Getty 49ers Brock Purdy
LAS VEGAS — For 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, there might be some tendency toward being intimidated by the long shadow of the team’s two great previous quarterbacks, Joe Montana and Steve Young. But as he prepares for Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday here in Las Vegas, Purdy said that intimidation has not been much of a factor—rather, he said, he mostly gets support from them.
Which is not a bad thing at all, considering how much flak Purdy tends to take from outside talkers who have put down his abilities all season and instead given credit for the 49ers’ run solely to the talent around him. Purdy is coming off a Pro Bowl season in which he threw for 4,280 yards in 16 games and had 31 touchdowns against 11 interceptions.
His 113.0 passer rating was No. 1 in the NFL.
“When I talk to them, they’ve been so great about supporting me and everything and when you talk to them, when you’re in their presence, you’re in the presence of greatness,” Purdy said at his press conference on Tuesday. “They got the job done. So it definitely makes you think, all right, let’s step it up and let’s live up to the standard that they set.”
49ers Brock Purdy: ‘That’s the Standard Here’
Certainly, the standard that was set by the two Hall of Fame quarterbacks has been difficult to match. Montana was perfect in four Super Bowl appearances, winning four rings between 1981-89. Young took over for Montana in 1991, and went to seven straight Pro Bowls, compiling a record as a starter of 91-33. He butted heads with the Cowboys 1990s dynasty, and won just one Super Bowl, in the 1994 season.
That’s the last Super Bowl the Niners have won. Purdy aims to change that.
“Obviously, just what they’ve done for this organization, the history, as a quarterback it’s like, ‘All right, there’s obviously some big shoes to fill,’” Purdy said. “I’m not gonna compare myself to them or anything but they’ve set the standard for winning in this organization. If you look at the 49ers logo, you think of success in the Super Bowl because of those guys. That’s something I have in the back of my mind. That’s the standard here.”
Advice From Joe Montana, Steve Young
As for what, exactly, each quarterback has told him over the two years he has been with the 49ers, Purdy said Montana’s advice is just to lean on the talent around him. If others devalue his accomplishments, it does not matter as long as he wins.
“Like, with Joe, it’s pretty simple,” Purdy said. “Just, ‘You got a good team around you, obviously go through your reads and what Kyle is calling and trust in Kyle. You don’t need to be the superstar or anything. You can go out and just do your job and do it well and you’ve got a good team around you, you can win that way.’”
Young, though, focuses more on the difficulty of playing the position and handling all the outside influences that come with the NFL.
“Steve, we talk about our mindsets, in the NFL, with all the stuff going on around you in the NFL, being able to sink back into what you believe and understanding who you are, what your purpose is,” Purdy said.