Culture clash: 49ers boosted by chemistry, philosophy in playoff push despite star injuries

SANTA CLARA — Brock Purdy could tell he wasn’t in college anymore during his first offseason team activities with the 49ers in 2022.

“Seeing Fred Warner and George Kittle out there, Day 1, and how hard they went in the offseason,” Purdy said Wednesday in a quiet moment at his locker. “The coaches would leave they field, but those guys would stay out there and keep going with the little things.”

Two years earlier, tackle Trent Williams, who unlike Purdy had been to seven straight Pro Bowls with Washington, had a similar experience upon arrival via trade.

“My first walkthrough, a full sprint,” Williams said. “Never once in my life had I seen that. I’m looking around for guys to be just as confused as me, complaining like, ‘Yo, slow down!’ But everybody was moving at the same pace. You’ve got to come along with them and fit yourself into this culture.”

Ah, culture, and its direct descendant, chemistry.

It’s not always easy to define and can be hard to maintain. But the 49ers (13-5) appear to have both in abundance as they prepare for an NFC divisional playoff game Saturday night against the Seattle Seahawks (14-3).

Those qualities were espoused almost weekly when general manager John Lynch did his weekly radio spot on the 49ers’ flagship, KNBR-680. To coach Kyle Shanahan, it means “we want guys who love football.”

It could explain how the 49ers have carried on successfully despite injuries to Purdy, Warner, Kittle, Nick Bosa, Mykel Williams and others, and somehow erased a 6-11 record from a year ago under similar circumstances. It’s how the 49ers survived and even thrived when wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, recovering from a torn ACL, became disgruntled and left the team even after signing a four-year contract worth a maximum of $130 million before going AWOL.

Dr. Justin Anderson founded Premier Sports Psychology in Minnesota and is a licensed sports psychologist who has worked with both NFL teams and players. He said the concept isn’t always easy to grasp.

“It seems to be such a nebulous, abstract kind of thing that I think it’s the catch-all of sport,” Anderson said in a phone interview this week. “I’d describe it as an attitude in behavior, how people perceive things are going. Is it going in our direction, or an opposite direction? Is it serving me? Or is it not serving me?”

Running back Christian McCaffrey believes it’s a shared pattern of behavior delivered on a daily basis.

“It’s just been a consistency that I’ve noticed,” McCaffrey said. “Every day, guys are the same. Hard work, production and execution are rewarded and the opposite isn’t. It’s pretty simple. I don’t think there’s some secret recipe. They’ve done a hell of a job getting the right kind of people in this locker room, and the leaders have done a great job since they’ve been here at setting the standard.”

McCaffrey instantly became one of those leaders when he came to the 49ers via trade from Carolina two days before a high-profile game against Kansas City. He recruited Purdy, then a third-string fringe quarterback, to a back practice field to learn enough of the 49ers offense to take the field against the Chiefs for his first game.

“This is what greatness looks like,” Purdy recalled thinking.

The 49ers correctly identified McCaffrey as not just a superior talent, but someone who embraced their culture. And if culture is the overarching philosophy of what gives a franchise direction and identity over a long period of time, chemistry is more of a yearly challenge based on an ever-changing roster.

Culture has helped the 2025 49ers grow together in terms of chemistry, even in the face of injury losses, as new players have arrived and fit in.

“We have a model we use for a lot of the organizations we work with: Is it team-oriented versus self-oriented? And the natural draw for human beings is to lean towards self,” Anderson said. “Most cultures lean toward self, so we have to do something as leaders and organizations to design an opportunity to be more team-focused.”

Not every player on a 53-man roster will be all-in, but peer pressure from leaders helps foster a sense of team. It’s clear from how the 49ers performed in beating defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia that something special was forged with the help of messaging from the top and enforcement from within the team.

Joan Ryan spent a decade researching the book “Intangibles: Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry,” which tennis legend Billie Jean King called “the seminal work on the capacity of teams.” She can see the positives of culture and chemistry just by watching the 49ers play.

“You have these leaders, and they’re elevating everybody around them,” Ryan said. “They were pulling each other up at every moment and you think, ‘That’s what this looks like’ and you think, ‘I wish I could be part of that.'”

That’s how wide receiver Kendrick Bourne felt when he joined the 49ers midseason while Aiyuk was rehabbing and injuries riddled the position.

“I wanted to come to something that was bigger than me,” said Bourne, who was previously a 49er before signing with New England in 2021.

It’s why linebacker Eric Kendricks put off signing with a team until late November. Kendricks became so enamored with what he saw on television, he signed at age 33 after Warner and Tatum Bethune were dealing with injuries. Kendricks broke up a fourth-down pass from Jalen Hurts to seal the game against the Eagles.

Skyy Moore was traded from Kansas City to the 49ers during training camp and was on a Super Bowl-winning team in 2022, then on injured reserve with the Chiefs when they beat the 49ers following the 2023 season.

“They’re similar in how we get ready each week,” Moore said. “They approach one game, same as the other. And there are a lot of football nerds there. Coach (Andy) Reid, he was a big, big football nerd, and Kyle is the same way.”

Teams with good culture aren’t free of in-house issues, as was the 49ers’ case with Aiyuk.

“People think if a team has a great culture, it doesn’t have any conflict,” Anderson said. “That’s not true. The difference is it’s constructive conflict rather than destructive conflict. If an organization has set up and retained the right types of character and is open to trusting one another, then they get a really constructive culture.”

Culture and chemistry were a challenge when defensive coordinator Robert Saleh left the 49ers to become head coach of the New York Jets in 2021. After going 20-36 and getting fired last season in a dysfunctional environment, he has a good perspective in his return this year.

“Culture to me is not about words, it’s about the people,” Saleh said. “John and Kyle have done an outstanding job staying true to the people they want in this building, and that goes for everybody — coaches, staff members, players. You do that and culture will easily form itself and I think they’ve done a nice job being disciplined to that.”

The 49ers won’t be the only team Saturday night that is convinced it has the culture to advance to the NFC Championship Game.

Second-year Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald believed he might have something special when offseason workouts had 100 percent attendance.

Leonard Williams, a three-time Pro Bowler and star defensive tackle who has also played with the Jets and Giants, said Seattle is the closest team he’s been on in an 11-year career.

“This team is special,” Williams told reporters. “There’s been a lot of guys stepping up in critical moments. “I’ve been playing a long time, this is the closest team I’ve ever been on and the winningest team I’ve ever been on. People are celebrating but we know we’re not done.”

Punter Thomas Morstead, in his 17th season, came to the 49ers this year after playing with the Saints, Dolphins and Jets and can feel the difference.

“I think from any place, culture comes from the top,” Morstead said. “The owner wants to win. The GM and head coach are in lockstep. The quarterback is the salt of the earth who has humility and leads by example.

“I could feel the difference on the first day. In all the different departments — trainers, staff, medical people, strength staff, kitchen staff — they’re all finding a way to serve. And I think that’s quite unique.”