The Raiders exposed a few vulnerabilities in Week 17. The Seahawks found a few more in the Wild Card Round. Now the Dallas Cowboys seem poised to challenge this Niners’ defense in a whole new way on Sunday.

The Niners’ secondary is scrambling. The pass rush lacks the same punch it had early in the season. The rush defense is getting pushed around a bit.

This 49ers’ defense is still strong — you don’t simply go from excellent to awful — but we haven’t seen greatness from this unit since the calendar flipped.

But fret not, Niners fans, because the 49ers’ offense has turned into a juggernaut — a unit capable of carrying this team to the Super Bowl.

It was sneaky, like Brock Purdy’s athleticism, but the 49ers have scored 34 points per game since the seventh-round rookie took over the offense in the first quarter of the team’s Week 13 game against the Dolphins.

A small sample size? Sure. But the points output is no fluke. In the NFL, yards translate into points, and the Niners have averaged 396 yards per game with Purdy at the helm. Only two teams in the NFL had a higher per-game average over the course of the season — the Chiefs and the Bills.

There’s an obvious answer as to why the 49ers’ offense has jumped 10 points per game since Jimmy Garoppolo was at the helm.

And no, it’s not just the quarterback.

The Niners’ trade to acquire running back Christian McCaffrey would have been the turning point of any other team’s season. He’s been exceptionally impactful, not just statistically, but tactically, too.

Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan has long coveted a running back who was as effective as a pass catcher as he was running the ball. In the coach’s first full offseason, he signed Jerick McKinnon to a four-year, $30 million contract. The idea was that Shanahan could move McKinnon all over the field — if the defense keyed in on the running back, another player (or two) would be left with a great matchup; if the defense deprioritized defending the running back, he’d be the one to burn them.

It never worked out with McKinnon, who was frequently injured during his Niners’ tenure, only playing one unremarkable season — 2020.

Shanahan was so keen on the idea of a do-it-all running back, though, that he turned wide receiver Deebo Samuel into a running back last season. That worked well, but it wasn’t precisely what Shanahan wanted.

This season, McKinnon is living out Shanahan’s fantasy in Kansas City — the do-it-all back has nine touchdowns since Week 13. That’s OK, though, because the Niners finally found their perfect running back with McCaffrey.

Not only is the former Carolina Panther a brilliant between-the-tackles runner, but his route-running, particularly from the slot, gives Shanahan access to every page of his playbook for the first time in his Niners’ tenure.

Add Samuel to the mix, and defenses have no idea what personnel grouping to have on the field. That creates the mismatches that are the foundation of Shanahan’s offensive philosophy.

If only that was the end of the Niners’ weapons: There’s also Brandon Aiyuk — who has developed into Shanahan’s latest prolific ‘X’ receiver — third-down maestro Jauan Jennings, and, some guy named Kittle.

The only weakness on this 49ers’ offense right now is the interior of the offensive line, and they’re pretty good. Yes, Seattle’s massive defensive tackles tossed around undersized center Jake Brendel and left guard Dan Brunskill on Saturday, but Brendel bounced back in the second half of the game, and rookie left guard Spencer Burford proved up to the task when he was subbed into the game.

The Niners’ offense, with McCaffrey confusing defenses and Samuel adding to their problems, can paint the entire canvas. The Niners can run the ball inside or outside and throw it sideline-to-sideline and deep, too.

They can do that because they have a quarterback who can execute all those plays.

Purdy’s received countless accolades over the past few weeks, and all earned, but what stands out the most to me is how much rhythm the Niners’ offense has with him at the helm.

It helps to have an absurd amount of weapons and arguably the NFL’s best play-caller on your side, but if being a “system” quarterback for Shanahan and the 49ers were so easy, we’d be talking about C.J. Beathard or Brian Hoyer right now.

Shanahan hasn’t coddled the rookie. No, he’s throwing even more on his plate than his predecessors. The importance of the moment calls for it. Purdy — with his excellent decision-making and plus talent with both his arm and his legs — has proven he’s capable of it.

“We didn’t have the luxury to sit there and worry about stuff the way the game was going,” Shanahan said of Purdy’s first action, in Week 13 against the Dolphins. “We just had to call plays to try to win the game, and he did such a hell of a job, and he’s done it every time since. We have a lot of confidence in him, and he gives us more and more confidence each week.”

Purdy is delivering the ball on time and in stride to receivers. He’s selling play-action concepts and keeping defenses honest with his scrambling ability. The Niners’ offense flows with him at the helm. It allows Shanahan to find rhythm with his play calls. Top-to-bottom, the Niners’ offense is making beautiful music right now.

And it’s needed with the Niners’ defense — so outstanding for so much of the season — slipping a bit in recent weeks.

In particular, the Niners have struggled to corral No. 1 receivers.

They’re hardly unique in that distinction — those top receivers are paid a lot for a reason — but in the Purdy era, we’ve seen Tyreek Hill (9 catches, 146 yards, touchdown), Davante Adams (7 catches, 153 yards, two touchdowns), and D.K. Metcalf (10 catches, 136 yards, two touchdowns) give the Niners the business.

Even the Washington Commanders were carving up the Niners’ secondary. With Dallas’ CeeDee Lamb coming to town Sunday, the trend might continue.

But if Sunday’s game is a shootout, the Niners are well-equipped to win.

This is an offense-first team now, and that’s anything but an issue.

No, it’s “what happens at quarterback next year?”

Well, Purdy has answered that question for all of us over the last seven games.

No matter what happens from this point in the playoffs onwards, Purdy has proven himself to be the 49ers’ quarterback of the future. Of course he is. You saw his performance over the Seahawks on Saturday, where he threw for 332 yards and accounted for four touchdowns, right?

It doesn’t matter if Purdy wins the Super Bowl — the strange, arbitrary barometer suggested by countless fans over the last few weeks. No, Purdy has already passed the test. When he has played, he has made the 49ers better.

And while no one expected Brock Purdy to be the man in Santa Clara — save for perhaps Brock Purdy — the reality of the scenario is inescapable: The Niners’ grand Trey Lance plan is dead. They’re on the Purdy Plan from here on out.

That leaves the team with a bit of a mess. But the 49ers should feel fortunate. They stumbled into the most enviable quarterback situation in the NFL — a situation so advantageous that it previously only existed in thought exercises.

Of course, there are the two other quarterbacks that started games for the 49ers this season. How do they fit into The Purdy Plan?

There are a few ways this can go, but I expect that heading into training camp next summer, Purdy and Lance will be in “competition” for the top quarterback job.

But the truth is that Purdy will have a massive head start in that competition. He has put together far more — and far better — game tape, and Lance is coming off a massive injury that will likely put some limitation on his involvement in the Niners’ offseason workout programs.

No, the “competition” will be lip service from Kyle Shanahan. He did the same thing in 2021, even though Lance had little chance of starting the season as QB1. By calling it a competition, Shanahan sends a message to the rest of the roster that no one’s job is guaranteed in camp. It’s also a bit of cover in case Lance returns as the second coming of Josh Allen.

For now, with Lance still unproven — a talented but underwhelming enigma — the selection to draft Purdy might have been the smartest move the 49ers have made under Shanahan and general manager John Lynch.

Then there’s Jimmy Garoppolo.

Garoppolo is an unrestricted free agent, and with eight teams guaranteed to be in the market for a starting quarterback this offseason and another half-dozen possibly joining the fray, he’s going to have suitors. Garoppolo’s 2022 season might have started and ended with injury, but he was pretty good when he was on the field. Someone is going to pay handsomely for his services.

The Niners can’t pay Garoppolo as much as the market will. They also can’t guarantee him a starting job, like other teams will. They probably can’t get rid of Lance to make room for Garoppolo on the roster, either.

So Garoppolo is gone.

To be fair, the Niners — as in 2021 — could do much worse than Lance at backup quarterback. Being a backup wasn’t the 49ers’ original plan for Lance — they traded three first-round picks to draft him at No. 3 overall — but that’s the beauty of the NFL, you have to stay nimble and live in reality in this league.

Given how much the Niners have needed their backup quarterbacks under Shanahan, they’d be foolish not to invest in that position.

No matter what happens Sunday in the Divisional Round and beyond, Purdy is now the most valuable player in the NFL. I mean value in how we use the word when we shop at Target: his performance dramatically outpaces his cost.

It’s one of my favorite NFL questions being answered in real-time. What would happen if a team went all-in and built a roster around a solid, but super-cheap quarterback?

Again, the Niners didn’t plan on any of this. Purdy’s selection was a lark. The team already had three quarterbacks — including its quarterback of the present and future — when he was picked.

And with that last pick in the NFL draft came the NFL draft’s smallest contract.

Every rookie drafted enters the league with a defined salary commensurate with his pick. Had Purdy been an undrafted free agent, the free market likely would have put him in a position to demand a larger contract and a shorter term than the one he landed with the 49ers.

Instead, Purdy signed a prescribed four-year deal worth $3.7 million.

That’s the total, not per year.

The NFL salary cap was $208.2 million this season. Purdy was paid $724,253 per OverTheCap.com. He’s one of the only guys on the team who will truly notice when the playoff bonus direct deposits hit checking accounts.

And next season, even after this incredible run, Purdy will make $889,253 — 0.4 percent of the cap.

Purdy won’t make more than $1 million in base salary ($1.11 against the cap) until 2025, the final year of his rookie contract.

Having the most important player on the field also be so inexpensive puts the 49ers in a position never before seen in the NFL. The team with arguably the NFL’s best roster now has immense financial flexibility.

They could move on from Lance and find a cheaper backup option. But even if the Niners maintain the original plan for 2023 — Lance and Purdy as the team’s two quarterbacks, albeit in flipped roles — it will only cost the team $10.1 million against the salary cap.

For reference, five quarterbacks are set to make $40 million-plus next season. And half of the starting quarterbacks in the league are set to make more — individually — than the entire 49ers’ quarterback room in 2023.

The Niners are estimated to have $17.6 million in salary cap space heading into next season, per OTC. Add in a few contract restructurings and extensions — Trent Williams, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, and Fred Warner stand out there — and the Niners will be in a prime position to bring back free agents Mike McGlinchey, Jimmie Ward, Jake Brendel, and Emmanuel Moseley with ease, and sign upgrades at backup tight end and defensive end.

Purdy made the Super Bowl or bust 49ers a better team this season.

And while Purdy as the starting quarterback was never the plan, his emergence as the team’s QB1 puts the Niners in a position to be even better next season.

These two teams haven’t been archrivals for a while now. One could make the case that true hatred between the two teams left when Jim Harbaugh and the Niners “mutually agreed” to end his time on the sidelines in Dec. 2014.

Even in 2019, the regular-season finale where the division was on the line didn’t carry much vitriol.

And maybe I imagined it, but didn’t we just spend a whole season declaring that the Niners vs. Rams was the NFL’s new “it” rivalry?

No, the Seahawks and 49ers went into Saturday’s playoff game as mere divisional rivals. There’s no love between the two teams, but I doubt that either team is obsessed with beating the other — the hallmark of a great rivalry.

That might have changed after Saturday’s game.

Safety Johnathan Abram was a dirty player with the Raiders for the first three years of his career. Now on his second team, the Seahawks, it’s clear little has changed.

And his dirty play Saturday might be where the 49ers-Seahawks rivalry was restored to something close to its former glory.

Early in the third quarter Saturday, with Seattle up 1, Deebo Samuel picked up a first down, broke three tackles, and pushed the ball deep into Seattle territory.

Abram came across the field to tackle Samuel, ending the play at the Seattle 15-yard line. But after Samuel was brought down, and Abram disengaged from the tackle, the Seahawks’ safety grabbed Samuel’s ankle, lifted the wide receiver’s leg, and, according to Niners’ players, including Samuel, twisted.

Samuel was in his second game back from an MCL strain that sidelined him for four games.

There was no flag on the play, but the Niners players and coaches flagged it in their minds — they won’t soon forget it.

“I think anger kind of took over,” George Kittle said. “I don’t know why you’d ever want to piss off Deebo. If you’re going to do that to him, you’re just going to piss off Trent Williams, whose one of the scariest people on the football field. you’re going to fire up our defense and get our entire team fired up. I don’t know what the point of that is.

That definitely influenced us and made us a bit angrier and a little meaner. It was definitely a poor decision on their point.”

The Niners got the last laugh Saturday, but in the years to come, there should be plenty more serious competition between the Niners and Seahawks.

So many — including myself — believed the Seahawks would be terrible this season after they traded away quarterback Russell Wilson to the Broncos for tight end Noah Fant and draft picks.

Instead, it was the Broncos who were terrible. As a result, the Seahawks, despite making the playoffs, will have the 5th pick in the draft (and also the 38th) courtesy of the Broncos. With the addition of their own picks, the Seahawks will have five of the first 84 picks. That’s a lot of young, cheap talent. It’s also a lot to offer in a trade this offseason.

The Seahawks are also estimated to have the sixth-most salary cap space in the NFL this upcoming offseason. They will be able to spend to their heart’s desire.

That’s a lot of ways to improve an already good team.

Clearly, the Seahawks’ brass knows what it’s doing. Under Pete Carroll, Seattle has posted three losing seasons in 12 years — one of those sub-.500 seasons, they won the division.

So whether Geno Smith is at quarterback next year or not, the Seahawks are positioned for bigger and better things in the future.

That means they’re set on a collision course with the Niners, who have haphazardly found stability at quarterback — exceptionally inexpensive stability, at that — with Brock Purdy.

It’s easy to imagine more playoff-like regular-season games — a la the 2019 season — between the 49ers and Seahawks.

Perhaps a few more actual playoff games, too.

And while a true rivalry requires more than one moment for fuel, the Niners and Seahawks might just look back at Abram’s leg twist as kindling for this new flame.

“Those guys…” Brandon Aiyuk said of the Seahawks. “We just love beating them.”

He yelled with his whole chest.

No, it was his whole body.

Scratch that, he yelled with his entire soul.

Then the 49ers’ rookie quarterback pounded his chest five times, alternating arms with each beat.

Purdy had just spun out of a sack and made the defining play of the game, a 7-yard touchdown toss to running back Elijah Mitchell to give the 49ers a 31-17 early fourth-quarter lead over the Seahawks in the team’s first-round playoff game.

It was a yell of frustration.

It was a yell of excitement.

It was a yell that reverberated through the entire 49ers roster.

“I love seeing him let his emotion out like that, because he’s a pretty calm, cool, collected guy — not very loud,” 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk said. “But when he lets it out, it fires you up.”

The touchdown was the start — the spark — of a surge that turned a six-point game into a 41-17 lead. The offense started cruising. The defense suffocated the Seahawks. The breakthrough scramble and throw turned what had been a nervy contest for the 49ers into a blowout win and another playoff game next weekend at Levi’s Stadium against an opponent to be determined.

But the play — and the yell that followed — also perfectly exemplified Purdy, the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft who was thrust into the role of 49ers’ starting quarterback in the middle of a playoff run, amid Super Bowl expectations.

The rookie has surprised the world of football by not just surviving, but elevating the Niners’ offense.

Surprised everyone but himself, that is.

“It was just a broken play… [Mitchell] was my last read. When I scrambled — Elijah was where he needed to be. That’s why I was excited,” Purdy said.

“To create momentum, it was just a big play for everyone — a big moment for everyone. I was just excited about it and wanted to create some juice for my team.”

It was fair to wonder if Purdy had reached his limit in the first half of Saturday’s game. After six sterling performances — all wins — to close the regular season, the lights of the playoffs looked too bright for the rookie in the early goings.

The 49ers were juice-free in the first two quarters, with Purdy completing only 9-of-19 passes in the first half.

He looked jittery. He was missing easy throws and overlooking open receivers, and the 49ers around him weren’t playing much better.

Dominated in the trenches and being carved apart on defense, San Francisco — 10-point favorites heading into the game — trailed the Seahawks 17-16 at halftime.

The Niners, to their credit, responded with a touchdown to start the third quarter.

But the game still felt in the balance, even after Charles Omenhihu stripped Seattle quarterback Geno Smith of the ball — recovered by Nick Bosa of the 49ers — deep in San Francisco territory on the subsequent drive.

The Niners had to capitalize on the turnover. After kicking three first-half field goals, they needed a touchdown.

Purdy delivered.

He pushed the Niners into Seattle territory with a 33-yard pass to Jauan Jennings. And after an aborted play on first down from the 7-yard line, Purdy tapdanced in the backfield on second down, missing open receivers in the end zone.

Oh no.

He then scrambled to his left, right into the path of Seattle veteran defensive end Bruce Irvin.

Oh no.

But then Purdy spun around, changing the direction of his scramble.

He was on the run to the right, but instead of continuing into the open field, he saw Mitchell standing all by himself atop the ’10’ painted on the field.

Oh yes.

Purdy made a jump throw in stride that hit Mitchell in the chest. The running back could have walked into the end zone.

Then Purdy hit himself in the chest.

The rookie quarterback might not have the biggest arm. He’s not tall or particularly strong. He’s certainly not the fastest player on the field. If he told you he worked for the 49ers, you would initially think the boyish 23-year-old was an intern in the front office.

But in a sport filled with alpha males, you’d be hard-pressed to find a player with more confidence in themselves.

His self-belief has become legend in the 49ers’ locker room. It’s allowed countless players to declare — after the fact, of course — that they “called” the third-string quarterback’s ascension to becoming the leader of a team that’s favorited to win the NFC by Las Vegas oddsmakers.

“Brock is a dude,” offensive lineman Spencer Burford said. “He has confidence in himself, and we have confidence in him as well. When you have a quarterback like that, [one] that believes in himself, owns his mistakes, and knows what he’s doing… Everybody knew what we had to do in the second half. Brock just led the ship.”

Purdy needed every bit of that soon-to-be legendary confidence to do that.

A player with less self-belief would have gone into a shell had they played like Purdy in the first half. They would not have continued to run into the fire the way the young quarterback did, for fear that they would come out burned.

Still, for a player with effectively no NFL experience — a quarterback making his sixth NFL start — to push forward and take risks like Purdy did on Saturday, with the stakes so high, is astounding.

“[It’s] the instinct I have [from] playing football throughout the years,” Purdy said of the scrambles.

Those instincts proved to be game-changing on Saturday. They’ve been season-changing for the 49ers.

“He’s got a feel for it,” Kyle Shanahan said of his quarterback’s scrambling ability. “It definitely makes me nervous on some of it, but he did a hell of a job getting away. he knows his body — he’s out there and can see how close he is to those guys. He tries to never give up on a play, and he’s been very smart with the ball so far, so I appreciate that he’s doing it.”

Purdy completed 9-of-11 second-half passes for 185 yards and three touchdowns through the air on Saturday. He added a rushing touchdown with a quarterback sneak. After the touchdown throw to Mitchell, Purdy once again looked like the precocious, precise, patient, and poised quarterback that came into his first real NFL action following Jimmy Garoppolo’s injury in Week 13 and made the hardest position in professional sports look so effortlessly easy.

Purdy’s four touchdowns Saturday matched Garoppolo’s total touchdown output from his six career postseason games.

And with his huge second half, Purdy became the 10th quarterback in NFL playoff history to throw for 330-plus yards, score four touchdowns, and not throw an interception.

This isn’t normal. A rookie shouldn’t be doing this.

But it’s happening, and it has the 49ers — winners of 11 straight games, seven coming with Purdy at the helm of the offense — two wins away from the Super Bowl.

It’s the principle at the heart of Kyle Shanahan’s offense.

The 49ers’ head coach and offensive play-caller isn’t simply calling plays at random — he’s isolating certain players on the opposing defense and calling plays that put them in unwinnable positions.

To be great on defense, you have to be incisive. Save for generational players, there’s not enough time to think and attack. So Shanahan flusters defenses by forcing defensive players to make choices in the open field.

And as Shanahan’s style of offense spreads around the NFL via his coaching tree and copycats, we’re seeing more offensive play callers build offenses behind the principle of conflict.

Against the 49ers’ defense, there’s one player, as of late, that’s being pushed into the fray again and again.

Niners safety Talanoa Hufanga is a critical reason why San Francisco’s defense was the best in the NFL this season. He’s incredible near the line of scrimmage — his run-stopping ability is perhaps unparalleled at his position. Without him, it’s hard to imagine the Niners’ being the best run defense in the NFL.

Early in the Niners’ campaign, Hufanga’s hard hits in the run game and opportunism in the passing game set a tone for the defense. He was everywhere on the field in the fall, and where he went, he made his presence known.

But Hufanga’s presence has been felt in a different way in recent weeks.

The book is out on the safety who plays more like a strong-side linebacker, and teams are targeting him in the pass game.

He’s the player they’re placing in conflict.

It hasn’t gone well.

Heading into the postseason, the 49ers are the oddsmakers’ favorites to win the NFC. But Hufanga is the Niners’ ultimate X-factor. If he plays well in these playoffs, the 49ers’ defense is strong enough to carry the team to a Super Bowl victory.

The Pro Bowler could also be why the Niners’ season ends earlier than expected.

We all know that quarterback play is critical in the postseason.

But I posit that it’s equally critical to have excellent safety play if you want to win a Super Bowl.

It’s a tough thing to ask the average fan to care about — after all, safeties are rarely on the screen when you watch the game on TV.

But safeties are the defense’s last line of defense. They should also be the most versatile players on the field. In this pass-first league — where one broken coverage can change the entire game — safties define the defense.

The Niners loved the definition Hufanga provided the team’s defense early in the season. Clearly, Pro Bowl voters did, too.

But in four of the Niners’ last six games, Hufanga has made at least one overt error that has resulted in a touchdown. If not for that great start to the season, his recent play would be downright benchable.

Heading into the playoffs, the Niners can only wonder which Hufanga will be defining their defense.

• Miami, Week 13: On the first play of the game, the Dolphins put Tyreek Hill in motion behind the line of scrimmage, running to the outside receiver spot, with Trent Sherfield in the slot. After the ball was snapped, Hufanga, playing in the defensive backfield as a two-high safety, went with Hill, who was already covered by Charvarious Ward. Hufanga spun and was facing the Niners’ end zone when the ball was thrown. Sherfield was uncovered on his slant over the middle. He kept running for a 75-yard touchdown. Later in the game, he ran with Sherfield on the same route, only to let Hill go behind him, resulting in a 45-yard touchdown.

• Seattle, Week 15: In the fourth quarter, tight end Noah Fant ran right up to Hufanga. He then ran right past him for a 10-yard fourth-quarter touchdown that made the game interesting. There was no one else for Hufanga to defend, and no one behind him to pick up Fant. The Niners’ safety just decided to stand in place for the easiest catch-and-throw of the game for Seattle.

• Washington, Week 16: Arguably Hufanga’s worst game of the season. Not only was he arguably responsible for multiple big-yardage catches and two passing touchdowns (including another play where he just didn’t defend the man who was clearly his mark), but he also made some overtly questionable plays in the run game, too.

• Las Vegas, Week 17: Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels clearly noticed Hufanga’s game against Washington. McDaniels’ game plan called for the Raiders to attack Hufanga early and often. The first drive of the game ended in an easy catch-and-throw between quarterback Jarrett Stidham and tight end Darren Waller. A simple play-action bootleg was all that was needed to get Hufanga to drive towards the quarterback. Two false steps in, and Waller was behind him. The safety stood no chance of catching up. In an embarrassing defensive showing for the 49ers, Hufanga was put in conflict repeatedly, to repeated success for the Raiders. Two of Las Vegas’ touchdowns came from Hufanga trying to sack the quarterback, only to have the ball thrown over his head to an open receiver.

In all, Hufanga has an average Pro Football Focus rating of 59 of 100 over the last six games. That’s below replacement level. And the reason his rating is so low is because he has an average coverage grade of 58.

Whether you buy into PFF’s ratings or not, it’s clear that opposing offensive coordinators have taken notice of Hufanga’s coverage challenges, and he has done nothing to discourage those attacks.

To the Niners’ coaches’ credit, they are fully aware of the issue. Defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans — who has consistently given guarded and milquetoast press conferences since being promoted to the role — didn’t pull any punches when he was asked about Hufanga’s play following the Raiders game.

He went all-in on the safety in way I had never heard him publically talk about a player before:

“He has to clean up his eyes,” Ryans said. “It’s too many big plays we’re giving up, and Huf knows that… You’re the eraser for us. Your eyes can’t be dirty, you can’t be in the backfield and he knows that, and he has to get better at it.”

“Everybody will make plays in our defense when everybody is playing with discipline, playing with the proper technique, playing with the proper eyes, eye discipline. If everybody is doing that, there’s enough plays for everybody to go around, so when guys do get antsy and they try to do too much, they try to play hero ball. You try to make plays that you’re not supposed to make, that’s when you get gutted as a defense, so defensive football, you want to be sound, you want to play great defense, you have to be disciplined at all three levels.”

The Niners’ are a team that wants to mix up defensive coverages — an adjustment following Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes carving them up in Week 7, when they remained in Cover 3 defenses for most of the game.

To do that, you need to have safeties that can do it all on the field — guys who can cover and thump.

Hufanga can be that player. We’ve seen him be that player. He can be a game-changer of the highest order for a talent-filled defense.

But heading into the playoffs, we don’t know if Hufanga will change the game for the Niners’ betterment or detriment.

And if safties, like quarterbacks, are indeed destiny in the postseason, that’s a scary question to be asking before the Wild Card round.

Carlos Correa has found a team. The All-Star shortstop agreed to terms on a contract on Tuesday, not with the San Francisco Giants or New York Mets, but with the Minnesota Twins. On Wednesday, he passed his physical. That, of course, was the important part.

Correa’s incredible free-agent saga will leave some Giants fans — and perhaps Giants leadership itself — feeling vindicated that the team walked away from the 13-year, $350 million deal nearly a month ago.

I’ve had more than a few demands that I apologize for bashing the Giants for backing away from the deal.

I’m happy to admit when I’m wrong.

This is not one of those cases.

The Giants deserved scorn for backing out of their deal and canceling Correa’s introductory press conference hours before it was scheduled to start. If nothing else, it was terrible public relations.

But the Giants deserve even more scorn now that Correa has signed with the Twins.

It’s one thing to have cold feet and then be big-timed by the New York Mets. Their billionaire owner has made it clear that he is not the least bit concerned about baseball’s luxury tax. He can toss around millions like we toss around $20.

And because Steve Cohen has flashed his cash for the last two offseasons, the Mets didn’t need Correa. He was just a fun addition — a whim Cohen acted upon after a few martinis in Hawaii.

So when the Mets found the same concerns on Correa’s medicals that the Giants did, Cohen’s team was in a position to back away. The risk wasn’t worth the reward for a team that is a World Series contender with or without Correa.

But for the Minnesota Twins to big-time the Giants is absolutely unacceptable.

Both the Twins and Giants needed Correa — a player like that is the difference between .500 and a playoff berth.

But while these two teams on the same competitive level, but are night and day when it comes to the financial part of the game.

Yet the Twins — a team that under the same ownership was nearly contracted for being so cheap — was the team willing to take on the risk Correa carries.

Minnesota is a team with a sub-average payroll. Last season, it was $117.5 million — a huge number for them.

The Twins signed Correa to a deal that is six years, $200 million — possibly 10 years, $270 million if the shortstop stays healthy.

This is not a team that has money to waste. Yet they were the team that could work out a deal to pay Correa the market value he expected at the start of the offseason, even if he didn’t get all the years he once expected. They were the team willing to take on the risk.

They’re also the team that will receive the reward.

Being big-timed by the Twins makes the Giants look even timider and cheaper today.

The Giants came into the offseason telling the world they would land a star.

Instead, they’ll enter the 2023 season empty-handed… again. Aaron Judge said no. Carlos Rodón didn’t even entertain returning to the Bay. And then the Giants said no to Correa in the most extreme fashion imaginable, and didn’t circle back in any meaningful way when the opportunity presented itself.

I like several players the Giants signed this offseason, but the only thing this team can truly celebrate this offseason is the fact that it might have dodged a bullet by backing out of the Correa deal

Nothing gets me excited for baseball season than fiscal prudence!

The Giants still lack the middle-of-the-order bat they needed.

They lack the star player that can get people back to the ballpark.

They remained parked in a place of mediocrity, and worse yet, they were unwilling to take the kind of risk — despite ample time — that might have helped break the team through.

Before the Correa fiasco, I frequently joked that the Giants were a big-market team that really wanted to be the Minnesota Twins.

Now, I can’t even make that joke anymore. Signing Correa makes the Twins look like the 28th-most valuable franchise in the world of sports, not the Giants.

Correa signing with the Twins only vindicated the theory that they aren’t a true big-market team — that they care more about the bottom line than their place in the standings.

And if that’s something you can get behind, I’m sure there will be plenty of good seats available for you at Oracle Park this summer.

After all, Curry is anything but plug-and-play — his style changes everything the Warriors (and their opponents) do on the court.

Tuesday was Andrew Wiggins’ second game back in the lineup after a month’s absence, too. The Warriors were also graced by the season debut of Andre Iguodala.

There were a lot of moving parts.

“Hopefully, we’ll get everybody on the same page,” Curry said.

And sure enough, the Warriors and Curry struggled for the first three quarters of the final game of the team’s eight-game homestand.

But that fourth quarter of the Warriors’ 125-113 loss to the Suns was something to behold.

That fourth quarter is something to build upon.

In a game the Dubs trailed by as many as 27 points, Golden State cut Phoenix’s margin to six points in the final moments of the contest. They made the Suns sweat down the stretch. They were playing good basketball on both ends of the floor, and Curry scored 16 points in the frame, with Jordan Poole adding 13.

So forget the team’s three-game losing streak. The Warriors have some momentum heading into the team’s five-game road trip.

And no, that’s not trying to reshape a loss into a “moral victory.”

The Warriors head into this road trip in a better situation than anyone (or, at the very least, I) foresaw. The Dubs won more games than they lost with Curry out of the lineup (6-5) and jumped up in the Western Conference standings in the process. At the halfway point of the season, Golden State is one game back of the No. 6 seed, a true playoff spot, and 2.5 games back of home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

And simply looking at the teams above them in the standings, it’s hard to imagine the Warriors, with all their talent, not continuing to rise.

I’ll concede the Nuggets, Grizzlies, and Pelicans — the West’s top three teams. But are Sacramento, Dallas, the Clippers, and the Suns better than the Warriors?

I have a hard time buying that.

The firepower on the Dubs is too much.

We know the importance of Curry. The value of Wiggins is understood.

But the re-introduction of Iguodala on Tuesday was eye-opening.

Who knew what he would be able to give the Dubs? I’ll admit that I thought he was only on this team for moral support.

But whatever the Dubs’ training staff was doing with him for the first few months of the season worked.

I don’t expect Iguodala to play every day, but if he can play like he did Tuesday when he does take the court, that’s a game-changer for the Warriors.

Iguodala provides that backup point-guard play the team is always seeking. He also gives the team another wing defender who can hold his own in the post — a critical addition for a team that has re-embraced its small-ball identity.

The Suns might have been without center Deandre Ayton on Tuesday, but they are still a team that believes in the center position. Backups Bismack Biyombo and Jock Landale were effective against the small-ball Dubs, who have one healthy center, Kevon Looney.

But the combination of Draymond Green and Iguodala put on a defensive masterclass on Tuesday — particularly late. In 11 minutes together on the floor, the Suns were only able to average 0.76 points per possession. That’s the kind of one-two defensive punch that gives the Warriors liberty to play Poole and Curry together.

Add in the improved defense of Klay Thompson (who has been red-hot offensively as of late, as well), the all-around competence of Wiggins, and the outstanding contributions of Donte DiVincenzo, and the Warriors have an eight-man rotation that can be top-flight on defense.

And that rotation doesn’t include Jonathan Kuminga, who has been a revelation on that side of the ball in recent weeks, or Anthony Lamb, who has been solid on that end of the floor.

Remember: The basis of this Warriors team is defense. Stops turn into transition offense opportunities and Golden State playing its style of basketball. We saw flashes of the Warriors at their running, gunning best late Tuesday.

As of now, they have the pieces to be an outstanding defensive team. That makes them a team that can continue to win more than it loses.

And while that might not seem like a high bar, in a crowded Western Conference, that will take you a long way.

The squad is coming together. The superstar is back in the fold.

It’s time for the Warriors to show their true colors.

Let’s see what this team is made of.

Instead of listening to this columnist and treating Week 18 like a bye week, deliberately falling to the No. 3 seed as to avoid a possible matchup with Aaron Rodgers, the 49ers played Sunday’s regular-season finale with the clear intention of winning.

They did, easily, earning the NFC’s No. 2 seed in the process.

Their reward: home-field advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs and a first-round game not against red-hot Rodgers and the Packers (they lost their win-and-in game Sunday night), but instead the arch-rival Seahawks, who squeezed into the playoffs after the Packers’ loss.

Doing the right thing paid off for San Francisco. The Niners should roll over Seattle in their first-round playoff game on Saturday afternoon at Levi’s Stadium.

Heading into this Niners game against the Seahawks, you are certain to hear the old, tired NFL adage that the hardest thing to do in the league is beat a team three times in one season.

Folks will point to last season, when the 49ers failed to go 3-0 against the Rams by losing in the NFC Championship Game.

But the truth is that the adage is nonsense.

It’s actually easy to beat a team three times in one season if you’re a decidedly better team than your opponent. The Rams and the 49ers last year? Worthy adversaries.

The 49ers and Seahawks this year are not.

History doesn’t back up the adage, either. In the Super Bowl era, there have been 23 playoff games where teams meet for a third time after one team swept the regular-season series.

The team that swept in the regular season is 14-9 in those games.

The Niners will make that 15-9 on Saturday.

Again, they are so much better than the Seahawks.

The Niners have the best point differential in the league. They had the second-most takeaways and the league’s best turnover differential this season.

They have the hottest offense in the league, too, averaging 33 points per game since rookie Brock Purdy took over as the team’s quarterback six contests ago.

The Niners’ defense allowed the fewest points in the NFL this season and finished first in the NFL this season in DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) — my go-to, catch-all stat for defense, where excellence is difficult to quantify.

No matter how you cut it, the Niners — winners of 10 straight games entering the playoffs — are an outstanding football team. If this squad has weaknesses, they are acute at best.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks are 3-5 in their last eight games.

Spare me the “any given Sunday” argument — or in this case, “any given Saturday.” That’s what folks say when there’s no good argument for a team to win.

And going into Saturday’s game, there is simply nothing that the Seahawks do better than the 49ers.

Even the quarterback situation has tilted toward the Niners.

Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith was a feel-good story for most of the season, helping Seattle to a 6-3 start with big games and limited turnovers. But over the last eight games, he has a QBR of 51.4 (out of 100) — a number that was middling as best.

Sunday, against a Rams team with nothing to play for and with everything on the line for Seattle, Smith threw two interceptions and nearly threw a third. He was more a detriment than a benefit to Seattle.

Smith can run a bit, but as the Niners’ two previous games showed, the Seattle quarterback is an easy target for San Francisco’s defensive line — only two quarterbacks in the league were more detrimental with their sacks to their team’s overall offensive output, per ESPN.

And while Brock Purdy is inexperienced, he has shown an exceptional command of the 49ers’ offense and is putting up top-flight efficiency numbers amid his small sample size.

Smith’s tremendous start to the campaign made Seattle a playoff threat. At the same time, no one expected Purdy would be starting a playoff game for the 49ers mid-season.

Yet as these two teams meet again, Purdy has provided every reason to take him and not the veteran in this game.

Oddsmakers like the 49ers to win the NFC. They like that journey to start with a 10-point win over the Seahawks.

I see no reason to bet against them.

Save your adages and your old clichés. These teams might be meeting in the playoffs, but they are not equals on the gridiron.

The Buffalo Bills player’s recovery from cardiac arrest lightened the mood around the NFL as play resumed this weekend. Still, the scare from his near-death experience on Monday kept Hamlin top-of-mind, even 2,000 miles away from his hospital bed in Ohio.

The theme of Sunday’s 49ers-Cardinals game was “Love For Damar.” Players and coaches from both teams wore t-shirts emblazoned with the phrase. We also saw the slogan on the Levi’s Stadium screens and on handmade signs in the stands. The Niners honored Hamlin before the game began, and the “3” in the 30-yard-line markings were outlined with red, an homage to the player’s jersey number.

As the 49ers and Cardinals players suited up to take the field for the first time since Hamlin’s horrifying collapse, there were dozens of reminders of one of the scariest moments in NFL history.

How do you play a game under those circumstances?

You compartmentalize.

NFL players are masters of that.

In asking several of them about that ability after the Niners’ 38-13 win, I heard the same thing again and again:

“We play football.”

Translation: The players know the risks of the game. They play anyway.

“It was something that was on my mind. It was amazing to see the love and support for Damar, the shirts and the color on the field,” Fred Warner said. “When you see how horrific that moment it was, it puts things in perspective… It made me feel more blessed to play this game. I’m so grateful that prayers are being heard and [that] he’s recovering. ”

The brilliant athletic feats on an NFL field are easy to see. You can’t misinterpret Nick Bosa tossing an offensive lineman aside en route to sacking the quarterback, or George Kittle performing a ballet act to stay in bounds for a touchdown catch.

But what’s not seen on Sundays — and what is rarely celebrated — is the level of discipline required to reach the highest level of the sport, specifically, the mental fortitude to separate the game’s good from the bad and to charge into the fray, full-speed.

It’s easy for us in the press box, in the stands, and watching on TV to ignore the realities of this game we watch religiously every week.

It’s impossible to do that as a player.

For them, being between the lines of the field means straddling the line between life and death.

“You can’t go out there and play this game timid,” Warner said.

That makes pushing aside the brutal reality of the sport a requirement, too.

Hamlin’s cardiac arrest challenged that mindset. It was a sobering moment for the whole league.

But on Sunday, the Niners were able to push the risk aside and play for the reward — the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs. They received some help in the morning from the Bills, who returned the opening kick of their game 96 yards for a touchdown.

“I saw it, and it lifted me up and gave me momentum going out there,” Niners fullback Kyle Juszczyk said.

Still, the reality of the sport wasn’t forgotten.

“We play a dangerous sport — every time we step out there,” 49ers running back Elijah Mitchell said. “You’re always going to have it in the back of your head, but it’s the sport you play — you just got to go out there and not think about it.”

“That’s what football is,” safety Talanoa Hufanga said. “Any snap you’re out there, anything can happen.

“We go out there and play this sport with a passion, with a love for it. That’s what you need to go out there and play freely. You never know when your last snap is going to be… We’re risking our lives [for] when we go out there. But if you play with a positive mindset, hopefully, things can be in your favor.”

No one comes out of the NFL in better condition than they entered. Football isn’t a contact sport — it’s a combat sport. It’s not just a dangerous game — it’s a degenerative one.

Players being stretchered or carted off the field (all while the league’s television partners cut to commercial) is an uncountably frequent occurrence.

That’s why when Hamlin fell to the synthetic turf on Monday in Cincinnati, little was thought of the situation. It was just another injury.

And when it became apparent that the scenario was anything but ordinary, it was impossible not to think the absolute worst — that Monday was the day of reckoning that everyone knew, deep down, had been looming and inevitable for decades.

The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Hamlin spent the early part of this week in critical condition in the hospital, fighting for his life. Yet his cardiac arrest seems to be something of a freak occurrence. It could have been the result of a hit to an exact part of the heart at the exact wrong time, measured in milliseconds.

Yes, football is likely the reason Hamlin nearly died. Yet in a sport where nearly every play ends in a collision, Hamlin’s incident seems to be the first time in modern NFL history that someone’s heart stopped following a hit.

How do you make sense of that?

The truth is, you don’t.

You push it to the side and play the game.

First, it was whether he could return to his top form after his ACL injury. Then, it was questioned if he could do the same after tearing his right Achilles tendon before the 2021 season. When he finally returned to the court a few weeks shy of a year ago, the question after two-and-a-half years off was if he had enough spring, enough juice, to be an impact player for the Warriors.

Thompson has answered the questions.

Approaching the one-year anniversary of his return to the court, he’s proven his legs are strong enough to carry a team.

It’s important to note that Thompson was a vital player for the Warriors on their title run last year. When he plays, they win.

But with Steph Curry out since Dec. 14, the Warriors have needed the old Klay Thompson — the impossibly incendiary shooter, the dogged defender.

He’s arrived.

In Thompson’s last five games, he’s been incredible on the offensive end, averaging 33.6 points per game — including a 54-point game against the Hawks on Monday. What’s more telling: He’s moving around the court with a fluidity we had not seen since his return, bringing back his trademark punctuality. No one in the NBA finds themselves in the right place at the right time better than a full-strength Thompson.

“When he gets hot, there’s not too many players that can score like him,” Kevon Looney said of Thompson.

The Warriors haven’t needed Thompson’s old defensive skills for the majority of the time Curry has been sidelined. Remember, Thompson was once the Warriors’ defensive ace; the man they’d sic on the opposition’s top perimeter player. You can credit the emergence of Jonathan Kuminga and the steady professionalism of Donte DiVincenzo for Thompson being able to cede that role.

Yet there Thompson was on Monday, dropping 54 points while playing 46 minutes of high-energy defense and switching onto Atlanta’s Trae Young, forcing him into awful shots, and locking down Dejounte Murray.

“It’s a huge accomplishment for myself,” Thompson said. “Seeing [Atlanta broadcaster and Hall of Famer] Dominique Wilkins before the game, and talking to him, telling him how much of an inspiration he was for me, coming back from an Achilles [injury] to average in the high 20s after a decade of playing. That inspired me to be myself.”

That’s been the big question for Thompson: “Who am I?”

The future Hall of Famer’s struggles were obviously physical. But there was a mental aspect to his recovery as well.

Thompson isn’t a big talker, and he can come off as aloof and disengaged to those who don’t know him. Don’t be fooled — Warriors fans must know by now that he’s as fiery a competitor as anyone in the league. His focus — as intense as Draymond Green’s — is always there when necessary. And he’s a thinker. That picture-perfect shot wouldn’t be worth much without his on- and off-court IQ.

In this era of mental health awareness, Thompson has been open about his struggles during his return to form. For instance: This past summer, he didn’t scrimmage five-on-five. The last time he had scrimmaged full-court away from the Warriors, he tore his Achilles.

It’s an ongoing battle for Thompson — body vs. mind. And the early portion of this season showed rust and a player trying to force his way back to his old form. It left shots short, opportunities to attack missed, and Thompson frustrated.

His play, as of late, shows a new level of alignment.

“I’m getting better with every game. I know I’ll be more consistent as the season goes on… from not getting the live reps I probably needed,” Thompson said. “Thirty games under my belt, I’m feeling just wonderful.”

For Green, Thompson’s return to old form has everything to do with his teammate letting go and letting the game find him.

“You don’t have to be the same Klay that you once were before. When you understand that and you buy into that, you become the Klay that you were,” Green said. “We’ve all talked about this our entire lives, which is letting the game come to you, and when you’re as competitive as he is, when you’re as good as he is, it’s tough sometimes.

“You go through those things for two years, everybody doubting you — that same fire towards that doubt is what made you Klay Thompson. Everyone wants to see that go. That doesn’t just go. You don’t just lose that. That’s embedded in you.”

He’s settled down. He’s not chasing it anymore. It’s falling right into his lap. When you’re that good, that’s usually what happens.”

The Warriors won’t need this recent kind of play from Thompson every night this season — they can’t even get it every night, as Thompson does not play in games scheduled back-to-back. At some point this season, the Dubs will have a full squad. That point might come as soon as Jan. 13, when Curry is expected to return.

Andrew Wiggins will return to the lineup as the team’s perimeter defensive ace — a role he picked up the last two years — with Kuminga, his heir apparent, by his side. Add this Thompson into that mix, with Green behind them, and the Warriors’ defense, ranked 13th in the NBA in points allowed per 100 possessions, could be a top-10 unit by the end of the year.

And we all know what Thompson can be next to Curry. But next to Jordan Poole, who has shown he can play Warriors basketball as of late, and the Dubs’ offense has 3-point shooting firepower that is unmatched by any team in the league.

Thompson finding his elite form once again creates a shift for the Warriors. It’s been a backstop against Curry’s absence; it’s a midseason pickup — the kind the Dubs could never manage.

The only question that should be asked of Thompson these days is simple: Can he, winner of four titles in the last five seasons he has finished, make it five in six?