven to be a more skilled passer than Garoppolo, especially on throws of over 15-20 yards.
The arrival of star running back Christian McCaffrey midway through the 2022 campaign has also greatly helped San Francisco’s offense, as he has made their attack much more unpredictable.
Of course, San Francisco still hasn’t won the Vince Lombardi Trophy since the 1994 season, when head coach Kyle Shanahan’s father Mike was their offensive coordinator and McCaffrey’s father Ed was a wide receiver for them.
Until this current 49ers squad wins it all, the process simply won’t be complete.
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