At 5-0, it’s about damn time Kyle Shanahan’s San Francisco 49ers earned a bit of respect.
The Niners entered 2026 in a pressure cooker season after bowing out of the NFL Playoffs with a 41-6 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, who would eventually go onto win the Super Bowl.
In league circles, some believed that Shanahan’s team needed to send a statement in 2026, otherwise, the 46-year-old could join the recent trend of coaches saying goodbye once an organization proves they can’t take that next step.
But in Week 5, Shanahan’s Niners exercised some demons against the same Seahawks team that ended their season last year. It wasn’t a blowout. In fact, Seahawks wide receiver Cooper Kupp was inches away from a first down that would’ve given quarterback Sam Darnold enough time to continue manufacturing a last-minute drive to try and tie the game.
The 32-29 score on Sunday means very little.
What matters more is that the 49ers are 5-0.
Quarterback Brock Purdy is deservedly the early-season MVP frontrunner. Kalshi, a popular prediction market platform that allows users to buy and sell contracts of real-world events like the NFL season currently gives Purdy a 30% chance of winning MVP. The next best option? Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who is being given a 19% chance of winning MVP.
In 2026, Purdy is shaking the “game manager” label that has followed him since being the last selection in the 2022 NFL Draft.
He has just a tick under 2,000 passing yards throughout the first five games of the season and a 13-2 touchdown to interception ratio is part of the reason why San Francisco looks like the best team in football.
Niners general manager John Lynch deserves more credit, too.
The 49ers handed future Hall of Fame wide receiver Mike Evans a three-year deal worth $42 million – and it could reach up to $60 million with incentives.
Through five weeks? 24 catches. 326 yards. Three touchdowns. Looks to be worth the money.
Without headache wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, Evans and Deebo Samuel have been more than enough for Purdy. But Samuel injured his hamstring during the win against the Seahawks, making that deal for Evans even more valuable. The Niners also have second-round rookie receiver De’Zhaun Stribling on the injured reserve, so Lynch might need to make another move at receiver to keep the boat afloat for his MVP candidate QB.
The Niners need to sustain this for an entire season, and then find a way to prevent horribly-timed things from happening in the NFL Playoffs. But right now? They should be treated like one of the most feared teams in football, and getting revenge on the Super Bowl champions to improve to 5-0 proves that.
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