The San Francisco 49ers improved to the sixth spot in the NFC without even playing this week, and a lot of their hopes coming out of the bye week are riding on quarterback Brock Purdy. And they feel pretty good about that.

Purdy is 3-0 since returning from a turf toe injury. It’s been a roller coaster, with a three-interception game sandwiched between two stronger performances. But in last week’s win over the Cleveland Browns, Purdy not only took care of the football, but he kept Myles Garrett and company on their heels with his legs, both as a scrambler and as a runner. As well as backup Mac Jones played in Purdy’s absence, that was not part of the 49ers’ offense with Jones.

“I thought that was one of the most impressive things in the game,” coach Kyle Shanahan said.

Purdy’s pressure-to-sack rate this season is 5.6, the lowest in the NFL by far (next is 9.7, Bo Nix) out of 44 QBs with at least 100 dropbacks this season, going into Sunday’s game. Jones is at 16.7, which is not too shabby, ranking 19th among those 44, but the 49ers’ offense definitely looks different with Purdy.

“Brock did a real good job not getting too deep, staying up in the pocket and being able to hang in there on some longer developing plays,” Shanahan said. “He took care of the ball and made some big-time throws that got us points.”

The offensive line also did a solid job of holding off Garrett, who had only one sack on the day after coming in with 18.

“There seemed like there were a lot of (opportunities), with how close it was,” Garrett said after the game. “But he likes getting the ball out on time. Or, you know, he sees me, and, credit to him, he also avoided the rush pretty well, too.”

Purdy avoided tacklers pretty well on a zone-read touchdown run on a third-and-goal from the 3 to all but ice the game late in the third quarter. Pretty bold call by Shanahan with a QB coming off a two-month turf-toe injury.

“That really was no factor going into it,” Shanahan said on his weekly KNBR radio show. “It more has to do with how they play defense. They’re a very sound, gap-oriented team who it’s hits their gaps extremely hard. When teams do that, and they tee off on that, it makes it very hard to run the ball on ’em.

“But usually the weakness to that is no one’s accounting for the quarterback.”

The Browns actually had two players blitzing outside of the tackle when Purdy was faking the handoff to Christian McCaffrey, so the timing was not great for the call.

“But Brock rode the handoff long enough, and Christian bounced away, and both guys kept their eyes on Christian and it allowed Brock to run in,” Shanahan said.

Brock Purdy keeps it for a rushing touchdown!

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The score was also a good sign for those concerned about the lingering effects of the toe injury.

“It’s felt great, man,” Purdy told KNBR. “It’s gotten better every week. Just in general, I’m out there playing, just worrying about my assignment details and throws, and I’m not even thinking about my toe. It’s in a really good spot right now. I feel confident in it.”

Shanahan said a few weeks back that he didn’t think Purdy’s toe would be completely healed during the season, and Purdy said he can feel it sometimes after waking up or during pregame warmups or after games.

“But when I’m out there, the adrenaline’s going, and I’m worried about playing quarterback,” Purdy said. “I’m not thinking about it as I’m dropping back or throwing or anything like that.”

Purdy also wasn’t thinking about the three interceptions he threw two weeks ago against the Carolina Panthers. Well, maybe a little bit.

“I needed to be a little bit more accurate,” he said. “I like my decisions, I just needed to throw a better ball. And so when you miss, obviously it just gets magnified a little bit more, and going into Cleveland, it was, ‘How can I protect the ball?’ Especially with the conditions that we’re playing in and how good their defense was.”

Be aggressive, but live to see another down. Purdy threw several passes away after escaping pressure.

“I was proud that our whole team was able to play smart, be on top of their stuff and take what the defense gives us and just score when we had the opportunity to do so,” Purdy told KNBR.

The 49ers still have the opportunity to play in the Super Bowl at their home stadium — despite all their injuries.

“Yes, we can go achieve our goals, and that is a goal for sure,” Purdy said. “But can we just go win this next game, and then the one after that, and the one after that, and not get caught up in what the whole playoff picture looks like and this and that?

“I think we can’t overlook anybody.”

Not even the 2-11 Titans, who come to Santa Clara on Sunday after beating the Browns 31-29 in Cleveland. (The 49ers end the season with three tougher games, at the Colts — though they appear to have lost Daniel Jones for the season — and then home against the Bears and Seahawks.)

“We’ve had some guys go down, and people will say, ‘Oh, that’s it,’” Purdy said. “(But) guys step up, guys have opportunities in front of them, and then they go and seize the moment and don’t look back. I think we have that kind of team that’s blue-collar, with a chip on the shoulder, ready to go prove themselves because people have doubted them.

“We just gotta continue to have that mindset one game at a time, and then we’ll see at the end of this thing where we’re at.”