Thanks to Brock Purdy, the 49ers maintained their sky-high offensive ceiling

A common misconception about the NFL is that fiery rah-rah speeches are customary in locker rooms during halftime.

“People never do that,” chuckled coach Kyle Shanahan after the 49ers had beaten the Dallas Cowboys 30-24 on the fuel of a third-quarter offensive explosion. “That’s more for movies. We only have a few minutes in there. We review everything that’s happened. We review everything going forward. And usually it’s hectic and kind of a something-show.”

In fairness to the reporter who asked Shanahan the question, it’s easy to assume that something significant happened during the 13 minutes the 49ers convened at halftime.

The 49ers had managed only six points on a pair of field goals heading into the break, but they ripped off three consecutive touchdown drives coming out of it. In terms of raw point production, the results were spectacularly different — and emblematic of how the 49ers want their larger season to go when they emerge from next week’s bye for the back half of the schedule.

But a look under the hood of the turnaround revealed simple, workmanlike fixes. Quarterback Brock Purdy, after misfiring on at least three first-half passes, needed to be a touch more accurate. Skill position players, who had been flagged three times early, needed to avoid holding penalties. Receivers needed to catch the ball.

Drastic, wholesale measures weren’t necessary. Better execution would lead to the desired positive domino effect.

And that, too, might be demonstrative of this talented roster’s effort to turn around from its slow start to this 2024 season.

“There was no message,” Shanahan said, noting that the 49ers were averaging a gaudy 7.5 yards per play over the first half despite their struggles. “We just knew we had to stop hurting ourselves.”

Said Purdy: “I had some missed opportunities for big plays and completions in general. So I was just being real with myself. I knew that I had to be better.”

And in that second half, the 24-year-old QB was sensational. Purdy finished with a 114.3 passer rating while throwing for 10 yards per attempt. He was also the 49ers’ leading rusher for a large chunk of the night, finishing with 56 yards on eight scrambles.

It was the third time Purdy, who’ll be eligible for a lucrative contract extension after this regular season, out-dueled the Cowboys’ Dak Prescott — who’s currently the NFL’s highest-paid quarterback.

The best illustration of Purdy’s steadying hand came midway through his team’s 21-point deluge in the third quarter.

The 49ers, who’d been intent on reestablishing their short-range pass attack throughout the evening, called one too many screen passes to receiver Deebo Samuel. Cowboys defensive end KJ Henry peeled off to cover Samuel in the flat, waiting in the bushes for a throw.

But aside from wisely forgoing what could’ve been a disastrous attempt, Purdy turned the broken play into a big gain. He shortened his would-be throw into a pump fake and bolted upfield, showcasing the short-area burst that’s helped him rank No. 8 among all NFL quarterbacks with 210 rushing yards this season.

Purdy’s 16-yard gain eventually set up another QB run — this one for a touchdown from two yards out.

“It was a screen for Deebo, but they had a guy right on him,” Purdy said. “I tried going with the flow of where the play call was called.”

Improvisation worked to perfection. And it melded exceptionally well with the rest of Shanahan’s choreographed plan, which prominently featured Samuel, rookie receiver Ricky Pearsall (four catches for 38 yards and a 39-yard run) and tight end George Kittle — who followed up his three-touchdown game against Dallas last season with a six-catch, 128-yard performance on Sunday.

The 49ers, who had shown plenty of potential explosiveness in the first half only to see a long Samuel touchdown reception nullified by a holding penalty and a pair of inaccurate Purdy passes to open receivers stall drives, finally made it stick over the final 30 minutes.

“We went into halftime and talked about a plan for the second half,” Purdy said. “Get back to basics. I made sure to still play with conviction, to be aggressive and trust in my guys. That was the mindset. I thought we went out and executed much better.”

There were still hiccups down the stretch, of course. Those played into Dallas’ furious comeback, which turned a 17-point game into a six-point affair by the end.

The 49ers, even though they racked up 223 rushing yards on 6.2 yards per carry, again struggled to gain 1 yard on the ground when they absolutely needed it. And rookie running Isaac Guerendo whiffed on a key rep in pass protection, exposing Purdy to a vicious hit at crunch time.

But in what might’ve been his most important play of the evening, Purdy somehow held onto the football to avoid what would’ve been a catastrophic giveaway. And thanks in large part to that, the 49ers could smile entering their bye week — focused on the positives of Guerendo’s electric 85-yard performance instead of that blocking miscue.

“Stepping into a huddle with so many big names, you can be awestruck in a sense,” Purdy said of Guerendo. “But he doesn’t care. He runs the ball and he runs hard. I love that about him.”

When the 49ers next take the field on Nov. 10 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Guerendo may have a high-profile running mate. Christian McCaffrey, who hasn’t played this season due to Achilles tendinitis, strode out of the 49ers’ locker room with a wide grin on his face after Sunday’s game. There’s a strong chance he returns to begin the back half of this season.

And that should serve as yet another reminder of the 2024 49ers’ offensive ceiling, which remains prodigious. Shanahan had alluded to that when discussing McCaffrey’s absence and Purdy’s play leading up to this game against Dallas.

“I think last year was one of the best years, statistically — ever — when you look at just the efficiency of a whole offense,” he said. “So I think it’s hard to do that every year. I think when you’re missing the NFL MVP [McCaffrey], that doesn’t help. Missing some receivers doesn’t help. But I still think Brock’s having a hell of a year statistically.”

It’s a season that made significant forward progress Sunday, when the 49ers needed it most. And it’s a season they firmly believe can get better, especially given the team’s track record and the talent set to rejoin Purdy.

“Small, consistent steps in the right direction lead to great results,” Kittle said. “And this is just one step. It’s a long season. We were 5-3 last year going into the bye. We’re 4-4 this time. I think we all wish our record was a little better, but that’s just what it is. That’s our reality. Getting a win tonight was huge.”