Brock Purdy also set a 49ers franchise record during Sunday's win vs. Cardinals
By Peter Panacy
![San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_4177,h_2349,x_0,y_93/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/42/01hbqn09tx62yhvqa7ft.jpg)
While all the buzz from the 49ers' Week 4 win over the Cardinals centered on Christian McCaffrey, Brock Purdy ended up setting a team record in the game, too.
Understandably, the overwhelming bulk of talking points from the San Francisco 49ers' 35-16 Week 4 victory over the Arizona Cardinals will focus on running back Christian McCaffrey and his four-touchdown game, quarterback Brock Purdy's efforts shouldn't exactly be overlooked either.
McCaffrey was one of two Niners players (the other being Purdy, of course) who set new franchise records in the win at Levi's Stadium.
By scoring a touchdown in 13 consecutive games, McCaffrey now stands alone with that San Francisco streak, one that was previously held by the Hall of Famer, Jerry Rice, at 12. And, with the way McCaffrey has opened up the 2023 season, it's a streak that'll likely continue.
Purdy's record-breaking performance, though, was a bit more obscure and didn't involve a streak whatsoever.
But it's still pretty noteworthy.
Brock Purdy did something vs. Cardinals that Joe Montana, Steve Young nor any other 49ers QB never did
Fans will talk about McCaffrey's four-touchdown performance easily, but Purdy's record-setting day is just as interesting, especially considering many of the 49ers' quarterbacking greats in franchise history.
On the surface, Purdy's day seems pretty good: 20-of-21 passing for 283 yards, one touchdown through the air and another on the ground, all for a 134.6 passer rating.
Nothing truly stands out, though, aside from the 95.2 completion percentage. Pretty good, right?
Well, franchise record-setting good when accounting for having at least 20 pass attempts, which is what NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco pointed out shortly after the game:
Brock Purdy will set the 49ers' single-game record for completion percentage (20 of 21) at 95.2 percent. Previous record (20+ attempts) was Steve Young, 1991 vs. Detroit (18 of 20) 90 percent.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) October 1, 2023
The Niners' best quarterback of all time, Joe Montana, never did that. And fellow Hall of Famer Steve Young came close.
But the record is now Purdy's.
"Honestly, today, I'm not lying, they told me I had one incompletion at the end of the game, I was like, 'oh my gosh.'" Purdy said after the game. "Today was just one of those games I really wasn't thinking about it."
Perhaps he should, though, given the company of quarterbacks he's in.
And it wasn't as if those throws were ultra-conservative dump-offs to McCaffrey, high-percentage screens or mere check-downs. No, Purdy was aggressive, too, as this Next Gen Stats chart revealed:
Related story: Kyle Shanahan praises Christian McCaffrey's day vs. Cardinals, feels MVP votes are warranted
"We didn't even know what the one incompletion was," wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk added after a team-high six-catch, 148-yard game. "[Shanahan] told us that it was just a throw-away on third down. So that's crazy."
Like, record-setting crazy.
It might be a while before another Niners quarterback (perhaps even Purdy himself) breaks the completion-percentage record set in Week 4, and the outing is one that should be cherished as a result.
As it adds just one more bit of evidence that Purdy is the real deal for San Francisco.
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