Brock Purdy Did Something for the 49ers That Hasn’t Been Done in 34 Years

From his first game with the 49ers during the 2022 NFL season, Brock Purdy made history. We have scarcely seen the last pick in the NFL Draft (aka "Mr. Irrelevant") take meaningful snaps in the league, and we've never seen a quarterback taken last in the draft do anything meaningful in an NFL game.

But Brock Purdy has become one of the best stories in the NFL since he was named the 49ers starting quarterback last year. This season has come with some ups and downs for the former Iowa State Cyclone, as he and the 49ers underwent a three-game skid last month, the first batch of losses for the quarterback who never lost a single game he started and finished last year. Another Sunday has passed and Brock Purdy went on to make more history right before our eyes.

Purdy was once again stellar as the San Francisco 49ers clobbered the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27-14 in a game that was never as close as the score suggested. In doing so, Brock Purdy was statistically perfect, going 21 of 25 for 333 yards and three touchdowns. That was exemplary enough for Purdy to receive a perfect 158.3 passer rating.

This was only the 80th time a perfect passer rating has been posted in the NFL since the stat started being tracked back in 1948. It was also the first time a 49ers quarterback had achieved the feat since Joe Montana in Week 10 all the way back in 1989 (with 19 pass attempts). The only other quarterback to post a perfect passer rating this year was Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills during the Bills' 48-20 rout of the Miami Dolphins.

In typical fashion, Brock Purdy was humble in the face of history even though he had the opportunity to brag:

What an honor, yeah at the same time, there's some plays and stuff that I wish I had back. So I'm not completely content with just that, but I thought it was a great game. The guys around me, the coaching, the play calling all of it, so that's a testament to the team, really. - Brock Purdy in his post game press conference via the 49ers' website

This season alone, Purdy leads the NFL in completion percentage (70.2), yards per attempt (9.7), and passer rating (116.1) and is tied for 3rd in TD-INT ratio (18-5), per NFL.com. The 49ers have a quick turnaround with a divisional matchup against the Seattle Seahawks set for Thanksgiving Day.

It looks like that off-week Brock Purdy spent on his in-laws' Iowa farm has paid off in spades.