SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The play that arguably ignited another San Francisco 49ers run into an NFC championship game was off-script. That's about as fitting as it could get for this edition of the franchise.
With a little over 5 minutes left in the third quarter and the score tied against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy bootlegged to his left and cocked his arm. Every option that was designed to be open on the play wasn’t. And it likely would have drawn dead, except for a giant white glove in the air belonging to tight end George Kittle, who was inexplicably leaking downfield into empty space.