San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy has had a pretty great start to the 2026 season. He looked great in Week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams and followed it up with a nearly perfect performance in Week 2 against the Miami Dolphins.
Even longtime Purdy critics like Colin Cowherd are coming around on No. 13, but for the dyed-in-the-wool doubters out there, they still have ammunition if they want to argue that Purdy isn’t all that he’s cracked up to be, or that these last two weeks were simply a mirage.
For Week 1, even though most of the NFL commentator class was ready to put the Rams in the Super Bowl, Los Angeles has a convenient excuse since the game was in Australia. Head coach Sean McVay at least took some ownership over L.A.'s late arrival to Melbourne, but you can already bet there will be talk about the Niners having to face the “real” Rams when they meet again in Week 15.
Then in Week 2, Purdy diced up a Dolphins team that would probably be lucky to win three games this season. Miami is not good at all and while Purdy looked great, critics can still say, “do it against a real team.”
Brock Purdy still has more work to do in proving doubters wrong
Unfortunately, Week 3 won’t silence anyone even if Purdy plays well, since the 49ers face the Arizona Cardinals. While Arizona proved in Week 1 it is capable of an upset, the Niners still should win the game on paper.
Not until Weeks 4 and 5 will Purdy get a chance to truly shift the narrative since he will be going up against the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks. The Broncos were a good team last season and should have a good defense on paper, so they will be a good test for Purdy and San Francisco’s offense.
Then, Seattle is the really big test.
The Seahawks limited Purdy and the Niners to three points when they squared off in Week 18 last year, and then when the faced off in the playoffs just two weeks later, San Francisco scored only six points.
The “Mike Macdonald has the 49ers’ number” contingent is just waiting to go off and say that Purdy can’t pick apart “real” defenses and can only play well against bad teams like the Dolphins or the Tennessee Titans.
Never mind the fact Purdy had good games and looked solid against strong defenses in the past, but all that matters is the present in the NFL, and if Purdy cannot play well and win games against strong opponents, then the same old familiar arguments will come back.
Purdy will have a chance to refute those claims in a few weeks, but for now, he and the Niners have to take care of business against a Cardinals team that is scarier than it may appear on paper.
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