GLENDALE, Ariz. — Brock Purdy didn’t need a warm-up quarter, a conservative script, or time to settle in. Five plays into his first game back since a toe injury sidelined him for six weeks, the 49ers quarterback checked the defense, changed the play, and dropped a perfectly layered ball to George Kittle in the back corner of the end zone. Just like that, San Francisco’s offense looked whole again — and maybe, for the first time all year, dangerous.
This wasn’t just another midseason win. It felt like a shift in the 49ers’ trajectory.
Arizona, undone by penalties and sloppy execution, never found a foothold. San Francisco never needed to search for one.
Purdy finished with three touchdown passes on the day, completing 19 of 26 attempts for 200 yards in a performance that carried the same calm efficiency he built his career on. There was no sign of hesitation. No sign he was managing pain. No sign of the six weeks he spent watching from the sideline.
Christian McCaffrey did what Christian McCaffrey does — three touchdowns, one rushing, one receiving, and another short-yardage finish set up by a 98-yard kickoff return from Skyy Moore. He extended his NFL record with yet another game featuring both a rushing and receiving score. Every time Arizona threatened to inch back in, McCaffrey slammed the door.
Kittle caught two touchdowns and talked afterward like someone who knew the 49ers’ ceiling just changed.
“His presence in the huddle is elite,” Kittle said. “You can feel the swagger again. He was in complete control.”
For Arizona, the scoreboard wasn’t the most painful part — the penalties were. Seventeen flags, the most in franchise history and the most by any team in the NFL this season, buried them before any momentum could form. Eleven came in the first half alone.
And yet, in the middle of the chaos, Jacoby Brissett put together a bizarre stat line: 47 completions (an NFL record in a regular-season game), 452 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions. Michael Wilson caught 15 passes for 185 yards. Trey McBride added 115 and a score. Their production looked like the numbers of a team that should’ve been in a shootout — but never truly was.
Arizona has now dropped six of its last seven. The pattern feels familiar.
San Francisco’s 7–0 lead came before the public-address announcer finished reading the actives and inactives. Moore streaked 98 yards down the sideline on the opening kickoff, and McCaffrey punched it in from the 1 before the Cardinals even processed what hit them.
Arizona answered once, cutting it to 13–7 behind a Bam Knight touchdown run, but the afternoon spiraled immediately after. Purdy lofted a simple 9-yard touchdown to McCaffrey early in the second quarter, and by halftime the 49ers led 25–10, thanks to a late field goal gifted by — what else — another Arizona penalty.
The highlight of the Cardinals’ second half was a 60-yard touchdown run that didn’t count. A holding call erased it.
Jonathan Gannon summed it up: “I’m a defensive coach. That’s not acceptable.”
The 49ers improved to 7–4, but the number isn’t the story. What matters is how they looked doing it.
For six weeks, San Francisco operated without its quarterback — the one who ties its offense, tempo, and rhythm together. On Sunday, Purdy returned, and the team around him immediately fell back into sync. Kittle was explosive. McCaffrey was inevitable. The offense moved with purpose again. And the defense, despite conceding yards, never looked threatened.
They didn’t just get their quarterback back. They got their identity back.
San Francisco hosts Carolina on Nov. 24, a chance to further build momentum. Arizona hosts Jacksonville next Sunday, still searching for stability.
The 41–22 result will read like a simple late-season blowout. But for the 49ers, it was something more — a reminder of who they can be when their offense is whole, when Purdy is steady, and when McCaffrey is the engine.
If Sunday was a preview of the version of San Francisco that’s returning, the NFC playoff picture may be shifting at exactly the wrong time for everyone else.
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