The San Francisco 49ers offense just showed everyone what they are capable of when mostly healthy on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals. This performance puts the rest of the NFC on notice entering the final stretch of the season.
Quarterback Brock Purdy [looked very solid](https://ninernoise.com/brock-purdy-couldn-t-scripted-his-return-injury-any-better) in his return from injury, and everyone was reminded of what things can look like when Purdy is on the field at the same time as running back Christian McCaffrey.
The Niners put up 41 points, which is the most they have put up in a game this season. They looked to be firing on all cylinders and called to mind the 49ers offense of 2023, which was a high-powered unit that helped lead San Francisco to a Super Bowl appearance.
Sure, the 49ers do not have wide receivers Deebo Samuel or Brandon Aiyuk from that team, but they still have McCaffrey, Purdy, George Kittle, and they just got back Ricky Pearsall, who is still finding his footing after coming back from injury.
And let's not forget that they still have Jauan Jennings, a favorite target of Purdy, who looks to be healthy and playing much better as the season goes on. Trent Williams is still there holding down the fort at left tackle, so this offense has a chance to be truly dangerous coming down the stretch.
If San Francisco can sneak into the playoffs, you can bet that whichever team it goes up against will be sweating a bit thinking about how to stop an offense with so many weapons.
However, the biggest trouble for the 49ers going forward will be the defense. They are missing so many key players and gave up a lot of yardage to a Cardinals team that was missing a lot of players on offense.
We saw last season with the Detroit Lions that it can be difficult to win with a high-powered offense if the defense is reeling and struggling.
Still, Kittle has talked about how the offense is [going to have to lead the way](https://ninernoise.com/george-kittle-milestone-cardinals-echo-forever-49ers-lore) for the Niners going forward. The Arizona game gave a sample of what that could look like; the question now is whether the Niners can consistently put up that much offense going forward.
Asking for 40 points per game is asking for too much, but if the Niners can reliably put up 30 or more points per game the rest of this season, then they should be in a good spot.
Given the 49ers offense and the deep playoff experience it has, no team is going to look forward to seeing the Niners in the playoffs if they can keep this current offense intact the rest of the way.