Brock Purdy has come in for some significant criticism in the wake of his underwhelming performance in the San Francisco 49ers' divisional round win over the Green Bay Packers.

Brandon Aiyuk is having none of it.

Purdy's display in the Niners' thrilling 24-21 victory against the Packers continues to be an extremely hot topic of debate, the 49ers quarterback having struggled with accuracy and rhythm for much of the game prior to his game-winning drive, which saw him go six for seven and was capped by a six-yard touchdown run from Christian McCaffrey.

Aiyuk dismisses the critics

It was a showing adversely affected by the weather and the loss of Deebo Samuel to an early injury. Still, it has served to increase the scrutiny on a player who was in the MVP conversation for much of his first full season as the 49ers starter.

But, heading into Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the Detroit Lions, such external questions about Purdy are of no concern to Aiyuk.

"I'm not focused on his critics," said Aiyuk. "We're all sitting here because of him, obviously.

"I love playing football with him, and he's the reason why I'm here today feeling like I have an opportunity this weekend to play my best football because of a quarterback like him."

One of the criticisms leveled at Purdy following the win over the Packers is that he does not elevate those around him. Aiyuk disagrees with that assessment.

"I think just timing, anticipation," Aiyuk said when asked what traits Purdy has that elevate his weapons. "Most of the time when I'm lining up and I feel like I'm getting the ball, I don't know a time when that hasn't been the case. He sees the same thing that we see, and he gets us the ball on time so that we're able to do what we do after we catch the football.

"We're going to get open, stuff's going to be schemed up, but it takes a quarterback to get the ball to you on time in the right spot so that you can transition and turn plays into bigger plays."

Backing from the head coach

Head coach Kyle Shanahan was similarly defensive of Purdy when asked about his lack of rhythm in the game, making a point of underlining the positive and decisive contribution his quarterback made at the end of one of the most unconvincing performances of his young career.

"It wasn't just Brock I think it was our whole offense. I mean, they [the Packers] did some good things. They stopped us. Couldn't complete a couple third downs. We had a big penalty that made us miss one. I mean, I'm sure a few balls got away in the rain like they always do like I think it did from the other quarterback also, but I also thought that was a good defense we were going against. 

"We knew it'd be a challenge going into the week. We would like to have done better but the way Brock finished on that last drive, not just him but everybody. We were able to overcome some of our mistakes in the last drive [better] than we did earlier in the game, even the drops things like that but I wouldn't put it all on just Brock. Brock did some really good things and it would have been impossible to win the game without him."

Internally, the 49ers have never been in doubt of Purdy's worth ever since he incredibly won seven straight games as a seventh-round rookie. 

A 2023 regular season in which he set the franchise record for passing yardage and led the NFL in every yards per attempt measure as well as touchdown percentage, passer rating and QBR reaffirmed their belief in him. On Sunday, he has the chance to remind the NFL world of his value in the most emphatic manner by leading the 49ers to an eighth Super Bowl appearance.

Brock Purdy makes huge claim to explain Deebo Samuel’s importance

High praise.