Josh Allen tugged on Superman’s cape and failed, and Lamar Jackson turned up as another Clark Kent quarterback against Superman in the AFC Championship game.
Now it is Brock Purdy who will be desperate to hoist the 49ers’ first Lombardi Trophy since the 1994 season — and sixth overall — and carry on the proud legacy of Joe Montana and Steve Young, and who will be out to prevent Superman from hoisting his third Lombardi Trophy and repeating as Super Bowl champion.
Brock Purdy versus Patrick Mahomes.
Mr. Relevant versus Superman.
Mahomes had already won his first Super Bowl when Brock Purdy was anointed Mr. Irrelevant, because he was the 262nd and last pick of the 2022 draft out of Iowa State.
“From the outside looking in, I guess it’s a funny thing, and I’ll embrace the role and have some fun with it for sure, but at the end of the day I’m trying to go and help a team win the Super Bowl,” Purdy said at the time. “That’s where my mindset is at with it.”
All he has done since is replace Jimmy Garoppolo and make Trey Lance — the presumptive quarterback of the future for Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers — well, irrelevant, while entering the MVP conversation this season.
Mahomes won his first Super Bowl, 31-20, over the 49ers four years ago when he transformed into Superman in the fourth quarter to overcome a 20-10 deficit. Mahomes captured his second ring against Jalen Hurts in Super Bowl LVII.
The only man to beat him in the Super Bowl is Tom Brady.
Brock Purdy is not Tom Brady.
He is not Mr. Irrelevant, either. Not anymore.
Because he is surrounded by a brilliant play-calling head coach in Shanahan, and the best running back in the NFL in Christian McCaffrey, and weapons everywhere he turns in he huddle, and a dominant left tackle in Trent Williams, and because he should no longer be perceived as Mr. Irrelevant, the Vegas oddsmakers have made Purdy a two-point favorite over Mahomes in Super Bowl 2024.
Mr. Relevant will not leave mouths agape or make jaws drop with no-look passes or off-platform magic the way Superman does. No, Mr. Relevant will command his huddle, be an extension of his head coach, distribute the ball like a point guard, make plays with his legs and play with the kind of chip you would expect from an undersized, unheralded, underappreciated quarterback reminded every waking day that he entered the NFL as Mr. Irrelevant.
“Cold-blooded assassin,” NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger said.
One year after Mr. Relevant was knocked out in the first quarter of the NFC Championship game by Eagles predator Haason Reddick, then returned to the game virtually incapable of throwing the ball and didn’t get to face Superman in the Super Bowl, he brought the 49ers back with a vengeance from that 24-7 halftime deficit against the Lions on Sunday.
Mr. Relevant was no game manager when the 49ers needed him to be a game winner, going 13-for-16 for 174 yards and a touchdown in the second half.
San Francisco LB Fred Warner was dripping with sarcasm when he said afterward: “Heck of a game manager. Wow. Managed the heck out of that game, boy. He’s the reason we’re going to have a chance to win us a ring. I love him.”
No one around the 49ers believes the Super Bowl will be too big for Mr. Relevant. Mr. Irrelevant would flinch. Mr. Relevant does not.
Of course, because Mahomes has become the 28-year-old face of the NFL and arguably the sport’s Michael Jordan, it is justified calling Mr. Relevant the “other quarterback” of Super Bowl LVIII.
For starters, Mahomes made $56.85 million this season. Purdy made $870,000, the 64th-highest paid quarterback in the NFL this season.
Riches aside, it isn’t the worst thing in the world being the “other quarterback,” because there have been other “other quarterbacks” who have stolen the show in the Super Bowl:
- Jim Plunkett, following five failed seasons with the Patriots, won Super Bowl XV MVP for the wild-card Raiders against Ron Jaworski and the Eagles.
- Plunkett did it again three years later against Joe Theismann.
- Phil Simms was the “other quarterback” and won Super Bowl MVP against John Elway with his Pasadena heroics in Super Bowl XXI against the Broncos.
- Four years later, Jeff Hostetler overcame Jim Kelly and the Bills in Super Bowl XXV.
- Doug Williams was Super Bowl XXII MVP for Washington against Elway.
- Mark Rypien was Super Bowl XXVI MVP for Washington against Kelly.
- Brad Johnson won Super Bowl XXXVII for the Bucs against Rich Gannon and the Raiders.
- Eli Manning was the “other quarterback” when he led the Giants over Brady and the Perfect Patriots in Super Bowl XLII and beat Brady again four years later.
- No one could have envisioned Nick Foles winning Super Bowl LII against Brady for the Eagles’ first Super Bowl championship and first NFL championship in 58 years. Foles, who was summoned by then-Eagles coach Doug Pederson to replace an injured Carson Wentz, was the ultimate David against Goliath.
Mahomes was 26-for-49 for 270 yards and two INTs in his 31-9 loss to Brady and the Bucs three years ago. He has a passer rating of 79.7 with 738 yards, five TDs and four INTs in his three Super Bowls. He was 21-for-27 for 182 yards and three TDs to win Super Bowl MVP honors for the second time last season.
Mr. Relevant is 0-0 in the Super Bowl.
A game maybe only he imagined playing in his wildest dreams.
So some will call Brock Purdy versus Patrick Mahomes David versus Goliath. Not the 49ers. Not Brock Purdy.
He’s tough. He’s tough-minded. He’s fearless. He hungry. He’s resourceful. He’s resilient. He’s instinctive. The way Superman always was, and still is.
He’s Mr. Relevant now. Patrick Mahomes won’t scare him. And who knows if he’ll be packing kryptonite for Superman?
