49ers’ Brock Purdy needs to be better after barely passing Packers test

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We will find out the answer to the second question next week, when either the Lions or Buccaneers head to Santa Clara, Calif., to try to knock off the No. 1 seed in the NFC. What we do know, loud and clear, is that the 49ers Saturday night were able to get off the mat, more than once, to catch and finally pass the upstart Packers, winning 24-21 with a last-gasp drive that allowed the Niners to avoid what would have been a colossal upset at Levi’s Stadium.

And what we should know is that the 49ers escaped in spite of Purdy for long, long stretches until he saved his best for last, which was just good enough in the NFC divisional playoff round but might not be good enough from here on out.

For most of the 60 minutes, Purdy looked more like the Mr. Irrelevant line on his resume than the fringe MVP candidate he was during the 2023 season. At times, operating in a steady rain, he looked as if he could barely control the wet football in his gloved and then ungloved right hand. At times, it looked as if Jordan Love, the Packers budding star, would be the young quarterback to take his team onward and upward and Purdy would be the one responsible for sending his team to an early playoff outster.

“The weather, that’s football, you got to overcome that,’’ Purdy said afterward. “After a while I got into a rhythm. That’s on me. Overall we got to find a way to win and we made it work.’’

This was shaping up to be a nightmare for Purdy until he awakened. The Niners trailed 21-17 when he took over on his 31-yard line with 6:18 remaining. He had lost his top receiver, Deebo Samuel, in the first quarter and that well-oiled machine of an offense he operated so efficiently for the past several months was clunking along. If Purdy did not come up with an answer the Niners would head into the offseason with so many unanswered questions.

The response: Purdy completed 6 of 7 passes for 47 yards. The big strike was a 17-yarder to seldom-used Chris Conley for 17 yards. He scrambled for nine yards to the Green Bay 6-yard line. From there, he did the smartest thing any quarterback could do: He handed the ball to Christian McCaffrey and McCaffrey ran it into the end zone with 67 seconds left for the winning points. When Dre Greenlaw intercepted Love in the final minute, the 49ers had survived, and advanced, barely.

“There’s four quarters for a reason,’’ Purdy said. “The way it started, it’s like ‘Man, I got to be better, I got to play efficient football.’ When it comes down to it, when the season’s on the line you got to make it happen for the boys around you.’’