The 49ers have played a lot of meaningful December football in recent years, but they have entered those games in a stronger position than they find themselves in this December.
Last Sunday’s win over the Bears snapped a three-game losing streak, but it didn’t put the 49ers out of the woods. They are still 6-7 heading into Thursday night’s game against the Rams and quarterback Brock Purdy said on Tuesday that the team has to take the same urgency they played with against Chicago and apply it to all of their remaining games.
“With where we’re at now, it can’t be what is the end going to look like?” Purdy said, via 49ersWebzone.com. “It has to be we have to take care of business today, and then tomorrow, and then when the game comes, take care of each play, and drive, and quarter. It’s just being in the moment and not looking too far ahead. With that comes playing together as a team and playing desperate because we don’t have room to lose or anything like that. That’s just where we’re at.”
Playing at that level for an extended period can be difficult, but the 49ers have enough recent playoff experience to know that they are capable of sustaining that intensity when faced with elimination. We won’t have to wait long to find out if they can do it this year as well.