What the 49ers Proved by Beating the New England Patriots

What the 49ers Proved by Beating the New England Patriots

When the 49ers beat New England 30-13 on Sunday, Fred Warner celebrated as if they had won a playoff game.

“I know we was gone for a little bit, but we back!” Warner yelled into the camera as he exited the field after the game. It seemed like he half expected a champagne shower. Shortly after, the 49ers social media team called the win a work of art.

Was it really? And are they truly back?

We know the 49ers are 2-2 and definitely better than the Patriots. But that makes them middle of the pack. Last season, they were the no. 1 seed in the NFC. So they’ll be back when they regain the best record in the conference.

In addition, the win wasn’t exactly a work of art. The 49ers certainly won by 17 points, but they should have won by more. The Patriots are one of the worst teams in the NFL. They’re rebuilding. But the game was closer than it should have been because the 49ers threw an interception and fumbled three times. Granted, the 49ers recovered two of the fumbles. Still, those recoveries were luck, not art.

The 49ers were sloppy against the New England. Fortunately for them, the Patriots were even sloppier and much less talented.

But we’re not here to talk about the Patriots. We’re here to discuss whether the 49ers have regained their standard of performance as Warner suggested they have.

And the answer to that question is no. Not yet at least.

SANTA CLARA — The San Francisco 49ers just beat the New England Patriots 30-13. Here are the 49ers’ grades for this performance.

BROCK PURDY: B.

He was good but not great. He completed two deep passes which were nice plus he threw a beautiful touchdown pass to George Kittle who was triple covered in the back left corner of the end zone. These were Purdy’s best plays. Keep in mind, he was facing one of the worst pass defenses in the league. New England came into the game having allowed a passer rating of 103.6. And late in this game when winning by multiple scores, Purdy forced a pass to Brandon Aiyuk who was double covered in the end zone and got interepted. Purdy currently ranks sixth in the NFL in passer rating, which is good, but not as good as last season when he led the league in passer rating. Losing Christian McCaffrey clearly has hurt the entire offense.