Football is a brutal sport.

It breaks records, it breaks bones, it breaks traditions, and every year, it breaks hearts.

In the end, there’s only one team getting confetti poured on it. Only one team that wins the last game. Only one world champion. There’s a parade through the streets. Hundreds of thousands of people who just want to be a small part of it. Then it’s over. And the overriding theme when the last champagne cork has popped is, “now go out there and do it again.”

And if you don’t? How fast it goes from “I love these guys,” to “Get rid of these guys.”

Your San Francisco 49ers are in “Get rid of these guys” mode.

There is no greater “what have you done for me lately” sport than professional football. Just over a year ago, the 49ers came within a couple plays of being the last team standing. This past year they only needed to be incrementally better. Cue the parade. The Lombardi Trophy will be living in Santa Clara.

Or not.

The past season turned maybe before it even started. Camp holdouts were topic A, and nagging injuries surfaced seemingly every day. The number one draft choice got shot, other players were dealing with serious family matters. They did beat the Jets handily in game one, and the seas suddenly seemed calm again. And then they hit an iceberg.

Even though no one on board was standing on the aft deck singing “God Save the King,” the good ship 49er quietly sank all the way to the bottom.

And all those pieces of a championship caliber team suddenly had to be carefully scrutinized to make sure they were in working order. And, when closely examined, it appears they weren’t quite of the quality they appeared to be. So, out came the salary cap sickle, and off went the heads of nearly a quarter of that team that came, oh so close, to being Super Bowl champions just over 12 months prior.

Welcome to the world of disposable heroes.

The great Bill Walsh lived and died by the theory that he’d rather get rid of someone a year too early rather than a year too late. Just ask Jerry Rice and Roger Craig, both of whom were jettisoned by Walsh in 2001, both with still a bit of gas in the tank. Both signed with the Oakland Raiders. Both had maybe another year to go, but not for Bill Walsh. Is this starting to sound familiar?

John Lynch played football at Stanford under Bill Walsh. He is a disciple, and I see a lot of the characteristics that made Walsh who he was, in Lynch.

I wasn’t the least bit shocked by the Deebo Samuel trade. I’m going to guess he’ll have a pretty good year in Washington. And two years from now he’ll be fighting for a roster spot. Vince Lombardi used to say that football isn’t a contact sport, it’s a collision sport. And that’s the way Deebo Samuel played it. And played it well. But all those collisions took their toll. You could see it last season. Moreover, so could Lynch.

The same can be said of Dre Greenlaw and Talanoa Hufanga. Both were hurt, came back and played … and got hurt again. Can’t take that chance.

Charvarius Ward, after tragically losing a child, said he just needed a change of scene. The 49ers obliged.

Leonard Floyd, Javan Hargrove, Maliek Collins and Aaron Banks were average. That is to say — replaceable. Good for a decent price; not good enough for a big payday.

I thought Jaylon Moore played pretty well replacing one of the best players to ever play the position in Trent Williams. I guess other teams did too. They’re paying him $30 million to show them.

Kyle Juszczyk was beloved by peers and by fans. He will be missed. But his position is an albatross, so I understand. I think.

And of course, the elephant in the room is the contract status of the quarterback. I am convinced they’ll come to terms with Brock Purdy, and they should. On Thursday, Brock got a little performance bonus just short of $1 million. That’s just the way the soft and fuzzy NFL does things.

I once got a performance bonus from NBC Sports. It was a frozen turkey. I clearly chose the wrong career path.

I am so tired of the criticism that came Purdy’s way this past year. He’s not Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes. And yes, he’s a system quarterback. One who happens to be in the perfect system for his skill set. Joe Montana wasn’t Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes either. And he was pretty good as I recall.

And in the never ending soap opera that is the free agent world in the NFL, Purdy’s back-up this year will be the very guy who Kyle Shanahan reportedly lusted after before the Niners mortgaged the farm to move up in the draft and take Trey Lance.

Mac Jones has signed a two-year deal as Purdy’s back-up. Remember him? He was the next Tom Brady. So were Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Justin Fields, and the greatest of them all Trey Lance. Five first round picks in 2021. Only Lawrence remains with the team that drafted him. He’s also the only starter.

And all the while Brock Purdy was sitting in his dorm room in Ames, Iowa cramming for finals and hoping for that elusive internship at International Harvester.

And they say the drafting of college players is an inexact science.

The other guys that the 49ers have picked up so far are, generally speaking, a cheaper version of what they got rid of, so I’m OK with that.

It’ll take some deft draft decisions, the emergence of a few who showed flashes last year before injuries ended things (Curtis Robinson, Dee Winters, Darrell Later), and the healthy return of core players (McCaffery, Williams and Ayuk), but I’m not yet ready to sound the death knell for the 49ers.

I still sense a pulse.