SANTA CLARA – The 49ers will be fine.

I think.

Don’t hold me to that.

That’s because while the Niners’ season is four games old, if we’re being honest about the modern NFL, it’s only just getting started.

With the way NFL teams practice in the summer (if they practice at all) and their disregard for the practice schedule, September is essentially preseason in this league. It’s a time to work things out; to find one’s identity.

And while the 49ers have had an up-and-down preseason, they are doing just fine at 2-2 after a 30-13 win over the Patriots on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.

Nothing ideal. Nothing debilitating.

If we twist the baseball axiom, you can’t win a division in September, but you can lose one.

And unlike the doom and gloom following the Niners’ back-to-back losses in Weeks 2 and 3, there’s plenty to celebrate with this team.

After all, they have found an identity:

This is Brock Purdy’s team.

This is Fred Warner’s team.

It doesn’t take 25 years in the NFL to figure out that the quarterback and middle linebacker are important to team success; after all, they’re the guys wearing the helmet speakers. But four games later, the 49ers can claim they have the best quarterback-micro combo in the league.

That is a promising development in a season that has so far been characterized by noise and nonsense.