Although they won by eight points, the 49ers victory against the Seahawks wasn't as close as the final score indicated. A redemption arc for Kyle Shanahan may be in the cards, as pointed out by Conor Orr. Seattle scored a touchdown with 3:35 left in the fourth quarter to bridge the gap to the eventual final score of 21-13. The 49ers had a Deommodore Lenoir pick-six overturned early in the third quarter on a roughing the passer call against Nick Bosa. He did fall on Geno Smith with his full weight, but the call wasn't clear-cut and fell into this season's recurring narrative of overprotective penalties that seem to treat quarterbacks with kid gloves. That pick-six would've made it 28-3 early in the third quarter but the rout turned into more of a stalemate in the second half.
Brock Purdy remains one of the hottest topics and players in football and for our fantasy purposes, I wouldn't mind riding his hot hand. Too bad I don't have him on any teams that are in the playoffs. As my colleague Jen Piacenti pointed out in her recent QBs with easiest fantasy playoff strength of schedule article, Purdy has choice opponents upcoming in games against the Commanders and Raiders.
I am getting ahead of myself here, but Purdy's arc could be shaping up to follow a similar course to Jeff Hostetler's 1990 run with the Giants after taking over for Phil Simms late in the season. He made the final two starts that season, wins against the Cardinals and Patriots. Then, Hostetler sealed the deal with three straight playoff wins, including an NFC Championship win against the aforementioned 49ers, and finally, a nail-biter one-point win over the Bills in Super Bowl XXV that came down to a missed Scott Norwood field goal with just four seconds left. Could Purdy be on such a path? It's possible. The 49ers haven't missed a beat and the franchise is in the midst of seven-game win streak.
