Breaking: The 49ers’ rookie sensational safety could be their Brock Purdy.

Kurtenbach: Rookie safety Ji’Ayir Brown is looking like the Brock Purdy of the 49ers’ defense

San Francisco 49ers: Thrown into the fire after a season-ending injury to Talanoa Hufanga, rookie safety Ji’Ayir Brown has proven to be wise beyond his years.

SANTA CLARA — Safeties are the most crucial defensive chess pieces on the board that is an NFL field.

So it’s good that 49ers rookie safety Ji’Ayir Brown likes playing chess.

“I’ve messed around with video games a bit, but I’ll play chess all day,” he told me Wednesday.

The 49ers are going to need Brown’s strategic mind to be working overtime in the final four weeks of the regular season and all the weeks that are to follow.

Because after 49ers’ All-Pro strong safety Talanoa Hufanga blew out his knee in Week 11, Brown was tossed into the fire. Now he’s the marked man in the Niners’ defense.

But much like Brock Purdy last season, he’s been able to take it in stride, because of preternatural maturity and serious extra-curricular preparation.

And also like Purdy during his rookie season, Brown’s success or failure will prove critical to the 49ers’ chances of achieving their Super Bowl dreams.

“Every week is going to be a challenge,” 49ers general manager and Hall of Fame safety John Lynch told me. “He’s gotta be up to it.”

I have many opinions others have deemed controversial, but one that seems to rile people up the most is when I believe, truly, that “safeties are destiny” in important games.

I’m not suggesting they’re as important as the quarterback, but it should be noted that when a quarterback heads to the line of scrimmage, he’s looking for the safeties.

Not only do safeties define a defense (the reason quarterbacks are so interested in them pre-snap), but they’re vital in both the run and pass game, and are, most importantly, the last line of the defense.

A great safety can flummox the quarterback and make everyone in front of him on defense look good.

A bad one can undercut the efforts of even the most talented unit.

You can scheme pressure. You can’t cover up for a safety in over his head.

And in big late-season or postseason games, where margins are razor-thin, safeties — the guys who aren’t even on the TV screen when the ball is snapped — are often the difference between winning and losing.

The 49ers know about this all too well. In the 2021 NFC Championship Game, the Rams’ Eric Weddle — signed off the couch weeks before — was everywhere, breaking up pass plays and stuffing the Niners’ vaunted run game.

“Without Weddle those guys don’t beat us,” Lynch told me (through some gritted teeth). “He was phenomenal.”

Meanwhile, the Niners’ strong safety, Jaquiski Tartt, dropped a game-winning interception in that contest.

Now, the 49ers will play some massive games in the coming weeks, and there’s nowhere for Brown to hide.

That’s a lot of pressure on the rookie’s shoulders.

That’s why plenty of smart people around the league shuddered when Hufanga was ruled out for the remainder of the season.

But those who knew his Brown weren’t worried.

“I always put that pressure on myself,” Brown, 23, told me Wednesday. “I don’t feel like I made it. I never get settled. I don’t go out — I don’t find interest in that stuff. I’m just wired that way.”

His teammates have noticed.