This piece originally appeared in our twice-weekly sports newsletter The Dime. Sign up here to receive this and other email newsletters from The Standard.
The 49ers’ Week 1 matchup against the Seahawks isn’t just the start of a new season; it’s the beginning of an era that will define the legacies of coach Kyle Shanahan, general manager John Lynch, and quarterback Brock Purdy.
The NFL is a high-stakes and unforgiving landscape in which fans and team owners alike rush to judgments. Quarterbacks are either stars or scrubs, and those who don’t measure up are relegated to the bench. Coaches and executives must win immediately or risk being replaced.
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Shanahan and Lynch, hired by 49ers owner Jed York in 2017, are rare exceptions.
The roster they inherited was in such dire shape that no rational person expected overnight success. So when San Francisco reached the Super Bowl at the end of their third season, the 10-22 start to the tenure was excused.
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But as Shanahan and Lynch enter their ninth seasons on the job, there’s much of a picture left unpainted, because the team’s quarterback situation has been in near-constant flux.
The duo’s first franchise quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, became the highest-paid player in league history after making just seven NFL starts. Garoppolo was neither a star nor a scrub, so after a disappointing 2020 season, the 49ers traded up in the draft to select his heir apparent.
Trey Lance arrived as the No. 3 overall pick with weighty expectations and exited two years later following a stint marred by injuries. When Purdy, the No. 262 selection in the 2022 draft, seized an opportunity while Lance and Garoppolo were sidelined, Shanahan and Lynch were never turning back.
In three seasons under center, Purdy went 23-13, led the 49ers to a pair of NFC Championship Game appearances, and had the team one score away from a Super Bowl title. Those achievements, though, came with the quarterback playing on one of the cheapest contracts in pro football.
This offseason, Purdy’s career — and his life — dramatically changed.
He signed a five-year, $265 million extension that makes him the highest-paid player in team history. The quarterback’s cap hit is still relatively low in 2025, but from now on, his starts will be viewed in a different light.
Purdy’s contract befits a superstar, and Shanahan and Lynch are counting on him to play like one. Their tenures, much like the quarterback’s, will be judged on how the next few years unfold.
If Purdy builds upon his early-career success, leads deep playoff runs, and delivers the 49ers a sixth Lombardi trophy, Shanahan and Lynch will go down as one of the most successful partnerships in a storied franchise’s history.
If Purdy is merely good, their tenures could be remembered by close calls and the pain of the near-misses, an era that would be defined by what wasn’t accomplished rather than what was.
In the unlikely yet possible scenario that Purdy regresses, the 49ers suffer, and the team’s play compels York to make high-level changes, it will be fascinating to see how the fan base views the fallout. Sure, Shanahan and Lynch would have brought the 49ers to the brink of greatness, but gambling on quarterbacks who failed to live up to their draft slot and their contracts could mar the way the duo is perceived.
In a league in which judgments are made in an instant, we still have much to learn about the 49ers’ power brokers and their biggest bet yet.
The countdown to Sunday is on.