Why Brock Purdy Will Bounce Back Against Detroit in the NFC Championship

Brock Purdy rose to the occasion on the 49ers' final offensive drive against the Packers.

It was thanks to several plays he made on that drive that setup the 49ers for what would be the game-winning touchdown for Christian McCaffrey. However, as much praise as he deserves for his final drive heroics, he deserves some criticism prior to that drive. Purdy ultimately had himself a fairly poor game against the Packers.

Seeing him perform well below the usual standard we are used to seeing from him was bizarre, especially in a critical playoff game. Before that performance, Purdy had only been mediocre two times this season. The first was against the Browns in Week 6 and the second was against the Ravens in Week 16. Luckily his poor outing wasn't costly and he made up for it on the final drive. Given how he performed in that playoff game, there could be concerns with him going into the NFC championship game.

But I don't believe that should be the case at all. Yes, Purdy played badly against the Packers, yet it doesn't rewrite all the amazing performances he has had prior to that. Purdy will bounce back against the Lions in the NFC championship. There is little to doubt that he won't. For starters, Purdy has never had back-to-back poor performances. The closest example is Week 6 and Week 7 against the Vikings, but Purdy played decently in Week 7 even with his two interceptions.

Most importantly, it isn't expected to rain, as of now, for the NFC championship. It is becoming clear that Purdy is simply abysmal in the rain. That is his kryptonite. So, the only way to make Purdy look poor are aggressive elite defenses like the Browns and Ravens showed, and now rain. Detroit doesn't field an impressive defense. They aren't necessarily weak, but they aren't sniffing close to the levels of an elite unit. Purdy should look fine, if not exceptional against them.

Besides, Purdy acknowledges his poor outing against the Packers and knows what he has to do to ensure he doesn't replicate it with or without rain.

“I feel like early on there were some decisions that I made that sort of made me feel a little tentative after," said Purdy. "Obviously that one that could have been intercepted. It's like, go through your reads and take the check downs when the defense presents itself the way it does and build off that. Rather than trying to search for the play and look for the big play and then when it's not there, not having confidence in our check downs and stuff. So that's something that I have to be better at. That's what I needed to do at the end of the game. I feel like we got to that point. I started doing that better. We were able to move the ball. So, that's something that I learned for sure.”

Rust and playoff pressure had nothing to do with Purdy's poor performance. Chalk that one up to rain, and expect Purdy to look like his adequate self against the Lions on Sunday.