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NEW ORLEANS — Mac Jones strode through the tunnel of the Superdome, finally donning that golden 49ers helmet and uniform ahead of a start for the team that considered drafting him back in 2021.

It seemed like destiny — but in an epically roundabout way, because it was Kendrick Bourne, of all people, who accompanied Jones with purposeful strides toward the field.

Yes, Bourne, the receiver who’d left the 49ers in free agency for the Patriots in 2021, arrived just in time to link up with the rookie Jones in New England. Now, Jones and Bourne — who’d connected for 119 completions, 1,477 yards, and 10 touchdowns with the Patriots before both trading in their silver for gold — were leading the 49ers out to warm up.

That’s when Jones, with focus permeating the air of that tunnel, turned to Bourne and cracked a joke that sent the receiver into uproarious laughter.

“Man, I forgot what he even said,” Bourne said with a wide smile in the 49ers’ locker room after their 26-21 win over the New Orleans Saints. “But it was funny. Mac is hilarious.”

A few minutes after his joke and right before Jones led the victorious 49ers with a 279-yard passing effort that featured three touchdown tosses, Bourne saw his QB and cracked up again.

There was Jones, dancing alongside Bourne, Trent Williams, and Deommodore Lenoir at the front of the line trailing the 49ers’ boom box in their boxing-style walkout.

“Mac got in on it — don’t sleep on him,” Bourne said, laughing again as he remembered that Jones wore a flashy all-red suit to the 49ers’ season-opener in Seattle last week. “Mac got that swag. Mac knows what he’s doing. Mac knows how to connect with us, and I think it’s super important for a quarterback.”

Jones, filling in for injured starter Brock Purdy, certainly looked to be in full command for most of Sunday’s game — especially on a two-minute drive to close the first half. He carved through the Saints’ defense and then — with the full trust of his head coach — lofted a perfect touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey with just seconds left and no timeouts.

The strip sack that Jones took on the first possession of the second half was perhaps his only major blemish of the afternoon.

“I just took too long to throw it,” Jones said. “It’s not on the offensive line. It was my fault.”

And despite acknowledging that he was initially dealing with nerves, Jones broadcast a calm, cool and collected energy through the game.

'“It’s about not making it bigger than it is,” Jones said. “Sometimes, when you have nerves, you fight them. But you can’t really do that. You have to work through it and a lot of it’s just breathing and slowing down your pulse.”

And joking around. And dancing with Bourne and Williams behind a boombox.

It was actually the big left tackle whose advice helped Jones enter his flow state.

“Trent came up to me and said, ‘You’re good, dude. Just go out there and hoop,’” Jones said, laughing as he recalled the conversation. “And I was like, ‘I got you. I can go hoop.’

“If Trent Williams can say that. I can do it. So that calmed me down a little bit.”

Williams surprised his 49ers teammates — and himself — by playing through a painful bone bruise in his knee. A year after gutting through an ankle injury that was supposed to shelve him for the season, Williams woke up not expecting to play after being very limited in practice this week.

“Then I got in the stadium,” Williams said. “The competitive juices started flowing. I’m a captain, I’m leader. So it’s hard for me to just say, ‘I’ll see you guys next week.’

“I got a little burst of energy seeing everybody’s energy seeing me — a little surprised that I was even out there. It got me fired up.”

And the big man’s steadying presence rubbed off on Jones, whose arm was critical for this 49ers’ win. They only managed 77 rushing yards on 3.0 yards per carry. That’s mainly because the Saints, like the Seahawks in Week 1, lined up with multiple five- and even six-man defensive fronts to stifle the 49ers’ run game.

“The run game will be spotty whenever you face defenses like that, but you have to keep it in rotation to keep them honest,” Williams said. “Running against six D-linemen is not a great look for anybody, but it’s very important for us to stay balanced.”

Jones did that for the 49ers, guiding them to eight third-down conversions — and when penalties are counted, five conversions in third-and-long situations. One of those was a 42-yard touchdown strike to receiver Jauan Jennings, which proved to be the winning score. Jones successfully looked off the linebacker on the play before zipping the ball to Jennings on the post.

“That’s one of Kyle’s favorite plays,” Jones said. “We always have it in the game plan. I moved the ‘backer to the left a little bit.”

That, combined with the closing prowess of Nick Bosa and Bryce Huff on sacks to end New Orleans’ final two desperate possessions, pushed the 49ers to 2-0. They actually became the first team since the eventual Super Bowl champion 1988 49ers to win two road games with two different starting quarterbacks to begin a season.

That 1988 team did it with Joe Montana and Steve Young. These 49ers have done it with Purdy and Jones. They’re now returning home for games against the Arizona Cardinals and Jacksonville Jaguars with some early money stashed in the bank.

And they know that even if Purdy can’t return next week, Jones — with his funky swagger and old friends such as Bourne in tow — has the goods to get the job done.

For those who remember 2021, Sunday certainly might have marked a full-circle moment for the 49ers. It certainly solidified an auspicious beginning to this 2025 season. A year after the 49ers suffered through a rash of blown finishes, Jones and his teammates closed again.

As a true full-circle bonus, this was the 49ers’ first win with a backup quarterback starting since… Purdy beat Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2022.