The San Francisco 49ers walked away from Week 12 with a win, but they didn’t walk away with the confidence of one of sports media’s most influential voices. Despite a 20-6 victory over the Carolina Panthers, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith delivered a blunt, unfiltered assessment: this version of the 49ers is not the team that will win the NFC.

The criticism centered around quarterback Brock Purdy, who struggled under the Monday Night Football spotlight. Purdy threw three interceptions and continued a troubling trend — seven interceptions and only eight touchdowns over his last four starts. For Smith, the math is simple: those numbers don’t win championships.

Smith ripped Purdy’s arm strength, ball placement, and lack of zip on deep throws, arguing that elite NFC contenders will expose these weaknesses. He emphasized the throws were floating, lacked drive, and reflected a quarterback who still has not shown he can elevate his team when things become difficult.

But Purdy wasn’t the only concern. Smith warned the 49ers are leaning dangerously hard on Christian McCaffrey, who once again delivered 142 total yards and carried the offense. While praising McCaffrey’s greatness, he emphasized his durability concerns and argued San Francisco is one injury away from offensive collapse.

According to Smith, the 49ers don’t have the same defensive edge they once did. He believes this year’s squad “seems softer,” less punishing, and less capable of intimidating opponents the way past 49ers defenses have.

He wasn’t alone. FOX Sports’ Colin Cowherd echoed the sentiment, comparing Purdy to “a right-handed Tua Tagovailoa” — accurate, smart, efficient, but limited. Cowherd argued Purdy has similar weaknesses: ball security in bad weather, durability concerns, and average arm talent. To him, Purdy is a mid-90s passer rating quarterback, not a franchise-altering superstar.

Cowherd emphasized that as the 49ers begin paying key players, the margin for error shrinks. Without a quarterback capable of consistently elevating those around him, San Francisco risks plateauing at a level below true Super Bowl contention.

With the 49ers preparing for a tough stretch of games and mounting criticism targeting their quarterback and offensive structure, the pressure is building — both inside and outside the locker room. For now, the team is winning, but as Stephen A. Smith warned, the NFC is stacked with contenders who won’t forgive the kind of flaws the 49ers showed against Carolina.

The question now is whether San Francisco can correct course… or whether the national analysts are seeing cracks the 49ers can no longer hide.