Brock Purdy makes NFL history: 49ers QB extends this improbable streak with Thursday night win over Giants

Brock Purdy had already made NFL history once this season, and he did it again when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the New York Giants on Thursday night. 

The 30-12 win over New York gives Purdy eight straight regular-season wins to start his career, the third-longest streak in NFL history. Purdy’s streak was at seven games heading into the matchup, which had him tied with four other quarterbacks for the third spot on the all-time list. Now he has the No. 3 spot all to himself.

Here’s a look at the longest winning streaks by any quarterback to start their career: 

As you can see, the longest streak in NFL history belongs to Ben Roethlisberger. Big Ben’s streak started in Week 3 of the 2004 season and lasted until Week 3 of the 2005 season. 

During his rookie year in 2004, Roethlisberger led the Steelers to the AFC Championship game and although Pittsburgh didn’t win, Big Ben would rebound in 2005 by leading the Steelers to a win in Super Bowl XL. 

Purdy is now in a similar situation: The second-year quarterback led his team to the conference title game during his rookie year, and although the 49ers came up short, they are currently the odds-on favorite to take home the Lombardi Trophy this year. 

Purdy’s streak started in Week 13 of the 2022 season with a 35-7 win over the Buccaneers and since then, the 49ers have been unbeatable with him under center. 

At the rate things are going, Purdy could get up to No. 2 on the list by mid-October. Purdy will need to win two more games to tie Tomczak, which won’t be easy. Although the 49ers will be heavily favored in Week 4 against the Cardinals, things will get much tougher in Week 5 when they face the Cowboys. 

With the win Thursday night, Purdy has a legitimate chance to catch Roethlisberger. Here’s a look at the 49ers’ upcoming schedule:

Week 4: Cardinals (0-2)Week 5: Cowboys (2-0)Week 6: at Browns (1-1)Week 7: at Vikings (0-2)Week 8: Bengals (0-2)Week 9: BYEWeek 10: at Jaguars (1-1)Week 11: Buccaneers (2-0)Week 12: at Seahawks (1-1)

If Purdy’s streak makes it to Week 12 and the 49ers can beat the Seahawks, he’ll overtake Roethlisberger for the longest winning streak to start a QB’s career in NFL history. 

Even if that doesn’t happen, Purdy has already made some NFL history this year. In a 30-7 win over the Steelers in Week 1, Purdy became the FIRST quarterback in NFL history to win his first six regular-season starts while ALSO throwing multiple touchdowns in each game. Purdy is also the first QB in NFL history to register a QB rating of at least 95 in each of his first six starts. Both of those streaks ended in Week 2 against the Rams, but the good news for Purdy is that he had already etched his name in the NFL record book before that happened.