49ers-Dolphins brings back memories of Brock Purdys stunning debut: It was foreshadowing

The Dolphins are in town, and the 49ers Faithful should greet them with a round of applause.Maybe a standing ovation.

Shake the hand of any fan you see in Aqua-and-Orange.Any way to express gratitude for the small part they played in changing the franchise’s trajectory.If it wasn’t for Jaelan Phillips’ violent sack of one 49ers quarterback on their last visit, who knows how long it would have taken to figure out they had their next one waiting in the wings?With 9:30 left in the first quarter on Dec.7, 2022, an unknown seventh-round pick — literally “Mr.

Irrelevant” — named Brock Purdy entered the game for an injured Jimmy Garoppolo.And, as they say, the rest is history.“It was just one game, but it was an extremely special game,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said this week.“It was foreshadowing how the following three years would go.”In five years at the helm, Shanahan had devised one of the NFL’s most sophisticated offensive schemes, filled it with superstar skill position players and taken them to a Super Bowl.

But he had yet to find the quarterback who could take them to the next level.Almost four years since Purdy’s stunning debut, he hasn’t led the Niners to the promised land — not yet.But he has proven to give them the best chance of any quarterback Shanahan has had.It wasn’t until Shanahan went home and reflected on the game later that night that he realized what he had on his hands.

The guy they took with the last pick of the draft was a legit NFL QB.“We had such a good team that year, and it’s such mixed feelings when you lose your starter [Trey Lance] and your backup [Garoppolo] within a month of each other,” he said.“Then you’re down to the third-string quarterback the whole game.“So, it was a little sombering after the game and stuff, but I remember … when I got home that night and actually sitting and thinking about the game and really setting in how well Brock played.

Just going against that defense he did...