Niners Bulletin: Everything we learned in historic Sunday Night shootout

In the time it takes you to read this sentence, the 49ers offense probably just scored another touchdown. It’s been less than 48 hours since the Niners won a heart stopping Sunday Night Football thriller over Chicago, continuing their improbable quest for the NFC West title and the NFC’s No. 1 seed. It’s not just largely due to their offense, it’s almost entirely due to the offense. A unit that spent Sunday night without George Kittle or Trent Williams quite literally dragged a porous Niners’ defense to victory. 

It was a symphony of offensive excellence conducted by Kyle Shanahan and carried out by Brock “Mozart” Purdy. Two years removed from being an MVP candidate in 2023, Purdy is playing almost inarguably the best football of his still young career. It’s not crazy to contend that a nagging turf toe that sidelined him for nearly half the regular season could have cost him a shot at the prestigious award this year. That’s how good Purdy has been since his return. 

On Sunday night alone, he accounted for five of the Niners’ six touchdowns. He threw three to three different receivers, and rushed for two. If you enjoy the Purdy dougie, you saw a whole lot of it from No. 13 on Sunday. He amassed 303 yards in the air, and added 28 on the ground. Purdy became the first 49ers quarterback to throw for 300+ yards, toss three or more touchdowns, and rush for two or more. Is that good? Have the Niners had any really good QBs in their franchise history? Any that helped pioneer the quarterback scramble? 

It’s abundantly clear at this point that the 49ers can win in the playoffs with this offense and this quarterback. But can a depleted skeleton crew on defense be good enough to supplement the machine that is a Kyle Shanahan, Brock Purdy, and Christian McCaffrey led offense? Historically that answer is no. Far more teams have won with elite defense and average to below average offense than with the inverse. The cliche of “defense wins championships” wasn’t coined for no reason. 

What Robert Saleh and his defense will have to do in order to be good enough for the offense, is become opportunistic. Become clutch. The unit has actually been clutch at times during the latter part of the season. Holding the Bears to a field goal in the red zone in the fourth quarter, then (kind of) getting a stop as time expired to win the game was clutch, especially considering the way the defense was rag dolled for most of the game. That’s character, something that is far from shocking to see from a Robert Saleh led 49ers team. 

Still, the glaring holes don’t exactly inspire confidence that this defense will be able to force three and outs, get off the field on third down, or turn playoff offenses over on downs. So being opportunistic by taking the ball away will be absolutely key. Interceptions, tipped passes, punching the ball out. If the Niners defense can get hot in that way, and simultaneously get the injection of a lifetime with a Fred Warner possible return, this team can absolutely win the Super Bowl. 

Let’s talk about paths. Obviously, the NFC’s top seed is ideal. A first round bye and home field advantage throughout the playoffs is a massive advantage, and one that a flawed 49ers team can lean on in a big way. The only way to enjoy Wild Card weekend from the couch is with a week 18 victory over the Seahawks. Win in those all black unis on Saturday night in front of a rabid Levi’s crowd, and the NFC runs through Santa Clara. Something that seemed legitimately impossible as Fred Warner was being carted off the field in Tampa in October. 

Despite the Rams loss to the Falcons, the Niners would still need the Cardinals to beat the Rams on Sunday in order for SF to take the No.5 seed with a loss to the Seahawks Saturday. Essentially, the Rams can simply choose whether or not to rest starters against Arizona based on what happens between the Niners and Seahawks on Saturday night. That’s an oversight by the NFL and the networks. 

That fifth seed is very favorable, as it would mean a road trip to a weak NFC south champion on Wild Card weekend. Additionally, if the six seed (Rams or Niners) won its first game, that would likely send that team to Seattle to play the Seahawks in the Divisional round. While the five seed would head to either Philly or Chicago to play its second round game. This is all contingent on the seven seed Packers not winning Wild Card weekend, which the Pack very well could. 

As the six seed, a trip to Philadelphia in the Wild Card round is likely. A trip that would definitely open some wounds for Niners’ fans and players who endured the empty sadness of the 2022 NFC championship game. The Eagles and their stout defense would be a serious hurdle for a humming 49ers offense, but the bigger issue would be the Niners’ run defense against Philly’s potent rush attack. 

It’s important to step back and appreciate the job that Kyle Shanahan and the Niners’ staff has done this year under the brutal strain of awful injury luck. Last season, it derailed them. This time around, they’ve weathered the storm. The fact that we can sit here as 2025 ends talking about ideal playoff matchups and paths to Super Bowl 60 is a privilege in and of itself. Greg Silver and John Dickinson certainly think so, and campaigned for Shanahan to be the NFL Coach of the Year.

Check out more postgame coverage below, on all of our socials, and always at thesportsleader.com