San Francisco does not play for fame, money, themselves, or even glory. They play for each other. They play for the brotherhood of Five Rings, for the memories of those who helped solidify the unwavering belief they currently possess.
When I think of these 2025 49ers, I’m reminded of one of my all-time favorite movies, Gattaca (1997). In the critically acclaimed movie set in a dystopian, futuristic society, two brothers constantly compete. The older brother Vincent (Ethan Hawke) was born without the genetic advantages of his younger brother Anton, Anton would always beat Vincent in everything because he was supposed, Vincent was not supposed to be exceptional due to his weak genetic makeup, growing up the two would always play a game of chicken in which they would swim out into the ocean to see how far they could go before the other gets scared & turns back.
Graphic courtesy Apple TV
Anton would always beat Vincent, but Vincent had this unrelenting drive and dedication to manically outwork his limitations over the years until he got to a point where he returned to that beach and faced Anton 10 years later, this time a lifetime of never giving up on anything he set his Mind to, callousing him in a way Anton could not fathom. They began swimming into the horizon this time at night in strong currents, and for the first time, as they swam so far out, they could no longer see the shore behind them. It was Anton who nearly drowned in the currents that Vincent had learned to fight through and master.
Anton yells at his brother, “How are you doing this, Vincent? How are you doing any of this?” In which Vincent responds, “You want to know how I did it? This is how I did it, Anton! I never saved anything for the swim back!” As he swam onward into the Black Sea. The 2025 49ers have been swimming into the horizon in stormy seas all year long! Leaving absolutely nothing for the swim back.
Before the start of the 2025 season, what if I told you the San Francisco 49ers would lose Nick Bosa andFred Warner for the year by Week 6? What if, even before that, they also lost franchise QB Brock Purdy (his backup Mac Jones would also play through a hurt knee), George Kittle, Ricky Pearsall, and Jauan Jennings, too? All while Demarcus Robinson was suspended for the first 3 games as well, and their All-Pro WR Brandon Aiyuk just quit on them, refusing to report to the team.
What if, as some of those players trickle back in, they then lose 1st-round edge, Mykel Williams, their only other true pass rusher, Bryce Huff, or 2nd-and 4th-round DTs Alfred Collins and CJ West? How about starting guard and center Spencer Burford, and Jake Brendel, starting corner Renardo Green, 3rd round stud corner Upton Stout, while starting safety Malik Mustapha wouldn’t play til Week 6. Then, backup LBs Tatum Bethune, Dee Winters, and Luke Gifford also get hurt, backup DL Sam Okuayinonu, Jordan Elliot, Gross-Matos, Kalia Davis, and Kevin Givens all miss time throughout the year. Now add on their excellent kicker Eddy Pineiro and first ballot Hall of Fame left tackle Trent Williams, both pulling their hamstrings.
So you officially have the most banged-up season any squad has ever had in recent memory.
Now, what if I told you that same team would somehow go 12-5 in the hardest division in football and then travel to Philadelphia, Wildcard weekend, and dethrone the defending Super Bowl Champions–all while avenging one of their biggest demons from a 2022 NFC Championship game where rookie Brock Purdy was 4/4 on the opening drive before tearing his elbow.
Somehow, this team continues to hunker down in their foxhole of survival. Kyle Shanahan has made his guys ignore all the outside noise and refuse to throw a pity party that most teams would throw if they had to endure what his team has to. The currents keep getting stronger in the NFL sea, yet Shanahan and his players keep swimming without trepidation.
Brock Purdy (photo courtesy SB Nation)
At the helm of this all, the 49ers have the living embodiment of Vincent from Gattaca in the form of the very last pick in the draft, Brock Purdy. Does this set up a road to vengeance that could be cathartic and spiritually cleansing for the entire fanbase? Will avenging NFC title heartbreaks at Lumen and Sofi be the journey required on the way to finally recapturing that Lombardi trophy, which has evaded them for three decades?
All his life, Brock Purdy has been told he’s too small, not fast enough, and he has a weak arm. And yet he’s proven time and time again that he is a winner. A true gamer in every sense of the word, that type of crazy psycho competitor who refuses to lose at anything he does. The accomplishments speak for themselves so far in his short career: the highest all-time career QB rating at 104.4 so far (ahead of Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson), top 5 in MVP voting in 2023, and he has led his team to two Conference title games and one Super Bowl.
He also led the most remarkable comeback in conference title history (24-7 vs. Lions), a 5-2 playoff record (eight pass TDs, three INTs), and four of those wins came on game-winning drives. The only two losses were torn elbow vs. the Eagles and the Super Bowl vs. the Chiefs, where he led three potential game-winning drives late, only for his defense to relinquish each time.
But no matter what Brock shows the world, it must be his coach or the talent around him, anythingnot to give Purdyy the credit he has earned and acknowledge what your eyes are showing you. This is the year Brock has carried his wounded team unlike any other. All he needed was backup WR Demarcus Robinson as his #1 target to vanquish the Eagles’ elite secondary.
When the 49ers were down 13-7, and their day one leader since 2017, George Kittle, ruptured his Achilles. The entire fanbase had their heads in their hands, Deja vu of 2022 all over again in cursed Lincoln Financial Field, when it was Brock Purdy who threw a laser beam strike across the middle of the field for 45 yards to Jauan Jennings for the proverbial “I Got This” moment of his career.
Brock was incredibly locked in, throwing darts in 40 MPH winds, which a little guy with his arm shouldn’t be able to do. He ran into adversity with two late INTs, but just like he’s always done in his career, he responded to adversity with pure Guts and Glory. Leading the game-winning drive when it mattered most. Now he leads his beleaguered squad into Seattle, where Brock is 4-0 in his career.
In his first-ever start in Seattle as a rookie, Brock was playing through a severe oblique injury, but he injected it with painkillers and played exceptionally well to get the winThatat same year Brock faced the Seahawks at home in his playoff debut and had his best playoff game of his career, throwing for three TDs, 0 INTs while rushing for one TD as well. Week 1 of this season, vs this year’s Seahawks, Purdy lost George Kittle on the opening drive and then suffered a severe turf toe injury early at Lumen Field.
But he did what he’s always done–staying in the game and battling through to make an incredible scramble and throw to the corner of the end zone to Kittle’s backup Jake Tonges for the win before time expired. It was yet another game-winning drive for the kid in the most dire of straits.
Brock knows what this rivalry means, and he treats it as the most important rivalry in the NFL since 2011. I judge all QBs based on how they respond to adversity in the playoffs, because in the playoffs, the adversity and mistakes are guaranteed. It’s all about how you react, and Purdy has responded countless times in his whole career.
No matter how many waves crash down on him, Brock, like Vincent in Gattaca, just keeps steadily swimming on into the abyss with zero fear and no panic. The last thing any team wants to see is Purdy trotting out onto the field with a chance at winning the game. Whether with his legs or arms, he will figure out a way to make it happen. Miraculous is the word that sums up his entire career.
Kyle Shanahan (photo courtes y Sports Illustrated)
Just like Brock, Kyle Shanahan has proved this season that it was never the players he had; it was his coaching/leadership that has steered his ultra-successful ship in San Francisco. I don’t remember the last time I’ve witnessed a better coaching job in all of sports. His team is truly the walking dead, a never-dying zombie that keeps coming and coming and coming.
You can take a leg, an arm, or even take their head, and they will turn into the headless horseman. An inspirational example of resilience and perseverance at the level of a boxer like Mickey Ward or Arturo Gatti. His team is a true testament to the character Shanahan has engendered; he has endured not just losing good players but losing foundational pieces of the winning culture he has established in San Francisco.
Most teams lose good players to injury. And Shanahan has lost generational first-ballot Hall of Famers in Bosa, Warner, and Kittle. The true leaders of his team who have been with him the longest. Yet he refused to let any of it get his team down, and instead instilled the spirit of the fallen to guide the unrelenting fight this group carries in their veins, motivated to honor the memory of their lost comrades along the way.
When George Kittle went down with a torn Achilles in Philadelphia last week, Shanahan held his head in his hands like Vincent Corleone holding his eldest son Sonny’s head in his hands after he was killed. Kittle was the first. Hem, DeForestt Buckner, and Arik Armstead were the first to help Shanahan turn the franchise around and establish the current regime.
Buckner and Armstead left via trade or free agency, so Kittle was the sole remaining forefather, fighting through a high ankle sprain and giving everything he had to his brothers. Kyle did not let that sacrifice be in vain and used his other son, Michael Corleone Purdy, to avenge Sonny Kittle. As leaders, both Brock and Kyle refused to let their loss spiral out of control. Instead, decided they would win this one for him.
Reportedly, Kittle told the team at halftime that just like it has all year, it’s gonna take everyone to get it done, and that’s exactly what we’re gonna do, like we have all year. All hands on deck, hunker down in that foxhole together one more time and win another battle to go 13-5 on the year, having every analyst and expert exclaim, “How do these 49ers keep doing this?”
How are they doing any of this? Because Shanahan makes sure they never save anything for the swim back.
This team does not play for fame, money, themselves, or even glory. They play for each other. They play for the brotherhood of Five Rings, for the memories of those who helped solidify the unwavering belief they currently possess.
So, as they prepare to take on what is undoubtedly their most formidable foe of the year in the most hostile atmosphere they have ever seen, once again nobody is giving them a chance to win, Vegas set the line at Seahawks by 7. Every panel of experts is unanimous in picking the Seahawks.
As the tide begins to turn against them, as it has so many times this year, they will paddle even harder against the current and remember this one is for Fred, for Nick, most of all, this one is for George and the brothers on your right and on your left!
