At 5-0, it’s about rattling time Kyle Shanahan’s San Francisco 49ers earned a little bit of respect.
The Niners entered 2026 in a stress cooker season after bowing out of the NFL Playoffs with a 41-6 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, who would finally go onto win the Tremendous Bowl.
In league circles, some believed that Shanahan’s group wanted to ship an announcement in 2026, in any other case, the 46-year-old might be a part of the latest pattern of coaches saying goodbye as soon as a company proves they’ll’t take that subsequent step.
However in Week 5, Shanahan’s Niners exercised some demons towards the identical Seahawks group that ended their season final 12 months. It wasn’t a blowout. In truth, Seahawks huge receiver Cooper Kupp was inches away from a primary down that might’ve given quarterback Sam Darnold sufficient time to proceed manufacturing a last-minute drive to try to tie the sport.
The 32-29 rating on Sunday means little or no.
What issues extra is that the 49ers are 5-0.
Quarterback Brock Purdy is deservedly the early-season MVP frontrunner. Kalshi, a preferred prediction market platform that permits customers to purchase and promote contracts of real-world occasions just like the NFL season at present offers Purdy a 30% probability of successful MVP. The following best choice? Buffalo Payments quarterback Josh Allen, who’s being given a 19% probability of successful MVP.
In 2026, Purdy is shaking the “sport supervisor” label that has adopted him since being the final choice within the 2022 NFL Draft.
He has only a tick below 2,000 passing yards all through the primary 5 video games of the season and a 13-2 landing to interception ratio is a part of the explanation why San Francisco appears like the most effective group in soccer.
Niners normal supervisor John Lynch deserves extra credit score, too.
The 49ers handed future Corridor of Fame huge receiver Mike Evans a three-year deal price $42 million – and it might attain as much as $60 million with incentives.
Via 5 weeks? 24 catches. 326 yards. Three touchdowns. Seems to be to be well worth the cash.
With out headache huge receiver Brandon Aiyuk, Evans and Deebo Samuel have been greater than sufficient for Purdy. However Samuel injured his hamstring in the course of the win towards the Seahawks, making that deal for Evans much more priceless. The Niners even have second-round rookie receiver De’Zhaun Stribling on the injured reserve, so Lynch may must make one other transfer at receiver to maintain the boat afloat for his MVP candidate QB.
The Niners must maintain this for a complete season, after which discover a method to stop horribly-timed issues from occurring within the NFL Playoffs. However proper now? They need to be handled like one of the vital feared groups in soccer, and getting revenge on the Tremendous Bowl champions to enhance to 5-0 proves that.
