What's at Stake for Brock Purdy in the Playoffs

He can solidify his legacy as one of the great young quarterbacks in NFL history.

Grant Cohn | Jan 17, 2024

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San Francisco 49ers

Brock Purdy had a wonderful regular season, and if he loses in the divisional round in the playoffs, no one will remember what he did before that.

That's not to take away what Purdy accomplished this season. He had one of the best years of any quarterback in 49ers franchise history and he just might win the MVP award. He was outstanding. And if he wins the Super Bowl, he will cement himself as a franchise quarterback. And if he loses this week to the Packers, people will wonder whether he should remain the starter for the 49ers.

That's what's at stake for Purdy in the next few weeks.

He can solidify his legacy as one of the great young quarterbacks in NFL history, someone who accomplished more at a young age than just about anyone else. Or he can raise questions in everyone's minds about the legitimacy of his regular season statistics.

Ultimately, a quarterback's legacy is based on what he does in the playoffs and the Super Bowl. Joe Montana isn't considered the greatest of all time because of his regular season numbers. He's considered the greatest of all time because he's 4-0 in the Super Bowl. End of story.

If Purdy becomes 1-0 in the Super Bowl this season, people will begin to compare him to Montana. But if he fails to reach the Super Bowl for the second year in a row, people will compare him to Jimmy Garoppolo.

And that's not fair. But that's professional sports.

Published Jan 17, 2024

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.