Mac Jones’ composure in the clutch on Thursday got the San Francisco 49ers back in the win column. Keeping cool and handling criticism is not something we’ve always seen from the former New England Patriots first-round selection.On the Pat McAfee Show on Friday, his head coach at Alabama, Nick Saban, said Jones was very hot-headed in college.“When Mac threw a bad pass, he’d kick and fuss and cuss and all that, so I’d say, John, are you going to throw your racket now,” he said at 0:18.Saban nicknamed him John McEnroe during his days with the Crimson Tide. This was partly because Jones had a tendency to throw fits and because he played tennis in high school. The seven-time National Championship-winning head coach said he had to make sure Jones knew his outbursts were not acceptable.“I said you can’t do that and play quarterback. You know you’re affecting the whole team out here. You make one bad play, and you go bananas. I said you can’t do that,” added Saban at 0:28.“It’s not an individual sport. You can’t throw your rackets. Cut that s**t out,” was what Saban told him at 0:46.Jones was back under centre for the Niners on Thursday, filling in for the injured Brock Purdy. He threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns in a dramatic 26-23 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in overtime.He is 3-0 as a starter with San Francisco this season, already with one more win than he had in his seven starts for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2024 Thanks to his contributions, the Niners are 4-1.Mac Jones future with the NinersMac Jones has had a strong resurgence in an NFL career that looked to be going south last season. He quickly fell out of favour in Jacksonville as he did with the Pats, while he was anything but high in demand this offseason.To his credit, he’s taken an opportunity given to him with Purdy’s injury issues and now could leave head coach Kyle Shanahan with a tough decision once the latter returns. Not only is Jones unbeaten as the team’s starter, but he’s looked mighty impressive in all of those wins. He’s thrown six touchdown passes and just one interception.His current passer rating of 98.1 is the highest of his NFL career. He’s the hot hand for them at the moment. That said, Purdy is the QB they invested millions in this offseason, so it’s not a simple decision for Shanahan. For the moment, it’s Jones’ job with Purdy apparently re-aggravating an old injury recently.Sticking with a good thing isn’t the only reason Shanahan might go with Jones when Purdy is 100%, that is, assuming the Niners keep winning. Another could be Jones’ ability to get the ball out quickly; he’s done that a little better than Mr Irrelevant. Jones’ average time to throw is 2.6 seconds, whereas Purdy’s is 2.9.For a quick-moving offense like the Niners, that’s something that may be a factor. The more success Jones has in Purdy’s absence, the harder it will be for Shanahan to bench him.