The San Francisco 49ers survived the Wild Card weekend of the NFL playoffs, and for their troubles, they earned a second trip this season to Seattle to face the Seahawks with a berth in the NFC Championship on the line.
While the Niners won the opening game of the season against their division rivals at Lumen Field, the contest just a few weeks ago at Levi's Stadium was San Francisco's worst showing of the season, forcing it into the NFC's No. 6 seed and making the road to Super Bowl 60 all the more difficult.
One of the lowlights of the loss to the Seahawks in Week 18 was the overall play of the offense. And while quarterback Brock Purdy wasn't solely to blame, he certainly didn't play his best, finishing the contest 19-of-27 for just 127 yards and an interception.
The swarming Seattle defense left very little for the Niners offense that night, something San Francisco fans will hope not to see again.
And as the leader of the offense, a lot of that falls on Purdy, whether fair or not. But in order to successfully lead the charge against a unit like the Seahawks, the 49ers hurler must learn from the 13-3 loss from just two weeks earlier.
Here are three mistakes Purdy cannot repeat if the Niners want to advance to the next round of the playoffs.
Mistake No. 1: Giving away the football
Purdy only threw the one interception against Seattle, and there's a case to be made that it wasn't all on him. The ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage, and then flew through running back Christian McCaffrey's arms for the pick by Seattle linebacker Drake Thomas, essentially ending the game.
But the signal-caller also threw two picks against the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card game, something his defense and Philly's inept offense helped him overcome.
The 49ers are more successful when Purdy doesn't put the ball in harm's way, and this is even more important against a defense like the Seahawks, where points may be at a premium.
Mistake No. 2: The Brock Curl
This is a tricky one because it isn't always a "mistake," per se, but it's something Purdy does quite often when the pass rush starts to barrel down on him, and it isn't always the best decision against a front as menacing as Seattle's.
We've all seen it. The rush comes, and rather than step up, Purdy curls around to his left to buy time. Sometimes it works. He's able to create space for himself to either run into the open field or dance around and find an open receiver, as he did on fullback Kyle Juszczyk's touchdown against the Chicago Bears (although that was a designed rollout).
But Purdy can also run himself into trouble, something we saw with regularity against Seattle. So instead of backing up, he should do what he did on the game-winning touchdown pass to McCaffrey on Sunday: step up and let it rip.
Mistake No. 3: Converting on 3rd/4th down
Against the Seahawks in Week 18, the 49ers were a combined 2-of-11 on third- and fourth-down tries, with both conversions coming on third downs. This led to San Francisco running a paltry 42 plays on offense.
It's unfair to pin this all on Purdy. But as the quarterback, that's part of the gig, and so the Niners leader on offense must step up and make more plays on those money downs. For comparison, they were 6-of-11 on third down with no fourth-down attempts against Philly.
Part of this comes down to being better on the early downs, and attempting to find some traction in the run game with McCaffrey and Brian Robinson.
But when the big moments come, it's on Purdy to be at his best, no matter what the situation around him looks like, if the 49ers want to pull off a second consecutive road playoff upset.