49ers clinch playoff berth; Jason Verrett returns

SANTA CLARA — Day 1 in the NFC’s No. 1 playoff spot did not prompt a parade at 49ers headquarters, not with the playoffs still a month away.

“Right now it doesn’t mean much,” coach Kyle Shanahan said on Monday’s media conference call. “It just means where you are at now.”

The 49ers (10-3) are taking a five-game win streak with them to Arizona for Sunday’s game against the Cardinals (3-10).

Monday night, the 49ers became the first team to clinch a playoft berth, by virtue of the Green Bay Packers’ 24-22 loss to the New York Giants.

A 28-16 win over the Seattle Seahawks gave the 49ers a four-game lead in the NFC West, then they moved atop the NFC standings once the Philadelphia Eagles lost at the Dallas Cowboys to move their records to 10-3, too. By virtue of head-to-head wins over those NFC East powers, the 49ers would own a tiebreaker for the No. 1 seed, a wild-card-round bye and home-field advantage — their unabashed goal.

“We won’t be that (top seed) if we don’t handle business this week,” Shanahan added, “So that’s all we’re really worried about, and then who we play after that.”

Speaking of numbers, the 49ers’ high-production offense produced more gaudy stats Sunday: a season-high 527 yards (their most since a 2019 slugfest in New Orleans), and an average of 9.9 yards per play (matching their same mark in a 2012 rout against Buffalo).

For the first time since that 2012 team’s 45-3 win over the Bills, the 49ers got 300-plus yards from their quarterback (Brock Purdy, 368 yards), two receivers over 100 yards (Brandon Aiyuk, 126 yards; Deebo Samuel, 149 yards), and a 100-yard running back (Christian McCaffrey, 145 yards); the 2012 quartet featured Alex Smith, Michael Crabtree, Vernon Davis and Frank Gore.

Shanahan wasn’t pleased the 49ers led only 14-10 at halftime against the Seahawks, whom they beat 31-13 only 17 days earlier.

“When you look at all the yards and the stats, you should have more to show for it,” Shanahan said. “… We made it a lot closer than it should have been. We should have put it away. That’s why I felt it was a little sloppy.”

VERRETT RETURNS

Jason Verrett officially returned to the 49ers, a year after an Achilles tear halted his latest comeback attempt in a 10-year career thwarted by leg injuries. Verrett was signed Monday to the practice squad, after being present in the locker room following Sunday’s win.

“When you’re on the practice squad, you’re only a couple of plays away from possibly being a starter or being out there on game day,” Shanahan said. “He’s going to try to show us he’s ready for that moment and hopefully give us some depth there, once we get a chance to see him.”

Verrett has been a fan favorite and locker-room leader since initially joining the 49ers in 2019, after five seasons with the Chargers. Of the 15 games he’s played in a 49ers’ uniform, 13 came during the 2020 COVID season, in which the 49ers moved operations the final month to Arizona, the site of this Sunday’s game.

Knee and ankle issues limited Verrett to one game (four snaps) in 2019, and he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in the 2021 opener in Detroit. A Pro Bowl cornerback in 2015 in his second season with the Chargers, his medical record includes issues to his left shoulder (2014), left ACL (2016), knee (2017) and right Achilles (2018).

SAMUEL HITS HIS STRIDE

In his postgame attempt to describe his recent production, Samuel suggested he’s “got another gear people haven’t seen yet.”

We’re going to assume he’s shifted into that gear over the last three games because it’s hard to imagine him doing much more damage since recovering completely from a hairline shoulder fracture that basically removed him from the picture during the 49ers’ three-game losing streak.

Samuel had seven catches for 149 yards with touchdowns on a 54-yard pass and a 1-yard run, coming one week after four receptions for 116 yards and three rushes for 22 yards and three touchdowns (two receiving, one rushing) against Philadelphia. Before that, Samuel had seven receptions for 79 yards plus four rushed for 15 yards and a rushing touchdown.

Over three games, that is 18 receptions for 344 yards, eight rushes for 38 yards and six touchdowns – three receiving, three rushing.

“Deebo’s also strung together another of healthy weeks here over the last month which has allowed us to get back in the groove of things and be more consistent and then just being out there and not having to sub him quite as much and him being ready for all this stuff,” Shanahan said.

Samuel’s resurgence has only enhanced the explosive capabilities of teammates Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk.

“It means he’s a threat and it makes things easier for other guys,” Shanahan said. “It really should be ebb and flow like that throughout the year based off the guys we have and distributing it.”

Samuel, at his own suggestion to special teams coordinator Brian Schneider, has also returned four kickoffs for 102 yards in the last two games and continues in that role as well. Samuel made his pitch with Ray-Ray McCloud out with a rib injury.

“It was a decision we were thinking about regardless,” Shanahan said. “Nothing against Ray-Ray or anyone, it’s more ways to get a special player like Deebo the ball in his hands. We’ve got to take that risk-reward every week and we’ve decided to do it the last two weeks and we’ll come up with that decision each week going forward.”

MVP CHATTER

This month’s theme: Beat the Eagles and become the NFL MVP favorite. It happened a week ago to Purdy, and a similar move happened Monday for Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who threw for 271 yards and two touchdowns in their Sunday night against the Eagles.

Purdy is now second in most online odds for the MVP race. After throwing four touchdown passes in the 49ers’ win the previous Sunday at Philadelphia, he passed for a career-high 368 yards and two touchdowns in beating the Seahawks and improving to 4-0 all-time against them.

In 14 of the past 18 seasons – and 18 of the past 25 – the NFL’s MVP award has gone to a player on a No. 1-seeded playoff team. The last MVP to not come from a No. 1 seed: Matt Ryan, quarterback of a 2016 Atlanta Falcons team whose offensive coordinator was Kyle Shanahan.

The past 10 MVP awards have gone to quarterbacks, after Adrian Peterson won it in 2012 as only the third running back to do so since 2001.

DEMO’S REMORSE

When cornerback Deommodore Lenoir came flying in to defend teammate Fred Warner in a scuffle with Seattle wideout D.K. Metcalf, he stepped across the line and understood immediately his ejection wouldn’t sit well with Shanahan.

“He reached out to me last night,” Shanahan said. “He already knew how we feel about it. That’s something we feel strong about. We’ll play as physical as anyone in this league but we never go anywhere past what football is . . . we don’t throw punches to get penalties and we definitely don’t do it to be ejected. He was very remorseful and I believe it was a good lesson to learn.”

On the plus side, Lenoir went from nickel corner to outside corner four plays into the game when Ward departed with a groin injury, played all 59 snaps and acquitted himself well. He lost one interception when Warner stole it from him and a second that clanked off his hands.

“I thought he played great,” Shanahan said. “With Mooney going down, we had to fix it real fast and he didn’t even hesitate. He challenged their receivers all game. I thought Demo was unbelievable in the game.”

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