Everyone watched Sunday as Kyler Murray and Tua Tagovailoa traded haymakers in the Miami Dolphins' eventual 34-31 win.
The two young signal-callers were electric, making plays with both their arm and their legs. The 49ers have witnessed Murray's ability firsthand. They no doubt marveled at Tagovailoa from afar Sunday.
Murray and Tagovailoa are just two of a pack of dynamic young quarterbacks taking the league by storm. Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson need no introduction. Nor does Deshaun Watson. Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert have dazzled in their rookie seasons and look to be the future of the NFL, along with Murray, Tagovailoa and the others.
Almost all of those teams, excluding the Chiefs and Ravens, have glaring issues outside of their young quarterbacks. And yet, those quarterbacks have them in just about every game.
The Chargers are 2-6, but Herbert has given them a chance to win in each game he's started. The Bengals are talent deficient, and yet, Burrow has had them in all but one game.
Arizona's defense isn't playoff-caliber, but Murray alone has the Cardinals knocking on the NFC West's door. The Dolphins were 3-3 when they turned to Tagovailoa and he's already rewarded their faith.
Now, think of the 2019 49ers. They had a dominant defense, a bruising running game, a creative head coach and an average starting quarterback. It got them six minutes from a title, but Garoppolo couldn't make the plays to finish the Super Bowl run.
There has and will be a lot of conversation about Garoppolo's future with the 49ers and what a team built to win-now should do.
All the 49ers have to do is look around the NFL and see what they'll have to contend with for the next decade: A crop of young quarterbacks built to own the NFL. Big-armed athletic field generals who can take over a game and deliver wins even when things aren't going their way.
The next decade in the NFL will belong to quarterbacks who can do the things Mahomes, Murray, Herbert, Tagovailoa and Burrow can do.
The age of winning with an average NFL quarterback is over. Title building now starts with a game-changing quarterback on a rookie deal and then you go from there.
The 49ers know what they have in Garoppolo and how far he can take them.
That won't be enough this decade. In an era that will be defined by Kyler Murray and others, the 49ers are left searching for the most important piece of the team-building puzzle.