The 49ers rebounded from their abysmal loss to the Baltimore Ravens with a 27-10 win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday at FedExField.
Following the 49ers' thrashing of the Commanders, coach Kyle Shanahan explained why he was so proud of how his team bounced back after coming off a tough loss on a short week.
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"I was real proud of the guys today because it was a tough week," Shanahan told reporters. "I think it was more about the emotions of last week. Whenever you have a big game like that, it's so exciting to play in front of everyone on Christmas in front of everyone. The two teams with the [best] records, just the emotions for everybody was huge.
"Then you're tired from that. It takes a while to get everyone back going again, not just physically but also mentally. So, I had a lot of concerns about that throughout the week. Talked to the players a lot about it, but you never know how they're going to be until game day, and I was just pumped that they went out, didn't worry about anything else and found a way to win today."
Shanahan revealed he particularly was impressed with the way that quarterback Brock Purdy rebounded after throwing a career-high four interceptions against the Ravens last week. Purdy threw for 228 yards and two touchdowns against the Commanders, completing 79 percent of his passes while, more importantly, not committing any turnovers.
The 24-year-old quarterback also set the 49ers' single-season passing yard record on Sunday, a prestigious milestone for a franchise with multiple Hall of Fame signal-callers playing for the organization.
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"I think it's real tough when someone does that, and it's about football, and then he's got to answer questions all week about how his mental state is, how everything is, it's just how the world works," Shanahan explained.
"He studied his tail off all week, practiced well, knew some of the reasons he made some mistakes in the game before, and just treated it like any other week. I think it's good to get out there -- didn't have any picks today, which I think would be good to not have to answer any questions on those.
"But I thought it was a hell of a deal for him. We've had a lot of really good quarterbacks in this organization, and just being told in there, he broke the record for all-time yards in a year. I think that's a pretty big accomplishment by him and everyone else in there. So it was cool to do that today and lock up the one seed."
Purdy shared he was happy to have the 49ers looking like their dominant selves again after recording their 11th double-digit win of the 2023 NFL season.
"To be able to come out in a game like this and get the ball rolling again and put up some points, and the defense did their thing, it felt good," Purdy said after Sunday's win.
The 49ers clinched the NFC's No. 1 playoff seed with their win over the Commanders and the Arizona Cardinals' 35-31 win over the Philadelphia Eagles. The first-round bye gives San Francisco a chance to heal and prepare for a deep playoff run as one of the favorites to hoist the Lombardi Trophy at Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas.
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