The Most Untapped Area of 49ers QB Brock Purdy's Game

In the NFC Championship Game, Brock Purdy rushed for 48 yards and three first downs while Jared Goff rushed for zero yards and zero first downs, and the 49ers won by three points.

The day after the game, Kyle Shanahan said, "Those plays he made with his feet last night in the second half, that was a problem for the defense. and they had some good coverages on. He kept the chains moving and also found a way to get some explosives doing it too.”

Two weeks later in the Super Bowl, Purdy rushed for 12 yards and 1 first down while Patrick Mahomes rushed for 66 yards and 5 first downs, and the Chiefs won by three. Were Mahomes' runs the difference in the game? Yes, considering he rushed for two first downs on the game-winning drive.

Which brings us back to Purdy. He ran a 4.84 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. Mahomes ran a 4.80. Mahomes isn't much faster than Purdy. So if Mahomes can run for 66 yards and 5 five first downs in the Super Bowl, so can Purdy.

Instead of going to an empty backfield and passing on those fateful 3rd and 4s at the end of the Super Bowl, Shanahan could have called zone reads for Purdy. Because face it, once he stuck the ball in Christian McCaffrey's belly, the entire defense would have swarmed him. No one would have expected Purdy to keep the ball, just as no one on the 49ers expected Mahomes to keep the ball and run at the end of the game.